Overcoming Product Data

Challenges in Publishing
Organizations Using
Oracle Product Hub

Abstract
As content in the publishing industry goes online from traditional physical books, along with
various innovations in delivery channels, product data management processes and data model
design to manage the increasing number of product versions becomes more challenging than
ever. This paper deals with some of the critical features that are required to solve growing data
management challenges in publishing using Oracle Product Hub.

and organizations are countering it by introducing product data management strategies. To ignore it would
only lead to a high degree of inconsistency and incompleteness in product information, leading to data
redundancy and data quality issues. In order to produce accurate and consistent information, product data
models must be flexible enough to accommodate multiple manifestations, gathering data from varied
applications and mastering it, before publishing it according to well-defined business rules for consumption
by downstream applications.

Critical Features

Overview
In publishing, as in any other industry, over the past few decades product data has come to exist in a
wide variety of applications, systems and databases, as well as spreadsheets and other formats. Product
information is fragmented throughout different business groups, users or systems, instead of being
available centrally. There is an increasing number of product data outputs required (e.g., online, physical
print catalogs, learning solutions, electronic data feeds, etc.). This has become a major publishing challenge,

Now more than ever, publishing organizations need a scalable, configurable, rules-driven and
robust product information platform. Oracle Product Hub capabilities, enriched with Cognizants
information management experience, provide the foundation for meeting this growing need.
Some key capabilities of our solution include:

Automated Product Induction, Update Process

Fragmented
Product
Data
Tie Different
Formats of
Same Content
Together

Administrator

Staging
Database

Incomplete &
Inaccurate
Data

Onboarding
Products
Through
Acquisitions

Figure 1 : Product Data Management - Industry Pain Points

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Content, In-house
Applications

Validations

Notification

Error Handling

Content Product Automated

Batch Process

Enabling Power Users to manage rules

for Induction, Publish and DQ Reporting

Product Data
Management
Challenges
Lost Cross- &
Up-Sell
Opportunities

Error Handling

Inform Source
for Data
Related Errors

Inbound
Validations

Revenue
Recognition at
Lowest Level
(Docs,
Chapters,
etc.)

DQ Rules for
Report
Global and Regional
Power Users

User Interface to
Manage Rules

PIM
Database

Publish
Validations

Automated Product Publish

Notify Admin
for Errors

Scheduled Publish
Program

Validations

Publish Data for

Downstream Application

Figure 2 : Cognizants Extendable Solutions - Feature Map

November 2014
CAMPEXEC COGNIZANT REDEFINES CAMPAIGN EXECUTION

Product Data Modeling

Oracle Product Hub

Product data modeling is one of the key aspects of any Oracle Product Hub implementation. Prior to
designing the model, any content that is to be associated with the product in Oracle Product Hub, but not
to be managed in Product Hub, must be determined. Oracle Product Hub is where the product is created,
collated, cleansed, governed, shared, published and retired.
Content is managed outside of Product Hub, but is associated with items in Product Hub. Content items
could reside in any of the product manifestations or medium in which it is transacted or sold to customers.
Product Offering Online
(Structure Item in PH)

Product Catalog /
Taxonomy
Legal owner of product data
and beneficial owner drives
the structure of taxonomy
along with attribution

Products

User-defined attributes
(UDA)
Oracle-seeded attributes
Multi-row, user-defined
attributes
Business rules to ensure
data integrity
Item templates to
default attribute

Product
(Structure Item in
PH)

Product Offering Print - Hardback

(Structure Item in PH)

Content
Set
Product 1
(Structure Item in
PH)

Documents

Documents

Properties or
Chapters or
Topics

Properties or
Chapters or
Topics

Structures or Bills of Material

Attributes Management

(Structure Item in
PH)

Content Item
in Product Hub

Items

Change Management

Life Cycle and Change Policies

Alternate Catalog Categories

Product Offering Print Softback or PDF

(Structure Item in PH)

Figure 4

Not Managed in Oracle Product Hub

Product 1

Product Representation

(Structure Item in
PH)

Figure 3 : Product Representation

We recommend managing the association of content items to sellable versions of product offerings in
different formats, using structures in Oracle Product Hub. Pricing of content to be managed at content
item level, and any add-on, is applied at the structure level. This ensures no ambiguity while managing
royalties and subscription accounting transactions. This framework, coupled with Oracle Product Hubs
other features listed below, provides a flexible data model that can support publishing industry needs.
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Online and Physical Product Data Management

The fluid development of content presentation to customers the core information asset in the publishing
industry poses a unique set of challenges for any publisher. Content set management for online channels
differs from traditional physical products management. Very often, product managers collate different
content and content types to deliver sellable product packages. Conversely, in the physical world, content
association with physical products doesnt vary much, but typically traverses a longer lifecycle process
before hitting the data in Oracle Product Hub. To minimize complexity and accommodate business practices
associated with online and traditional, physical product data management, we recommend separating
online and physical content associated with products. When both are managed in Oracle Product Hub,
it is best not to link them (though content may be the same); instead, create them separately as items in
Product Hub.
COGNIZANT 20-20 INSIGHTS

Online Product Introduction

Product Publishing Framework

Having well-defined processes for new product introductions in online channels is another critical need.
Content items flow into Product Hub through an automated, common induction process, with built-in
business validations. From there, product managers may package various content to provide sellable
offerings, which go through different data collection, validation and approval processes before reaching
the online customer application. Cognizant provides a scalable framework to support this business
requirement, which can be extended for online, as well as physical or other channels.

Product Hub needs to share a common definition of product and product offerings across the organization
for various downstream applications (i.e., royalties, financials, fabrication, CRM, WAM, etc.). Cognizants
scalable and automated Product Data Publishing framework is detailed in our paper, Automated Product
Data Publishing from Oracle Product Hub is the Way Forward, a 20-20 Insights solution. (Note: This
solution can be implemented in Fusion or EBS platform).

Conclusion

Automated Induction Process for Content Products

Oracle Product Hub features, coupled with Cognizants scalable framework and solutions, will deliver real
business benefits that support organizations in countering challenges faced in product data management
in todays publishing industry.

Staging
Database

About the Author

Content Product Automated

Batch Process

Content Applications

Nandakumar Balasubramanian is a Project Manager with Cognizants Oracle Solutions Practice. He has
more than 11 years of experience, seven in product master data management. Nandakumar has extensively
worked for clients in retail, high-tech and publishing domains. He provides process, domain and technology
consulting, and has extensive experience in business process analysis, solution design and implementation
in the area of product data management. He holds a bachelors degree in engineering with specialization
in mechanical engineering. He can be reached at Nandakumar.Balasubramanian@cognizant.com.

Oracle Product Hub

Each SME reviews,

updates and confirms the
product data, attribution

Product
Manager

Product Offering

SME - 1

For more information on Cognizants Oracle solutions, contact us at: OSP_Marketing@cognizant.com

Product Manager
Confirms the Changes
for Release
SME - 2
SME - 3

End-to-end process is automated through workflow in

Product Hub with SME dashboard and UI to review and
update with built-in RBAC

Global Power User

Validates Impact
Globally & Approves
Change Order

Changes are captured

in Change Orders in
each stage of review,
enabling audit trail

Figure 5 : Framework for New Product Introduction and Data Validations

Onboarding Product Data, Mergers and Acquisitions

These days, mergers and acquisitions among publishing companies are a common occurrence. In order
to streamline onboarding of product data into our architecture and processes during these events, we
must have a defined business process, incorporating workflows, and a data management process in Oracle
Product Hub. Using the well-defined, repeatable processes and flexibility that Oracle Product Hub provides,
we can make onboarding product data during a merger or acquisition much easier and manageable.
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COGNIZANT 20-20 INSIGHTS

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of
information technology, consulting, and business
process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the
worlds leading companies build stronger businesses.
Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant
combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology
innovation, deep industry and business process expertise,
and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the
future of work. With over 75 development and delivery
centers worldwide and approximately 199,700 employees
as of September 30, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the
NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and
the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing
and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online
at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

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