Next Level Master Data Management

Automotive companies invest significant resources in essential but non-differentiating activities: managing business partner master data and exchanging certificates.

• Maintaining up-to-date and correct business partner data is costly, but essential to avoid regulatory fines, incorrect claims, and billing issues.
• Certificate management is often fragmented and inefficient, especially for suppliers who need to upload the same certificates — such as ISO 9001, ISO 27001, or IATF 16949— across multiple customer portals.

Thes tasks are performed redundantly across companies, while regulatory demands continue to grow, increasing the pressure on automotive players to find more efficient and reliable solutions.

Catena-X offers two highly practical and easy-to-implement use cases under the umbrella of Master Data Management:

1. Business Partner Data Management (BPDM)
   Provides the so-called Golden Record, a harmonized and quality-assured dataset of business partners, locations, and addresses, including the unique Business Partner Number (BPN) as a cross-company identifier. BPDM significantly reduces redundant data efforts, improves data quality, and enables proactive risk management through value-added services.
2. Certificate Management
   Standardizes the exchange of certificates (ISO, IATF, environmental certificates, etc.) via the Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC). Instead of uploading certificates separately for every customer and maintaining countless interfaces, suppliers and OEMs can share certificates securely and efficiently via a single, interoperable interface.

Both business value areas are designed for fast implementation with minimal technical integration and deliver immediate return on investment. They are ideal starting points into the Catena-X ecosystem and prepare companies to adopt further use cases effortlessly.

Users looking to acquire an existing solution can find it on the Cofinity-X marketplace.