1. Background introduction and difficulty analysis
As a world-leading logistics industry integrator, end-to-end supply chain solution and one-stop logistics service provider, Sinotrans attaches great importance to informatization construction and has successively invested in the construction of more than 300 information systems. Internal management and business operations provide IT support and assurance.
Due to the lack of unified standards and unified management, various commonly used master data have different standards and different codes, resulting in the inability of effective association and sharing of data between systems, forming "information islands" and "data chimneys", which seriously threaten corporate data. Centralization and data application have brought great difficulties, and the more prominent problems mainly focus on the following aspects:
(1) Due to the lack of unified master data of external units, customers and suppliers are identified differently in different systems, making it difficult to uniquely identify them. At the same time, due to the lack of verification of the authenticity and validity of master data, the accuracy and validity of basic information such as customers, suppliers, human resources, and organizational structures cannot be guaranteed, which has a certain impact on the company's operation management and risk control.
(2) The employee master data has not been managed and shared in a unified way, and the employee identity data is not unified. Not only can it not effectively manage key resources such as mailboxes and login accounts associated with employees, resulting in waste of resources and potential safety hazards, but also returns to the company platform Unified user directory management, unified authentication, and single sign-on integration required for globalization and collaboration have brought great obstacles.
(3) There is no uniform standard for the internal organizational structure, and personnel, finance, and business calibers are different, and the company's internal management cannot achieve a unified caliber.
(4) Business basic master data (such as ports, inland locations, airports, stations, airlines, packaging types, etc.) are managed in a decentralized manner, with inconsistent data standards, uneven management levels, and low data quality, making it difficult to meet business digitization, Management requirements for platform collaboration.
(5) There is no unified classification code and master data definition for business resources, materials, equipment, etc., and the company lacks standard data support in the implementation of business resource sharing (cloud resources), centralized procurement management, material management, etc., making it difficult to play an effective role.
2. Construction process
How to solve these problems, Sinotrans has been thinking and exploring since 2013. Start with data standardization, formulate and improve urgently needed data code standards and data specifications to standardize various codes and basic data. After investigation and analysis, and drawing on the experience of other units, Sinotrans decided to adopt a unified standard and platform to strengthen master data management and realize the implementation of data standards. In 2016, it launched a master data platform construction consulting and implementation project to build a unified Sinotrans Master data management tool.
Sinotrans started the construction of the master data project in September 2016. The project is mainly divided into two stages: consulting and implementation. The master data consulting project revolves around the establishment of the master data standard system, the planning of master data management tools, and the establishment of the master data management system. A detailed research and planning was carried out, which laid a solid foundation for the implementation of master data management tools in the implementation stage.
3. Construction achievements
(1) Designed a unified master data standard system for Sinotrans.
Identify the data from the four factors of feature consistency, identification uniqueness, long-term validity, and transaction stability, sort out and plan the scope of data management and business boundaries, determine the scope of master data, and finally design and complete the unified master data of Sinotrans standard system.
Master Data Standard System
(2) A unified master data management tool has been established.
Based on the master data function points, function mechanisms, and data exchange and integration characteristics, a unified master data management tool is established to realize the full life cycle management of master data and meet the data integration and data sharing needs of various application systems.
Master Data Management Tool Functional Architecture
(3) Implemented 6 major categories of master data, and completed a large amount of data cleaning and loading.
Based on the master data standard system, the first phase of the project selects the general basic class, internal unit class, external unit class, employee class, financial class, and business master data for implementation, and formulates the standards and maintenance rules for each type of master data in detail and completes each The cleaning of class data forms a unified master data code base.
(4) Complete the integration of internal and external application systems and provide one-stop data services.
The master data platform uniformly distributes different types of master data externally through the enterprise service bus (ESB), and each application system subscribes to the type of master data it needs through the ESB.
(5) The email management process driven by HR data has been transformed, and the unified and standardized management of employee data has been realized.
Through the integration of the main data platform with the IT service desk and mail system, the data of HR and mail system (AD domain) are connected, and reliable associations are established for key data of users, which solves the long-standing problem that it is difficult to effectively manage employee emails. Lay the foundation for collaborative work.
(6) Citing standard business and industrial data, and uniformly standardizing customer and supplier data.
After the master data platform is launched, authoritative industrial and commercial data are cited as benchmark data to ensure the accuracy, authenticity, validity and completeness of customer and supplier data. For overseas companies, the authenticity of the data is strictly verified and verified through various channels such as DUNS, the company's official website and offline verification.
(7) Build a "five-in-one" master data operation and maintenance service guarantee system.
A unified master data management and operation mechanism has been established, and information officers and auditors are assigned to different master data types. According to the data maintenance and audit process, the entire life cycle of master data is strictly managed to ensure the quality and timeliness of master data. Provide accurate and reliable master data for all aspects of the company's applications.
4. Summary and outlook
The master data management tool is an important starting point for Sinotrans to carry out data governance. It is an important foundation for the company to realize digital management, platform-based collaboration and whole-process visual services. It provides logistics data services for the company and provides basic data support for all links before and after the logistics chain. . Master data management is a long-term and arduous basic work. The implementation of the first phase of the project is only a small step. In the future, Sinotrans will build a business statistical index system, a management index system, and sort out asset classification, codes, and key attributes. Wait, there is still a long way to go. On the basis of conscientiously summarizing experience, Sinotrans has strengthened its confidence, continued to work hard to promote data governance construction and application promotion, and made due efforts for the company's platform and digital strategy implementation.