Frequently Asked Questions

MaterialMaster is an enterprise platform for MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations) data management. We provide data cleansing, classification, and governance services through a web-based platform backed by a team of data quality specialists.

Our clients include asset-intensive organizations across oil and gas, mining, utilities, manufacturing, and transportation. Any organization that maintains a material master catalog with MRO items can benefit from our services.

We combine a purpose-built technology platform with experienced data specialists. Unlike manual cleansing services, our platform provides real-time visibility, governance workflows, and quality monitoring. Unlike software-only solutions, we provide the trained staff to do the actual cleansing work.

MaterialMaster is a US-based company with onshore project management and a global team of data quality specialists.

No. MaterialMaster is not an ERP or EAM system. We complement your existing systems — SAP, Maximo, Oracle, and others — by ensuring the material master data that flows through them is clean, standardized, and properly classified. Think of us as the data quality layer that makes your ERP investment more effective.

You upload your material master data through our platform. Our team analyzes the data, then systematically cleanses each record — standardizing descriptions, verifying identifiers, correcting manufacturer information, and classifying items. You can monitor progress in real-time through your dashboard.

We accept data in CSV, Excel (XLS/XLSX), and XML formats. We also support direct exports from SAP, Maximo, and Oracle in their native formats. For other systems, our team can work with custom file layouts.

Project timelines depend on volume and complexity. A typical project of 10,000 items takes 4-6 weeks. SLA turnaround times for individual items range from 3-7 business days depending on your plan tier.

Yes. Many clients start with a cleansing project and then transition to our governance platform to maintain data quality going forward. The governance tools can also be used standalone.

Yes. All plans include onboarding training for your team. Enterprise plans include onsite training options. We also provide documentation and video tutorials accessible from the platform.

Our cleansing process cross-references material records against known counterfeit databases and manufacturer catalogs. We flag items with mismatched manufacturer data, invalid or discontinued part numbers, and suspicious sourcing patterns. This helps organizations identify suspect parts before they enter the supply chain or get installed on critical assets.

Data cleansing corrects and standardizes existing data — fixing misspellings, normalizing abbreviations, removing duplicates, and formatting descriptions to ISO-8000 conventions. Data enrichment adds missing information — filling in manufacturer names, part numbers, units of measure, taxonomy classifications, and technical specifications from external catalogs. Most organizations benefit from both services, and we often perform them together as part of a comprehensive data quality project.

AI is embedded throughout our workflow as an accelerator for our data quality specialists — not as a replacement for them. Machine learning models handle pattern recognition at scale: identifying potential duplicates across naming variations, suggesting taxonomy classifications, extracting structured attributes from free-text descriptions, and flagging anomalies for priority review. Every AI-generated recommendation passes through human review before it becomes part of your data. This human-in-the-loop approach gives you the speed and consistency of automation with the judgment and domain expertise that MRO data demands. Learn more about our AI-enhanced workflow.

Data Advisor is an upcoming AI-powered feature that lets you ask questions about your data in natural language and get instant, context-aware answers. Unlike a generic chatbot, Data Advisor is connected to your live MaterialMaster workspace — it understands your material master records, workflow progress, quality metrics, and historical trends. It's read-only and grounded in your actual data. Learn more about Data Advisor.

ISO 8000 is the international standard for data quality. It defines requirements for master data exchange and provides naming conventions for material descriptions. MaterialMaster uses ISO 8000 Part 110 and Part 120 as the foundation for our description standardization.

We support UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code), eClass, and GS1 standards. We can also map items to custom taxonomies or proprietary classification systems.

UNSPSC is a global classification system for products and services used in procurement and spend analytics. Classifying your materials to UNSPSC enables better spend visibility, strategic sourcing, and benchmarking across facilities.

Yes. While we recommend ISO 8000 as a best practice, we can configure our platform to use your organization's existing naming conventions, abbreviation standards, and attribute formats.

The SemFact Schema is our proprietary data model for MRO material records. It defines the attributes, relationships, and validation rules needed to maintain high-quality material master data. The schema supports key-value attribute pairs, rendering templates for consistent description generation, and mapping to external taxonomies like UNSPSC, eClass, and eOTD. It serves as the foundation for our cleansing, classification, and governance workflows.

Our plans combine a per-user monthly fee with a per-item processing fee. The per-user fee covers platform access and support. The per-item fee covers the actual cleansing or governance work performed on each material record.

An item is a single material master record submitted for cleansing or governance review. Each unique record counts as one item regardless of the number of attributes processed.

Plans are billed monthly with no long-term commitment required. Enterprise plans may include custom terms with annual billing options.

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time. Changes take effect at the start of your next billing cycle. Your data and configuration are preserved when changing plans.

Yes. For organizations processing more than 5,000 items per month, we offer custom pricing. Contact our sales team for a tailored quote.