If DRM Were A Super Hero.

What would DRM look like if it were a Super Hero. Maybe a little like this?

It’s time that we look to at Oracle Data Relationship Management (DRM) as a management tool, not just a place to enter random information or as another point of pain. DRM is a super hero of corporate hierarchy management. 

With Oracle Cloud, it is extremely important that companies see the value that DRM has always held. 

Here is what troubles me and the drive behind this post. I see people writing that DRM is NOW important because of the Cloud, when the truth is it has been important all along. They are just showing their immaturity with the product. Not only has it been important all along, it has been tried and true for many years. I started working with it back in 2006, it was called Razza. 

Quick History Lesson: It was BankOne HCS/CCS, Mazio (briefly), Razza, then MDM, now DRM. 

Through all those name changes and enhancements one thing never changed, whatever it was called, it was a central place to manage all your corporate metadata. How much better can it get? Well, actually, a lot better. Most people don’t know this but DRM is agnostic. Oh! Agnostic such a fancy word! What does that mean? Must mean that DRM can do everything, I bet it can even make my coffee. All agnostic means that the DRM was written to interface with anything, but let's be real, there are some limitations, but making your coffee may not be off the list. I think with the advanced coffee makers out there I could invoke a command to at least start the brewing process, just a thought. If your company has any of the Oracle on-prem tools, Cloud and/or even if they are still on MainFrame, DRM can send standardized hierarchies to that system. Yes I have done DRM to Mainframe and no I'm not dating myself in physical age, just technical age. 

Let's say that agnostic is a common super hero power....It would be Super Strength. 

We have agnostic as one super power, but it doesn’t stop there. 

The other super power of DRM is the fact that it can let the business govern the changes made to the hierarchies, with rules around the changes to foster the integrity of the process that YOU design. Data Relationship Governance (DRG) is now a part of DRM, well it has been for a while, but now since the newest release I would say that it has hit maturity. By the way, if you think that your company is unique or that there's not a tool out there that can help you govern your hierarchies, you are actually the perfect candidate for DRM and DRG. You see this tool comes with only a few objects, the rest is 100% custom. Multi-level approvals and email notifications, even a section to tell you who is slacking on approvals. Don't let 100% custom scare you. We have templates! If you've been around the block a few times, like me, you bring some standards that can easily be uploaded through DRM's migration utility. Unlock the power of your business users, turn them loose in a safe environment. Let them help them help you. 

We have independence/governance as the other superpower. That would make this superpower Bulletproof. 

I feel like an infomercial…But wait! There's more!! ……Call now and we will throw in auditing free of charge! 

DRM and DRG sits on top of THE BEST audit trail repositories, yes, that's right, it comes standard with all purchases folks. Ok, infomercial over. 

DRM also has See Thru Vision as a super hero power. DRM can see thru the non-sense and tell you what's going on in the application. Not only will it track the changes you make to the hierarchy, it will track when jobs are run, when someone logs in or out, everything. Pro Note: This is customizable system setting (drop down option) to give as much or little information as you need. Also, the same for the DRG portion of the tool as well. It tracks when someone makes a request, who, what, where, and why. Best part about this super hero power is that you can share it with anyone that wants it. When the auditors question you about the W’s, you can have a pre-made report ready for them. You have this pre-made report because you sat down with the auditor for coffee and you asked them what they needed to be successful. You took their requirements and created a export in DRM that would give them the everything, the same way, every time. Pro Tip: You can automate these jobs with batch script. Yes, even define the date range. Now the auditor is off your back and you have a new friend. Not all auditors are bad people, most of the time they are frustrated. Auditors just want to be successful with what they have been given. 

To recap……DRM is a Super Hero with many super hero strengths. It's a Super Hero because it’s agnostic, gives independence/governance, and has comprehensive auditing.

DRM/DRG will only get better when the Cloud version called DMCS comes out. Look forward to seeing this new Super Hero come to the team soon.