Time and time again, we talk about the
benefits of data cleansing and the cost savings opportunities that typically
come along with clean data. Now, it’s time to turn our attention towards the
long-term picture and focus on how data quality will be maintained once the
cleansing project is complete.
The last thing any company wants to see is
for their data cleansing efforts to fail due to the absence of a proper
catalogue management strategy. In order to prevent the cleansed database from
reverting back to its previously corrupt state, companies must identify and
implement a data governance strategy that aligns with both their business needs
and objectives.
There are various options available for
maintaining the MRO Catalogue. The most common options include allocating internal
resources to manually manage new part entries, purchasing stand alone software,
or outsourcing cataloguing activities to a third party service provider. Just
like in any competitive market, there are many pros and cons to be argued for
each option. The right choice really comes down to three things – company
objectives, cost, and available resources.
In this blog, we will focus on outsourcing
catalogue management and why it is often the go-to solution for so many
companies.
As we know, one of the largest factors when
out-sourcing catalogue management is cost. Catalogue management providers are
experts who specialize in this field, and the fact is, they are much more
efficient in providing this service than any company could ever be. Catalogue
Management providers can price their service much lower than what it would cost
a company to allocate resources or purchase software to manage this function
internally. Through web-based services and technology advancements, outsourcing
catalogue management has become even more efficient and advantageous.
Maintenance workers can now log into a user-friendly web portal and request
additions, modifications, extensions, and suspensions to the catalogue through
a uniform process.
From there, companies may elect to have a
built-in approval work flow whereby designated Approvers are notified of
pending requests and required to review them before submission. Once requests
have been approved, they are then submitted to a designated third-party
cataloguer who will cleanse and format items in accordance to the existing customer
standards. During this process, duplicate items are identified and corporate
part numbers are assigned.
Within a twenty-four hour time frame, a
clean, consistent, load-ready item file is returned through the web portal,
where it can be retrieved and uploaded into the live enterprise system.
In other words, outsourcing through a
web-based model provides the best of both worlds in terms of software and internal
catalogue management. Not only is it the most cost effective option, but
outsourcing also ensures maximum data quality and consistency.
To learn more about outsourcing catalogue
management, please visit www.imaltd.com or
contact info@imaltd.com.
