The Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) recently completed a successful 5-month long master data improvement project for Sodexo Australia. The scope of the project involved converting Sodexo’s existing master data to conform to ISO 8000 – the international standard for data quality.

Sodexo, the world leader in Quality of Life Services, operates on the business model of delivering integrated facilities management services, designed to improve the quality of life of their clients and consumers. Operating in 72 countries, Sodexo serves 100 million consumers each day through its unique combination of On-site Services, Benefits and Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services. Sodexo in Australia delivers a unique array of over 100 integrated service lines including facilities management, asset maintenance, catering, concierge services, security, and hospitality services; to clients and industries in the sectors of Corporate Services, Healthcare & Seniors, Education, Government & Justice Services and Energy & Resources, both on and off-shore.

Speaking on the rationale for opting to implement a master data improvement based on ISO 8000 principles and best practice, Paul Cooper, CEO Mining APAC, Sodexo Australia said, “We required a quality material master as many of our clients are global businesses, and as part of our service offering and methodology, we aim to evolve with continuous improvements. This means engaging new technologies and systems.”

He further stated, “We chose ECCMA as our preferred partner for implementing ISO 8000 taking into consideration the fact that the organization was the original developer of the UNSPSC classification system, and also for its track record in having created the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD), in partnership with NATO AC/135, the governing body that manages NATO Codification services. We engaged ECCMA to help create a Standardized Naming Convention for our hard and soft facilitates management service, due to the considerable growth of Sodexo in Australia and our expected growth on an international scale.”

As a solution to the issues Sodexo was facing with their master data catalog, ECCMA stood up an instance of the ECCMA Master Data Validator (eMDV) to manage and de-duplicate the Sodexo material master catalog.

The eMDV is a cloud-based, ISO 8000 compliant cataloging and master data management application, which creates consistent, unambiguous descriptions using the eOTD and the eDRR (ECCMA Data Requirements Registry). The eDRR is a large repository of ISO 8000 compliant cataloging templates, which uses terminology from the eOTD and is available for use by ECCMA full members. Additionally, the eMDV toolset incorporates a Cataloging @ Source feature, whereby a pre-populated template of an item specification can be sent electronically to a supplier to validate, and if required update descriptions and property values, and then send back to the buyer for loading cleansed item descriptions and specifications into the buyers ERP system.

Speaking on the implementation and use of the eMDV by Sodexo, Sheron Koshy, Vice-President ECCMA stated, “Sodexo’s usage of the eMDVs Cataloging @ Source feature has helped to improve the quality of its material master with the least amount of effort, and avoid the time consuming and costly process of master data cleansing. In time, Sodexo will be able to boast of a material master second to none, which will provide long term cost savings to Sodexo, and go a long way in providing a better level of service to its global clientele.”

Alluding to the results of the project, Simon Cooksley, IFS Catalog Manager, Sodexo Australia, who led and coordinated the data improvement project for Sodexo said, “In the past, we used supplier descriptions that were ambiguous, inconsistent and duplicated, which ultimately resulted in less productivity and challenges in working effectively. After implementing ECCMAs recommended methodologies, we can gladly say our inventory catalog has been reduced by over 50 percent. In terms of short-term benefits, we found ECCMAs solutions solved the problems we had been experiencing immediately by developing a clear, precise and easy-to-use catalog for our internal and external stakeholders. In the long term, our ISO 8000 catalog will be measured and evaluated for a period of 12 months, before we implement the system to our other sectors in Sodexo.”

Commenting on ECCMAs role in the master data improvement initiative, Simon Cooksley stated, “Overall, our entire experience was faultless with ECCMA, from the introduction and development stages to the implementation and project closure stages; taking only five months from start to end for completion. ECCMA delivered a fully managed support service to our team in that short period of time, coordinating the effort across two countries on different continents. The ECCMA technical team based in India made us feel extremely comfortable with their capabilities and ensured that all requests were tailored to meet our requirements, while still addressing future business needs. The stability and professionalism displayed by project leads, has helped pave the way for a long-term partnership, that we will continue to pursue for expert advice and quality services.”

Making a statement on the closure of the project, Peter Benson, Executive Director ECCMA, and Project Leader for the development of ISO 8000 said, “It is heartening to note the success Sodexo has experienced with the use of eMDV, and more specifically its utilization of Cataloging @ Source by data managers. Cataloging @ Source is the only way for buyers to populate material master catalogs with authoritative product specifications from suppliers, and it is also the cheapest method to achieve this since it removes the necessity for costly data cleansing undertakings. In closing, Peter Benson commented, “I commend the bold initiative taken on by Sodexo Australia, to adopt an ISO 8000 framework to maintain a lean and quality material master. Considering this has been a very successful implementation of ISO 8000 at Sodexo Australia, we look forward to working with Sodexo’s other facilities around the globe in the near future.”

ECCMA now offers a 30-day Free Trial of the eMDV application, for organizations that are keen to improve the quality of master data. The eMDV is especially suited for organizations that currently use numerous, disparate ERP systems, as it eliminates multiple sets of master data which do not provide a single version of the truth. Additionally, the eMDV is an invaluable application to clean up master data records prior to an ERP upgrade or data migration. A free trial request and an overview of the eMDV feature set can be found here: https://eccma.org/supply-chain-optimisation.

Media Contact

Peter R. Benson

Executive Director, ECCMA

Email: peter.benson@eccma.org