Most PIM "evaluations" are five demos and a spreadsheet. NORMA needed something else: the lay of their own data first — attributes, suppliers, channels, gaps — so any vendor conversation could start from a real brief, not a wishlist.
Attributes lived in supplier feeds, ERP master data, marketing decks and a few spreadsheets nobody owned. The category teams reconciled by hand; the channel teams republished by guesswork.
NORMA didn’t need a tool yet — they needed a clear-eyed view of what existed before they bought anything.
Every team had a partial truth; nobody held the whole.
Same attribute, three formats, four spellings.
Web, app, in-store — each maintained its own deltas.
Four weeks. Working sessions with category, ops, IT and a sample of suppliers. Then synthesis: data inventory, system map, gap list, requirements brief.
No vendor logos in the deliverable. The point was to give NORMA something they could brief any vendor with — not a pre-cooked recommendation.
Every attribute, where it’s authored, where it’s consumed.
ERP, supplier feeds, web, app, store systems — and the joins.
Requirements + non-negotiables — ready for an RFP without rework.