Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services: Difference between revisions

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{{future software}}

'''Microsoft Codename "Bulldog"''' is an upcoming [[Master Data Management]] (MDM) product from [[Microsoft]], which will ship as a part of the future revision of the [[Microsoft Office]] suite, installing either as a standalone application or as a part of [[Microsoft Office SharePoint Server]] installations.<ref name="roadmap">{{cite web | url = http://www.stratature.com/portals/0/MSMDMRoadmap.pdf | title = Microsoft Master Data Management Roadmap | publisher = Microsoft | accessdate = 2007-09-25}}</ref> "Bulldog" is the rebranding of the [[Special:Search/Stratature|Stratature]] MDM product titled '''+EDM''', which Microsoft acquired in June 2007. "Bulldog" will be architecturally similar to +EDM, with increased integration with other Microsoft applications as well as some new features.<ref name="roadmap"/>

'''Microsoft Codename "Bulldog"''' is the [[code name]] for an upcoming [[Master Data Management]] (MDM) product from [[Microsoft]], which will ship as a part of the future revision of the [[Microsoft Office]] suite, installing either as a standalone application or as a part of [[Microsoft Office SharePoint Server]] installations.<ref name="roadmap">{{cite web | url = http://www.stratature.com/portals/0/MSMDMRoadmap.pdf | title = Microsoft Master Data Management Roadmap | publisher = Microsoft | accessdate = 2007-09-25}}</ref> "Bulldog" is the rebranding of the [[Special:Search/Stratature|Stratature]] MDM product titled '''+EDM''', which Microsoft acquired in June 2007. "Bulldog" will be architecturally similar to +EDM, with increased integration with other Microsoft applications as well as some new features.<ref name="roadmap"/>

"Bulldog" is planned to be made available with the next release of [[Microsoft Office]] suite. Currently, packaging or pricing is still undecided. A [[Community Technology Preview|CTP]] of the software is planned to be released in the third quarter of 2008. However, a technological preview is planned for release in February 2008. That release will be virtually identical to the Stratature release of +EDM, without any of the features added by Microsoft.<ref name="roadmap"/>

"Bulldog" is planned to be made available with the next release of [[Microsoft Office]] suite. Currently, packaging or pricing is still undecided. A [[Community Technology Preview|CTP]] of the software is planned to be released in the third quarter of 2008. However, a technological preview is planned for release in February 2008. That release will be virtually identical to the Stratature release of +EDM, without any of the features added by Microsoft.<ref name="roadmap"/>

The successor to "Bulldog" is codenamed "Greenwich", which will include major changes to the analytical and transactional capabilities, as well as better integration with other products. <ref>{{cite web | url = http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:02XRORvWv3kJ:blogs.technet.com/patricg/archive/2007/09/19/microsoft-master-data-management.aspx+Microsoft+Master+Data+Management+Roadmap&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2 | title = Microsoft Master Data Management | accessdate = 2007-09-25}}</ref>

The successor to "Bulldog" is codenamed "Greenwich", which will include major changes to the analytical and transactional capabilities, as well as better integration with other products. <ref>{{cite web | url = http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:02XRORvWv3kJ:blogs.technet.com/patricg/archive/2007/09/19/microsoft-master-data-management.aspx+Microsoft+Master+Data+Management+Roadmap&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2 | title = Microsoft Master Data Management | accessdate = 2007-09-25}}</ref>

==Overview==

Like other MDM products," Bulldog" aims to create a centralized data source and keep it synchronized, and thus reduce redundancies, across the applications which process the data. With this aim, "Bulldog" integrates with end user applications like [[Microsoft Office Excel]], [[Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server]] and [[Microsoft Office SharePoint Server]], while other backend technologies like [[Windows Communication Foundation]] and [[ADO.NET Entity Framework]].<ref name="roadmap"/>

Sharing the architectural core with Stratature +EDM, "Bulldog" uses a [[Microsoft SQL Server]] database as the physical data store. It is a part of the ''Master Data Hub'', which uses the database to store and manage data [[Entity Data Model|entities]].<ref name="roadmap"/> It is a database with the software to validate and manage the data, and keep it synchronized with the systems that use the data.<ref name="arch">{{cite web | url = http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb410798.aspx | title = Master Data Management (MDM) Hub Architecture | author = Roger Walter | publisher = MSDN TechNet | accessdate = 2007-09-25}}</ref> The master data hub has to extract the data from the source system, validate, sanitize and shape the data, remove duplicates, and update the hub repositories, as well as synchronize the external sources.<ref name="arch"/> The entity schemas, attributes, data hierarchies, validation rules and access control information are specified as [[metadata]] to the "Bulldog" runtime. "Bulldog" does not impose any limitation on the data model. "Bulldog" also allows custom ''Business rules'', which are used to validate and sanitize the data entering the data hub, to be defined, which is then run against the data matching the specified criteria. All changes made to the data are validated against the rules, and a log of the transaction is stored persistently. Violations are logged separately, and optionally the owner is notified, automatically. All the data entities can be [[Revision control system|versioned]].<ref name="roadmap"/>

"Bulldog" allows the master data to be categorized by hierarchical relationships, such as employee data are a subtype of organization data. Hierarchies are generated by relating data attributes. Data can be automatically categorized using rules, and the categories are introspected programmatically. "Bulldog" can also expose the data as [[Microsoft SQL Server]] [[view (database)|views]], which pulled by any [[SQL]]-compatible client. It uses a role-based access control system to restrict access to the data. The views are generated dynamically, so they contain the latest data entities in the master hub. It can also push out the data by writing to some external journals. "Bulldog" also includes a web-based UI for viewing and managing the data. It uses [[AJAX]] in the front-end and [[ASP.NET]] in the back-end.<ref name="roadmap"/>

"Bulldog" will also include certain features not available in the Stratature +EDM product. It will gain an [[Web service]] interface to expose the data, as well as an [[API]], which internally uses the exposed web services, exposing the feature set, programmatically, to access and manipulate the data. It will also integrate with [[Active Directory]] for authentication purposes. Unlike +EDM, "Bulldog" will support [[Unicode]] characters, as well as support multilingual user interfaces.<ref name="roadmap"/>

==References==