Software AG Acquires Data Foundations for Process-Driven Master Data Management

Online, October 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Software AG today announced the introduction of process-driven Master Data Management through the acquisition of New Jersey-based Data Foundations Inc. Data Foundations is a leading provider of Master Data Management (MDM) software, used to optimize an organization's business performance. MDM gives organizations consistent and reliable information from differing data sources which can be utilized by virtually any system, service oriented architecture (SOA) application or automated business process. The availability of consistent data across the organization will maximize process quality and enable faster more precise business decisions by corporations and the public sector. Organizations with a single and reliable view of business critical data will have laid a key foundation for strategic business optimization. Software AG chose Data Foundations to extend its webMethods product portfolios based on its strategic fit with key corporate strengths including: ease-of-use, superior customer satisfaction, a strong Governance focus, deep integration capabilities and high transaction volumes.

Software AG will help customers adopt a process-driven approach to MDM, where investment in MDM is anchored to specific process improvement initiatives. Through this approach, MDM will play a key role in all phases of the process lifecycle. With Software AG's ARIS Business Process Analysis platform, MDM will enable customers to identify and define key process master data requirements during the process modeling phase, while its webMethods Business Process Management and SOA product suite will enable customers to integrate master data management into process execution and integration. By taking a process-driven approach to MDM, customers will ensure business ownership of master data and create a key foundation for strategic business process optimization.

"Process driven MDM is a strategic extension of our SOA and BPM solutions and a significant step in providing full business process excellence to our customers. Optimizing both the business decision process and facilitating better business decisions will help organizations to more effectively deal with economic challenges and market changes," said Dr. Wolfram Jost, Member of the Board and CTO at Software AG. "Software AG is committed to helping both the CIO and business managers address common challenges and adding MDM to our portfolio demonstrates how IT can support business strategy as never before."

Master Data Management gives organizations visibility and access to core corporate data such as customer, product, supplier or location, which otherwise may be embedded in disparate enterprise applications. MDM consolidates and reconciles this data resulting in significantly and constantly improved data. This high quality data is then available to operational and decision-making applications. This shareable data layer results in a more agile organization with faster response times to changing business requirements and corporate events such as M&A activities, new product lines and changes to organizational hierarchy. Changes to master data can be effected without time consuming, back-end programming and reconciliation. Advanced business users can implement changes themselves, with minimal support needed from IT. The change management capabilities result in clear audit trail and knowledge retention in the organization, enabling higher efficiencies. Better governance with auditing capabilities ensures compliance.

"We are delighted to join forces with Software AG, one of the most successful and respected companies in the software industry," said Mathew Manathara, CEO of Data Foundations. "The combination of our innovative and market leading MDM product lines with Software AG's webMethods suite, and global market presence, will enable us to provide much greater value to our customers and significantly extend our customer base."

Located in the metro New York City area, with development offices in India, Data Foundations' OneData is a refined and mature product, proven in the field to meet a variety of business needs such as true multi-domain Master Data Management, global Reference Data Management, product data cleansing and harmonization, and customer and counterparty data integration. Data Foundations was also recently ranked highest in an MDM Vendor Ranking Report conducted by The Information Difference, an analyst firm focusing on MDM.