Best practice for managing externally mastered Materials (and colour) used on parts and BOMs in Windchill: replicate, link, or reference by ID?

We’re looking at how to handle material master data that is owned outside Windchill (ERP/PIM) but is needed inside Windchill on parts and BOM structures. I’d like to hear how other organizations have approached this and what you’d do differently.

Context

• Windchill version: 13.1.0
• External master system:  other
• Integration : Kafka
• Primary use: materials on parts and BOMs (not only on Creo models)
• Needs: where-used, change impact, release-time traceability, compliance, sharing with supplier

How to decide whether to replicate, link, or reference by ID?

Replicate : Create a physical object with in windchill

Reference : Specify ID or link  in the part attributes