So where is Microsoft Master Data Management (MDM)?

Well, back in June 2007, Microsoft acquired Stratature, who had a product named +EDM.  +EDM,  was  a master  data  hub with a web UI,  business  rules,  simple human workflow  and  notification,  entity  and  hierarchy management,  versioning,  transaction  logging, and an open subscription interface.  Microsoft has not continued a release of +EDM, but has continued support for existing customers.  In November a technology preview was released to those who applied and were accepted onto the program.  Well since then we have seen a CTP on Connect, which Jamie explored here.  This Blog was written back in March 2008, and since then Microsoft has acquired yet another company called Zoomix, who focuses on MDM data quality.  Information on this acquisition, and what Zoomix is can be found here.   The hope is that all of this will be integrated into Microsoft MDM.

The official release plan was as follows:

• Technology Preview – February, 2008 to a select group of customers.  Near identical functionality to Stratature release (actually released earlier than that, in November 2007).
• TAP – Program commenced first half of 2008.
• CTP – First CTP release available Q3, 2008.

The codename for Microsoft MDM is “Bulldog”, and it seems that Microsoft MDM will ship in Microsoft SharePoint – Office 14 Release which is currently due for release late 2009, early 2010, around the same time as Windows 7.   The codename for the subsequent release of the Microsoft MDM product is “Greenwich”. Apparently major new features will be released in the “Greenwich” timeframe, including integration, analytical & transactional capabilities.  But for the mean time let’s see how “Bulldog” does.

I will continue to keep an eye on MDM, from here on in, although it might be a long wait until you all get your hands on it.