Value and Implications of Master Data Management (MDM) and Metadata Management

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Value and Implications of Master Data Management (MDM) and Metadata Management Value and Implications of Master Data Management (MDM) and Metadata Management Prepared for: Dimitris A Geragas GARTNER CONSULTING Project Number: 330022715 CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other intended recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Enterprise Information Management Background CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1 Enterprise Information Management is Never Information Enterprise Information Management (EIM) is about . Providing business value . Managing information (EIM) to provide business value . Setting up a business and IT program to manage information EIM is an integrative discipline for structuring, describing and governing information assets across organizational and technological boundaries. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 Enterprise Information Management and the Information-Related Disciplines Enterprise Information Management (EIM) is about how information gets from a multitude of sources to a multitude of consumers in a relevant, timely and consumable way? …includes large volumes, variety, or high velocity data? Big Data CEO Master Data Marketing …can be consistent across business units and across time? Mgt (MDM) Business …can be used to monitor performance and make decisions? Intelligence (BI) Finance Sales Business …can be used to draw conclusions and make predictions? Analytics (BA) Customer Data Quality Service …is it clean enough and good enough to use? (DQ) Information Smart …no ambiguity on who is accountable for what? Machines Governance Metadata …can be enriched and reused? Management CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3 Enterprise Information Management Scope CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 4 Master Data Management Background CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 5 Why MDM Different Hymn Sheets One Hymn Sheet Operations Customer Service Operations Customer Service OR? Ops Sales Mfg. Ops Sales Mfg. Process Process Process Process Process Process Ops Sales Mfg. Ops Sales Mfg. Data Data Data MDM Before … … After CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 6 Some Definitions Master Data: A consistent and uniform set of identifiers and attributes that describe the core entities of the enterprise, and are used across multiple business processes. Widely shared among organizational/functional units Are worth Consistent across viewpoints managing Foundational and valuable to the operation and the business Can be managed Stable over time Master Data Management: Technology-enabled discipline in which business and the IT organization work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency, and accountability of the enterprise's official, shared master data assets. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 7 Master Data Domains CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 8 Master Data Management Implementation CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 9 Enterprise Information Management Framework Vision Strategy Metrics Information Governance Organization and Roles Information Life Cycle Enabling Infrastructure Master Analytic Other Social Content Data Data Data Data …? Master Data Management CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 10 MDM Vision and Strategy Critical Vector – Implementation Styles Downstream reporting or Low control, autonomous Consolidation Registry analytics environments . Nonintrusive to the business . Nonintrusive to edge . BI is the business platform applications . Any industry . Emphasis is on remote data . BI strategy depended and application-to- . No attempt to clean up application integration source . Distributed governance . Faster to implement than coexistence and centralized Large-scale distributed High-control, top-down Coexistence Centralized model environments . Largest change to . Largest change to information infrastructure application infrastructure . Greatest need to mirror data . Hugely invasive to the . Global and local governance business . Greatest risk over control, . Centralized governance security . Greatest control over access, . Focused on shared services security . Focus on common services CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 11 MDM Information Governance Information Governance establishes decision rights, and assigns authority for MDM Information Governance What Decisions Who Makes How Are Decisions Have to Be Made the Decisions Made Establish Assign Encourage Policy Responsibility and Enforce CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 12 MDM Organization and Roles Organization and Roles forms the group and organizational structures to implement MDM Executive Steering Stewardship Sponsor Committee Data StewardsData StewardsData Stewards Governance Group EIM Leader Data StewardsBusinessData RepresentaStewards - tives Management Architecture Management and EIM Administration IA Manager Group Implementation Design Group Integration Group Storage Group Delivery Group CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 13 MDM Information Life Cycle Information Life Cycle depicts the flow of information and activities where MDM is focused CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 14 MDM Enabling Infrastructure Enabling Infrastructure provides the technology capabilities to implement the EIM Analytics Transaction Content Hybrid Specialized Capabilities Information Semantic Styles Manage Metadata Common Capabilities Describe Organize Integrate Share Govern Implement Social Documents Transactional IT/OT Image Audio Text Video Mobile Search Data Engine CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 15 The Role of Metadata Semantic Identification Authority Store Transformation Data Quality Syntactic Discovery Usage Access Lineage Trust Contextual Origin Security Disposition CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 16 Complexities and Conclusion CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 17 Strategic Dilemmas The answer to all strategic EIM-related dilemmas is “both.” There are NO RIGHT OR WRONG answers in EIM, and the most powerful factor is the reallocation of authority and movement of money. Ultimately, EIM requires a POLITICAL POWER SHIFT in the organization. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 18 Tactical Dilemmas The answer to all Data Quality implementation EIM- related dilemmas is “it Historical Unstructured depends.” There are NO RIGHT OR WRONG answers in EIM, Agility Data Consistency and the most powerful factor are the priority and needs of the client. Structured Operational Ultimately, EIM requires a DELIBERATE and ARCHITECTED approach Speed in the organization. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 19 Commercial v. Public Sector Business Case Revenue and Cost Mission and Value Scope Value Chain and Company State and City Level; Agency Domain GL; Employee; Location; Customer GL; Employee; Citizen Risk Tolerant Averse Sharing Promoted Restricted or Temporary Security Technical Enablement Physical Data Vaults Authority Process and Technology Enforced Policy Driven Topology Multiple Registry CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY 330022715 | © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 20 Critical Success Factors . Clear Vision and Tight Scope – Determine what you really want to achieve and what you need to govern . Strong Leadership and Sponsorship – Identify and secure a business sponsor to promote the effort and ensure the business stakeholder participation . Consisted and Objective Semantics – Strive for the “single version of the facts” and not for the “single version of the truth” . Stratify Scope – Manage Semantics, Syntactic, and Instances differently at different levels of scope . Comprehensive Viewpoint – Design the strategy and target state to play the tradeoff among governance, organization, processes, and technical infrastructure . Clear Communications in Business Terms – Express what the stakeholder will get out of it in their terms . Tight Stakeholder Collaboration – Establish a common work environment and a cross-business/IT team with
Recommended publications
  • Master Data Management Whitepaper.Indd
    Creating a Master Data Environment An Incremental Roadmap for Public Sector Organizations Master Data Management (MDM) is the processes and technologies used to create and maintain consistent and accurate representations of master data. Movements toward modularity, service orientation, and SaaS make Master Data Management a critical issue. Master Data Management leverages both tools and processes that enable the linkage of critical data through a unifi ed platform that provides a common point of reference. When properly done, MDM streamlines data management and sharing across the enterprise among different areas to provide more effective service delivery. CMA possesses more than 15 years of experience in Master Data Management and more than 20 in data management and integration. CMA has also focused our efforts on public sector since our inception, more than 30 years ago. This document describes the fundamental keys to success for developing and maintaining a long term master data program within a public service organization. www.cma.com 2 Understanding Master Data transactional data. As it becomes more volatile, it typically is considered more transactional. Simple Master Data Behavior entities are rarely a challenge to manage and are rarely Master data can be described by the way that it interacts considered master-data elements. The less complex an with other data. For example, in transaction systems, element, the less likely the need to manage change for master data is almost always involved with transactional that element. The more valuable the data element is to data. This relationship between master data and the organization, the more likely it will be considered a transactional data may be fundamentally viewed as a master data element.
    [Show full text]
  • Master Data Management Services (MDMS) System
    ADAMS ML19121A465 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Privacy Impact Assessment Designed to collect the information necessary to make relevant determinations regarding the applicability of the Privacy Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act information collection requirements, and records management requirements. Master Data Management Services (MDMS) System Date: April 16, 2019 A. GENERAL SYSTEM INFORMATION 1. Provide a detailed description of the system: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has established the Master Data Management Services (MDMS) system to address both short and long-term enterprise data management needs. The MDMS is a major agencywide initiative to support the processes and decisions of NRC through: • Improving data quality • Improving re-use and exchange of information • Reducing or eliminating the storage of duplicate information • Providing an enterprise-wide foundation for information sharing • Establishing a data governance structure The MDMS provides an overall vision for, and leadership focused on, an enterprise solution that establishes authoritative data owners, delivers quality data in an efficient manner to the systems that require it, and effectively meets business needs. The MDMS is also focused on data architecture and includes projects that will identify and define data elements across the agency. The MDMS system is a web-based application accessible to representatives from every NRC office—that provides standardized and validated dockets and data records that support dockets, including licenses, contact and billing information, to all downstream NRC systems that require that data. The NRC collects digital identification data for individuals to support the agency core business operations, issue credentials, and administer access to agency‘s physical and logical resources. To support this need, the MDMS system also serves as a centralized repository for the accessibility of organization and personnel data.
    [Show full text]
  • What to Look for When Selecting a Master Data Management Solution What to Look for When Selecting a Master Data Management Solution
    What to Look for When Selecting a Master Data Management Solution What to Look for When Selecting a Master Data Management Solution Table of Contents Business Drivers of MDM .......................................................................................................... 3 Next-Generation MDM .............................................................................................................. 5 Keys to a Successful MDM Deployment .............................................................................. 6 Choosing the Right Solution for MDM ................................................................................ 7 Talend’s MDM Solution .............................................................................................................. 7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Master data management (MDM) exists to enable the business success of an orga- nization. With the right MDM solution, organizations can successfully manage and leverage their most valuable shared information assets. Because of the strategic importance of MDM, organizations can’t afford to make any mistakes when choosing their MDM solution. This article will discuss what to look for in an MDM solution and why the right choice will help to drive strategic business initiatives, from cloud computing to big data to next-generation business agility. 2 It is critical for CIOs and business decision-makers to understand the value
    [Show full text]
  • Centralized Or Federated Data Management Models, IT Professionals' Preferences
    Paper ID #8737 CENTRALIZED OR FEDERATED DATA MANAGEMENT MODELS, IT PROFESSIONALS’ PREFERENCES Dr. Gholam Ali Shaykhian, NASA Ali Shaykhian has received a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Computer Systems from University of Central Florida and a second M.S. degree in Operations Research from the same university and has earned a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Florida Institute of Technology. His research interests include knowledge management, data mining, object-oriented methodologies, design patterns, software safety, genetic and optimization algorithms and data mining. Dr. Shaykhian is a professional member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Dr. Mohd A. Khairi, Najran University B.Sc of computer science from Khartoum university. Earned my masters from ottawa university in system science. My doctoral degree in information system from University of Phoenix( my dissertation was in Master Data Management). I worked in IT industry over 20 years, 10 of them with Microsoft in different groups and for the last 4 years was with business intelligence group. My focus was in Master Data Management. For the last 2 years I teach at universify of Najran in the college of Computer Science and Information System . My research interest in Master Data Management. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 CENTRALIZED OR FEDERATED DATA MANAGEMENT MODELS, IT PROFESSIONALS’ PREFERENCES Gholam Ali Shaykhian, Ph.D. Mohd Abdelgadir Khairi, Ph.D. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to evaluate IT professionals’ preferences and experiences with the suitable data management models (Centralized Data Model or Federated Data Model) selection. The goal is to determine the best architectural model for managing enterprise data; and help organizations to select an architectural model.
    [Show full text]
  • IBM Infosphere Master Data Management
    Data and AI Solution Brief IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management Maintain a trusted, accurate view of Highlights critical business data in a hybrid environment • Support comprehensive, cost-effective information Organizations today have more data about products, governance services, customers and transactions than ever before. • Monitor master data quality Hidden in this data are vital insights that can drive business using dashboards and results. But without comprehensive, well-governed data proactive alerts sources, decision-makers cannot be sure that the information • Simplify the management they are using is the latest, most accurate version. As data and enforcement of master volumes continue to grow, the problem is compounded over data policies time. Businesses need to find new ways to manage and • Integrate master data govern the increasing variety and volume of data and deliver management into existing it to end users as quickly as possible and in a trusted manner, business processes regardless of the computing modality. • Quickly scale to meet changing business needs IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management (InfoSphere MDM) provides a single, trusted view of critical business data to • Optimize resources using users and applications, helping to reduce costs, minimize risk flexible deployment options and improve decision-making speed and precision. InfoSphere MDM achieves the single view through highly accurate and comprehensive matching that helps overcome differences and errors that often occur in the data sources. The MDM server manages your master data entities centrally, reducing reliance on incomplete or duplicate data while consolidating information from across the enterprise. Data and AI Solution Brief With InfoSphere MDM, you can enforce information governance at an organizational level, enabling business and IT teams to collaborate on such topics as data quality and policy management.
    [Show full text]
  • Practical Fundamentals for Master Data Management How to Build an Effective Master Data Capability As the Cornerstone of an Enterprise Data Management Program
    Practical Fundamentals for Master Data Management How to build an effective master data capability as the cornerstone of an enterprise data management program WHITE PAPER SAS White Paper Table of Contents Introduction . 1 Considering Master Data Management (MDM) Benefits . 2 They Sound Good, But… . 2 Master Data and Real Business Value . 3 Assessing Organizational Readiness for Enterprise Initiatives . 4 Horizontal Coordination . 4 Coordinating Systemic Change . 5 Consistency in Meaning . .. 5 Standardized Business Rules . 5 Practical Master Data Management . 6 Technical Data Improvement . 6 Reconsidering MDM . 7 Purpose-Driven MDM . 7 Start with the Fundamentals . 8 Standardize Semantics . 8 Consolidate Enterprise Metadata . 8 Improve Data Quality . 9 Balance Business and Technical Benefits . 9 Establishing the Fundamentals . 10 Ready? . 10 Set … . 10 Go! . 11 About the Author . 11 Practical Fundamentals for Master Data Management Introduction Enterprisewide programs are often designed to improve business processes and business decisions through enhanced information sharing – based on a more reliable foundation of data . For this purpose, these initiatives promise significant organizational benefits along a number of dimensions of value, but, as with any business project, they can also carry significant risks and complexity . Since the early tangible value Organizations that have successfully deployed programs that span the enterprise are of an MDM strategy comes prime candidates for a successful enterprise master data management (MDM) initiative; from standardized semantics, those lacking this experience are at greater risk for MDM failure . However, since the consolidated metadata, and early tangible value of an MDM strategy comes from standardized semantics, consolidated metadata, and most critically, data quality improvement, focusing on most critically, data quality these fundamental aspects of MDM reduces the risks while providing practical utility to improvement, focusing on the data user community .
    [Show full text]
  • Essential Elements of a Master Data Management Architecture
    The Fourth MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium, July 14-16, 2010 Essential Elements of a Master Data Management Architecture ABSTRACT Building master data management (MDM) into an IT infrastructure is not as simple as buying a product and plugging it in. Rather, selecting the right MDM architecture is a function of business and technological considerations. Business considerations include management style, organizational structure, and governance. Technical considerations include vendor affinity policy, middleware architecture, and modeling capabilities. In this presentation, Burton Group Principal Analyst, Joe Bugajski, will examine the MDM architecture selection decision, and four of the most common MDM architectural styles: local MDM, hub MDM, federated database MDM, and hybrid MDM. He also will review the characteristics of an MDM system. BIOGRAPHY Joseph M. Bugajski Burton Group Joe Bugajski is principal analyst for Gartner’s Burton Group Research. He covers IT governance, enterprise architecture, and data standards, data access, master data management, information quality, and data integration. Prior to Burton Group, Joe was founder and managing partner of Venture KPI Research Partners who deliver due diligence for venture capitalists. Before this, Joe was chief data officer for Visa International bearing global responsibility for information interoperability. He was Visa’s resident entrepreneur and chief enterprise architect of back office, risk control, and business intelligence infrastructure systems. Prior to Visa, Joe was CEO of Triada, a global business intelligence software maker. Before Triada, Joe was an executive at Ford Motor Company, responsible for engineering information systems and prototype vehicle manufacturing in which function he architected the legendary Taurus/Sable engineering program. Joe is also a data analytics researcher with four patents and twenty-six peer-reviewed publications.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning Data Modelling by Example Chapter 9) Master Data Management
    Learning Data Modelling by Example Chapter 9) Master Data Management 9. Master Data Management (MDM)...............................................................................................2 9.0 Welcome .............................................................................................................................................2 9.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................2 9.2 MDM for CRM.....................................................................................................................................3 9.3 MDM for Law Enforcement ................................................................................................................9 9.4 MDM for Local Government.............................................................................................................16 9.5 What have we learned ? ...................................................................................................................21 Page 1 Learning Data Modelling by Example Chapter 9) Master Data Management 9. Master Data Management (MDM) 9.0 Welcome You are invited to follow developments on our Web Site :- http://www.databaseanswers.org/index.htm You can also join our Database Answers Community http://databaseanswers.ning.com/ Barry Williams Principal Consultant Database Answers Ltd. [email protected] 9.1 Introduction This Chapter will discuss MDM for CRM, Law Enforcement and Local Government.
    [Show full text]
  • Master Data Management (MDM) Improves Information Quality to Deliver Value
    MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium, July 15-17, 2009 Master Data Management (MDM) Improves Information Quality to Deliver Value ABSTRACT Master Data Management (MDM) reasserts IT’s role in responsibly managing business-critical information—master data—to reasonable quality and reliability standards. Master data includes information about products, customers, suppliers, locations, codes, and other critical business data. For most commercial businesses, governmental, and non-governmental organizations, master data is in a deplorable state. This is true although MDM is not new—it was, is, and will be IT’s job to remediate and control. Poor-quality master data is an unfunded enterprise liability. Bad data reduces the effectiveness of product promotions; it causes unnecessary confusion throughout the organization; it misleads corporate officers, regulators and shareholders; and it dramatically increases the IT cost burden with ceaseless and fruitless spending for incomplete error remediation projects. This presentation describes—with examples—why senior IT management should launch an MDM process, what governance they should institute for master data, and how they can build cost-effective MDM solutions for the enterprises they serve. BIOGRAPHY Joe Bugajski Senior Analyst Burton Group Joe Bugajski is a senior analyst for Burton Group. He covers IT governance, architecture, and data – governance, management, standards, access, quality, and integration. Prior to Burton Group, Joe was chief data officer at Visa responsible worldwide for information interoperability. He also served as Visa’s chief enterprise architect and resident entrepreneur covering risk systems and business intelligence. Prior to Visa, Joe was CEO of Triada, a business intelligence software provider. Before Triada, Joe managed engineering information systems for Ford Motor Company.
    [Show full text]
  • Optimize Master Data Management Through Federated Data Governance
    SAP Thought Leadership Paper | PUBLIC Data Management in the Cloud Optimize Master Data Management Through Federated Data Governance An Adaptive Model for Trusted, Process-Relevant Data to Drive Greater Insights, Efficiencies, and ROI 1 / 17 © 2021 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. All rights company. affiliate SE or an SAP SAP © 2021 Table of Contents 3 The Master Data Imperative 5 The Importance of Master Data Integration 8 A New Paradigm: Federated Data Governance 11 The Case for Cloud-Centered Federation 12 Master Data Governance in the Cloud 15 Becoming an Intelligent Enterprise 17 First Steps to Federated Data Governance 2 / 17 © 2021 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. Optimize Master Data Management Through Federated Data Governance The Master Data Imperative Organizations have seldom faced greater chal- analysis and insights to respond quickly and lenges. Financial markets and corporate finance accurately to a rearranged business landscape. remain volatile. Customer behaviors are evolving as more people shop electronically. Employee But effective master data management (MDM) behaviors are adapting as more staff work has long been an escalating imperative. You need remotely. And operations are adjusting as supply the right data in the hands of the right people chains recoil from sudden shocks. to optimize operations, understand and serve customers, and speed innovations to market It has never been more important for your enter- (see Figure 1). And in a digital economy, you need prise and your lines of business (LoBs) to have those insights fast. access to trusted, high-quality data. They require Figure 1: Business-Critical Initiatives Supported by MDM E nsure r ies.
    [Show full text]
  • IBM Industry Models and IBM Master Data Management Positioning And
    IBM Analytics White paper IBM Industry Models and IBM Master Data Management Positioning and Deployment Patterns 2 IBM Industry Models and IBM Master Data Management Introduction Although the value of implementing Master Data Management (MDM) • The Joint Value Proposition summarizes the scenarios in which solutions is widely acknowledged, it is challenging for organizations IBM Industry Models and MDM accelerate projects and bring to realize the promised value. While there are many reasons for this, value. ranging from organizational alignment to siloed system architecture, • Positioning of IBM MDM and IBM Industry Models explains, by certain patterns have been proven to dramatically increase the success using the IBM reference architecture, where each product brings rates of successful projects. value, and how they work together. • IBM Industry Models and MDM deployment options describes The first of these patterns, which is not unique to MDM projects, is the different reasons for which IBM Industry Models are that the most successful projects are tightly aligned with a clear, concise implemented, and how IBM Industry Models are used together business value. Beyond this, MDM projects create challenges to an with IBM MDM in implementing a solution. organization along several lines. • A comparison of IBM Industry Models and MDM discusses the similarities and differences in structure and content of IBM • MDM is a business application that acts like infrastructure. Industry Models and IBM MDM. Organizations need to learn what this means to them and how they are going to adapt to it. This document is intended for any staff involved in planning for or • Although MDM projects might not start with data governance, implementing a joint IBM Industry Models and MDM initiative within they quickly encounter it.
    [Show full text]
  • Semantic Web Technologies and Data Management
    Semantic Web Technologies and Data Management Li Ma, Jing Mei, Yue Pan Krishna Kulkarni Achille Fokoue, Anand Ranganathan IBM China Research Laboratory IBM Software Group IBM Watson Research Center Bei Jing 100094, China San Jose, CA 95141-1003, USA New York 10598, USA Introduction The Semantic Web aims to build a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across applications, enterprises, and community boundaries. It proposes to use RDF as a flexible data model and use ontology to represent data semantics. Currently, relational models and XML tree models are widely used to represent structured and semi-structured data. But they offer limited means to capture the semantics of data. An XML Schema defines a syntax-valid XML document and has no formal semantics, and an ER model can capture data semantics well but it is hard for end-users to use them when the ER model is transformed into a physical database model on which user queries are evaluated. RDFS and OWL ontologies can effectively capture data semantics and enable semantic query and matching, as well as efficient data integration. The following example illustrates the unique value of semantic web technologies for data management. Figure 1. An example of ontology based data management In Figure 1, we have two tables in a relational database. One stores some basic information of several companies, and another one describes shareholding relationship among these companies. Sometimes, users want to issue such a query “find Company EDOX’s all direct and indirect shareholders which are from Europe and are IT company”. Based on the data stored in the database, existing RDBMSes cannot represent and answer the above query.
    [Show full text]