🧭Identify Drivers and Requirements

NEW

Also known as: MDM Requirements Elicitation, Define MDM Business Drivers

Early MDM activity to articulate business drivers, stakeholders, scope, requirements, and success criteria before solution design.

DESCRIPTION

Identifying drivers and requirements anchors MDM outcomes to business value. Activities include stakeholder interviews, pain-point analysis, prioritization, and defining measurable success metrics. It clarifies domains, scope, policies, and governance roles. Outputs inform architecture, vendor selection, and phased roadmap. This step reduces rework and change resistance. It is iterative and revisited as understanding matures.

ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS

Wikipedia

Requirements elicitation is the practice of researching and discovering the requirements of a system from users, customers, and other stakeholders.

Emphasizes stakeholder-centered discovery for requirements.

Source

IIBA

Elicitation is the practice of collecting information from stakeholders and other sources to discover requirements.

Frames elicitation as a structured collection process within business analysis.

Source

RELATED TERMS

Master Data Management Data Strategy Stakeholder Analysis Business Case Requirements Engineering Governance Scope Definition Roadmap Change Management Data Maturity Assessment

COMPETING TERMS

MDM Implementation

KNOWLEDGE AREAS

Reference & Master Data Data Management Transformation Process Data Governance Collaboration

TARGET AUDIENCE

Data Strategy Consultant Data Governance Manager Chief Data Officer Enterprise Architect Digital Transformation Manager Data Management Consultant

EXTERNAL SOURCES

• Wikipedia - Requirements elicitation
• ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148 - Requirements engineering standard
• Gartner - MDM success factor guidance
• DAMA International - Data management body of knowledge
• Carnegie Mellon SEI - Requirements management practices

TOP QUESTIONS

Why is Identify Drivers and Requirements essential in MDM?

It aligns MDM with business goals, clarifies scope, and sets measurable success criteria, preventing misaligned implementations.

Category: Relevancy

Who should participate in Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Business owners, data stewards, architects, compliance, and analytics teams should collaborate to capture holistic requirements.

Category: Collaboration

What are common mistakes in Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Jumping to tool selection, vague goals, and insufficient stakeholder engagement lead to scope creep and poor adoption.

Category: Mistakes

How do you measure success for Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Define KPIs like duplicate reduction, cycle-time improvements, and data quality score increases linked to business outcomes.

Category: Testing

What risks arise when skipping Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Projects drift, value is unclear, and change resistance grows. Technical debt increases due to rework.

Category: Risk

What deliverables result from Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Stakeholder maps, business case, prioritized requirements, governance model, and a phased roadmap.

Category: Overview

What’s a hot topic around Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Data product thinking and value-stream mapping to tie MDM outcomes to measurable business value.

Category: Topic

How does Identify Drivers and Requirements inform architecture?

It defines domains, integration needs, security, and SLAs that drive technology choices and patterns.

Category: Management

Where to start with Identify Drivers and Requirements?

Run structured discovery workshops, capture pain points, prioritize by impact, and validate with stakeholders.

Category: Requirements