History of Master Data Management

When companies began using computer applications to manage information, in order to perform tasks and generate results, all pertinent data had to be loaded into each application directly. Over time, companies adopted more applications and had to enter the same dataset into each of them. As a response to this, developers began to employ the technique of creating master files that stored key, reusable data for use within each application. These initial master files were the first master data management systems.

Once the master data was loaded into each application, new records would be added in the application or to the master list, and the two sets of data were no longer in sync. Early data reconciliation efforts were time consuming and costly. Very few tools existed that could identify differences and manage duplicate records.