sentences: Just recently much Information Systems (IS) research focuses on master data management (MDM) which promises to increase an organization's overall core data quality. Above any doubt, however, MDM initiatives confront organizations with multi-faceted and complex challenges that call for a more strategic approach to MDM. In this paper we introduce a framework for approaching MDM projects that has been developed in the course of a design science research study. The framework distinguishes four major strategies of MDM project initiations all featuring their specific assets and drawbacks. The usefulness of our artifact is illustrated in a short case narrative.