Scope
Compared
- Whether each governs master data values or the full operating record around them
- How each treats decisions, contracts, and policy as first-class objects
- Where identity resolution lives and how OCOM builds on it
Not compared
- Specific MDM tooling or platforms
- Data quality, matching, and deduplication algorithms
- MDM governance operating models (steward councils, DAMA-DMBOK practice)
Terminology mapping
| OCOM | MDM | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Golden Record | Partial |
| Object | Master Data Entity | Partial |
| Ownership | Data Steward | Partial |
| Registry | System of Record | Partial |
| Contract | — | None |
Conceptual differences
| Aspect | OCOM | MDM |
|---|---|---|
| Centre of gravity | Object-centric: the operating record of what is true and why | Data-centric: the golden record of what a value is |
| Time | Object state and evidence over the whole lifecycle | Golden value with a change history, not a governed lifecycle |
| Governance | First-class: ownership, policy, constraint, decisions | Data stewardship and quality rules, not operational accountability |
| Scope | Spans everything the organization must account for | Bounded to master data domains (customer, product, supplier, location) |
Concept coverage
| Concept | OCOM | MDM |
|---|---|---|
| Golden record resolution | Partial | Covered |
| Object identity | Covered | Partial |
| Lifecycle | Covered | Partial |
| Governance | Partial | Partial |
| Ownership | Covered | Partial |
| Evidence | Partial | Out of scope |
| AI retrieval | Partial | Out of scope |
Four OCOM cells read Partial rather than Covered (Golden record resolution, Governance, Evidence, AI retrieval), and the reason for each is recorded in the specification's own register: Golden record resolution is Partial because OCOM governs identity and provenance but prescribes no matching or survivorship algorithm; Governance is a Core Characteristic of every Object that no document defines as one (AO-023); Evidence has no Meta, Models or Language definition, its Definition being reserved for a future version (AO-021); AI retrieval is disclaimed by AI/Context/Context Assembly.md, which prescribes no retrieval algorithms (AO-048). Workflow and Event are defined normatively at the Models tier and carry no Core Vocabulary term record.
Covered: the model defines the concept explicitly. Partial: the concept appears indirectly or by convention. Out of scope: the model does not set out to describe it; a boundary, not a deficiency.
Interoperability
- MDM is a natural provider inside an OCOM model: the source of identity resolution and golden attribute values for entity objects.
- OCOM wraps those values with lifecycle, evidence, policy, and the promotion rules that decide what enters the record. The two are complementary rather than competing: an MDM golden record may serve as the Identity source for an OCOM Object, MDM concepts fall inside Identity and Registry, and Contract, Policy and Evidence lie outside what MDM sets out to describe.
References
- OCOM Identity
- OCOM Ownership
- OCOM Registry
- DAMA-DMBOK: Data Management Body of Knowledge