Data quality solutions pay for themselves quickly

“Incredibly common” data quality problems that plague ERP implementations for manufacturers large and small can now be solved using software from SAS-owned Dataflux. Its system, updated last month to Data Quality Integration Solution 7.1 and aimed at ERP, CRM (customer relationship management) and PLM (product lifecycle management) systems, tackles master data problems and the like at the root. Dataflux president Tony Fisher sees three main uses. “The first involves migration of ERP systems – a lot of our work is SAP R/3 related. They look at data and build rules to do the migration, or if the horse has already bolted it’s about bringing it back by making business rules from the migration rules so that when a transaction comes into ERP data stays consistent and reliable. “The second concerns product information management – so product catalogues and inventory masters. Dataflux looks across the databases, finding duplicates and consolidating records. And the third area is customer data integration: who you’re selling to across different databases so you can access all customer data from a single point. Colin Rickard, managing director of Dataflux UK, gives the example of “a well known oil company that’s primarily a European chemicals manufacturer… They are trying to do two things both around their ERP. The first concerns product master data management. There’s a vast array of product types in ingredients and products. “But there’s also the problem of data that’s been input in different languages – so huge supply chain and distribution challenges around product descriptions and reporting. So they’re using Dataflux to solve these by grouping and clustering products – then that master data will integrate in real time back into their ERP.” He describes it as a classic “horse bolted” problem, meaning they need retrospective remedial measures. “That is incredibly common in very large companies but also in smaller ones that have bought a new ERP system and have a number of systems’ data to migrate to it,” he says. And he adds: “We have a campaign targeting UK SAP users now and will countenance others too. We’re looking at mid size companies and starting cost is about £50k. Our experience is return on investment within the first year as a result of getting reporting and their data right. They can then leverage that back into the supply chain so there’s a procurement angle there too. It givers them a single view of their suppliers and what they’re buying.” For smaller users, Dataflux also offers system rental and subscription offerings, but no ‘Lite’ version. And for the rest of the cost picture, Fisher agrees that if users are trying to solve system integration problems then they need to budget for another £50k for services. But he also insists that if it’s about analysing and profiling data then there will be “almost no consulting fee on top – maybe £5k—10k.”