The key is to treat the item master as controlled reference data rather than just a list of names. Before procurement tracking starts, I’d validate a few core fields: item ID, description, unit of measure, classification, status, and ownership.

For duplicates, don’t merge records based only on similar wording. Compare the unit, packaging, technical qualifiers, and actual operational meaning, since two similarly named items may still be different. It’s also useful to normalize descriptions first so differences in capitalization, spacing, or abbreviations don’t hide potential matches.

I’d then have the relevant end-user offices confirm the ambiguous cases, assign a responsible catalog steward, and test whether representative users can reliably find and select the correct items. Only after critical duplicates and unit issues are resolved should the validated baseline be loaded and procurement tracking begin.