Assessing Tools for Coordinating Quality of Master Data in Inter-organizational Product Information Sharing

Product information sharing, i.e., inter-organizational transfer of master data relating to products, is a problematic, error-prone, labor-intensive, and costly process in many companies. This paper presents findings of a focus group interview and case studies at three wholesale trading companies that share product information with hundreds of suppliers. We identify and assess coordination mechanisms and tools used to facilitate product information sharing. Spreadsheet files, e-mail messages, telephone calls, and personal meetings are predominant coordination tools. EDI connections, product identification and classification standards, online product catalogs, and data pools are not widely adopted in the trading organizations covered by our study. Reasons for the low adoption rate are that employees responsible for master data quality are either unaware of these resources or that they are convinced that the tools are too cost-intensive or not flexible enough.

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