Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Master Data Services Book Review

This is the time to start learning about Microsoft's Master Data Services and this book is a great place to start. With the release of Denali we will be getting some nice improvements to the MDS toolset. We will be getting Excel tools that interface with the data, an excel add in that works with the SQL Server Data Quality Services, easier data loading, better web UI, and the ability to install the tools with the SQL Server installer. Although this book does not cover the Denali toolset, it covers everything else you will need to know in order to take advantage of them when they come out. The book starts out with an introduction to MDM. It covers Analytical MDM, Operational MDM, Transaction Hub, Registry Hub, Hybrid Hub, data governance, data stewardship, and a little of the politics and organizational changes. It then introduce Master Data Services and how to install and configure them. Next are chapters on Creating and Using Models, Version Management, Importing Data into Master Data Services, Importing Data into Master Data Services, Extracting Data from Master Data Services, Application Programming Interface, and Master Data Services Security. The thing I like most about the book is that it discusses multiple integration points with MDS. The book shows examples using BizTalk 2010, SharePoint 2010, and SSIS. The book shows you how to take advantage of both the WCF interface and assembly interfaces. The SharePoint examples include web part and workflow integration. I also like the chapter on the staging tables and the business rules. Using the staging tables can be confusing, but I thought the author did a great job of explaining them. The chapter on the business rules does a great job of introducing business rules and has a lot of hands on examples. The one thing lacking in this book as well as other MDS books is detailed examples of de-duplication and merging of records. Hopefully because the Denali tools will include an interface to the Data Quality tools the MDS books will begin to include examples. This is one of the most important parts of an MDM project, but like other MDM tools, the responsibility is placed on the developers and not handled very well by the MDM technology unless the data has already been scrubbed to a very high quality. This misconception can catch business owners off guard, believing an MDM product alone is a solution to your data problems is a big mistake. One caution I would give the reader is thinking all you need to know about MDM is how to use MDS services. This book does a great job of covering MDS services, and although it does do a good job introducing MDM, there is a lot more to an MDM project that you need to understand. The authors have a very clear understanding of this point, and they call it out to the reader. Without business sponsorship your MDM project will fail to get past the inception phase, take it from someone who has experienced this first hand. MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT AND DATA GOVERNANCE, 2/E is a great place to start learning about the full scope of an MDM project's process. This book comes with a download that includes sample data for a model you build, sample scripts, an SSIS package, a sample custom workflow, the web part project, the projects using the WCF interface and assembly interfaces, and the custom workflow solution. Over all I think this is a great choice for getting started with MDS.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Master Data Services