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Defining a standard naming convention is one of the most important tasks in any data cleansing project. The naming convention acts as the foundation upon which all existing and future materials data will be built, ensuring consistency and accuracy throughout the item master. After all, this is the format you will have all of your employees use during data entry.
In the initial planning stages of a data cleansing project, it is critical that you and your service provider develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) for naming convention and abbreviations. With that in mind, if you’re considering or even already planning a data cleansing project, now is the time to consider what naming convention will work for your organisation.
What is a standard naming convention?
A standard naming convention is essentially what information you include and the order in which it is included. While that sounds simple, having a convention is incredibly important. Without it, or with one your employees find confusing and can’t follow, your entries will not be consistent and your Material Master data will be riddled with duplicates. For more information on why exactly that matters, check out our recent blog post, The Duplication Dilemma.
The typical standard naming convention consists of the following components:
Noun: A member of a class of words that is combined with modifiers to serve as the subject of a verb. With regards to materials data, the Noun is the primary identifier, which specifies a type of part.
Modifier: A word or phrase that specifies the meaning of the Noun. With regards to materials data, the Modifier is the secondary identifier.
Attributes: The physical and performance characteristics of an item, including type, size, material, application, etc.
For example, let’s examine the item below, a washer:
In this instance, washer is the noun, followed by the modifier, OEM, and several attributes. Here, the item follows the convention of Noun, Modifier, Attributes.
What naming conventions are there?
We discussed the “Noun, Modifier, Attribute” convention above, but what other conventions are common throughout the industry? You may have heard of (or even use) a “Noun, Qualifier” convention. Other providers describe their naming convention as “Item Number, Item Description” (followed by other data). Many organisations also use custom conventions developed in house to meet their own inventory management requirements, such as including a custom asset number.
When it comes down to it, most conventions include approximately the same information. The main difference is what order the information takes, how it’s simplified to meet needs like character limits, and how effectively it can be entered and maintained.
What does IMA do?
As a leading Master Material data cleansing and governance provider, IMA provides tools and services for every part of the cleansing and governance project. For naming conventions, IMA offers an internally developed Noun-Modifier Dictionary to identify and classify your MRO items. The Noun-Modifier Dictionary currently houses over 2,000 Noun-Modifier pairs, each with 5-7 corresponding attributes–and up to 13 attributes! Of course, that depends on what attributes are needed, as you typically do not need (or want) so many.
Unlike many competing software and service providers, the IMA Noun-Modifier Dictionary is flexible and can accommodate client customization. Do you want to follow IMA’s proven naming convention, but need one little change to accommodate a legacy system? Or even multiple changes? Not only can we do that, but we have plenty of experience with customizations for clients working with other specifications.
IMA provides all clients with a copy of the standard Noun-Modifier Dictionary as an industry best practice guideline. Depending on client preference, and consultation from IMA to identify how effectiveness and ease of maintenance, Noun-Modifier pairs and attributes may be added, removed, or rearranged within the dictionary as needed.
Convention examples
Let’s take a look at a couple real-life Noun-Modifier examples. You’ll notice that the attributes are different depending on the type of item you have. Attributes are included to give you the best context and information about a given item so you can always find the correct one.
The examples above show a pretty standard Noun-Modifier example. Depending on your own needs, this may not fit your data. But there are many changes you can make to tailor a convention (such as attribute order) so it makes sense for your organisation.
How do you determine the right convention for you?
Since choosing a naming convention comes down to what works for your organisation, it’ll be important to get the different departments in your organisation involved.
In many cases, maintenance personnel may have a different preference regarding the order of the attributes in the description. In other cases, field types and character limitations require data to be arranged in a specific order so as to clearly identify the item using minimal characters. In any case, it is important to keep in mind that too many or too few naming options can significantly hinder data cleansing effectiveness.
Overall, IMA finds simplicity works best. Of course, what that simplicity looks like to your organisation depends on your unique situation. That’s why it’s ultimately important to involve members from each department of your organisation when you’re making your decisions. You can save a lot of time reworking naming conventions or fixing items that were incorrectly entered by making sure all relevant departments have input on the final dictionary. And, of course, IMA is happy to lend our years of experience to consult on the best option for your organisation.
Why IMA?
IMA has years of experience in the industry that correlates to more knowledge on naming conventions than anyone else. When we say we’ve seen it all, we mean it.
As part of our data cleansing and governance services, we help you along with every step and offer our expertise and guidance. If you’re not sure what exactly you need, we’re happy to consult! In fact, the first part of our process is a thorough review of your legacy schema and what you want to keep.
Do you have something in mind already or have very specific or unusual needs to meet? We also offer the most flexibility of anyone in the industry. No matter what parameters your project has, IMA can work with you to find the best solution.
For more information on the services we offer, check out our Information page.
Conclusion
Naming conventions may seem simple, but as you can see, your data cleansing project’s success can hinge on getting the right one in place! Make sure to devote the proper time and resources to figuring out what works for your organisation. And when in doubt, consult an expert like IMA.
We also recommend taking advantage of our no cost, no obligation Data Evaluation! With a few clicks, you can identify the current condition of your data and receive impactful before and after cleansing samples. We also offer a free, easy-to-use ROI Calculator to reveal the potential savings associated with data cleansing.
For more information, check out our Information page or reach out to us at info@imaltd.com.
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