Bringing Technical and Enterprise Groups Along with Atlan
The Energetic Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan clients who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Energetic Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve realized to the subsequent information chief is the true spirit of the Atlan group! In order that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their fashionable information stack, revolutionary use circumstances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the collection, we meet Kevin Nutbrown, Senior Knowledge Analyst at World Excel Administration, a medical price containment and claims administration firm, processing over $1.9 billion in medical claims yearly throughout greater than 90 nations. Kevin shares the historical past of how his group has grown, and the way Atlan will play a key position in driving Knowledge Governance and interesting with their enterprise colleagues.
This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.
Might you inform us a bit about your self, your background, and your staff at World Excel?
I’ve been at World Excel for 28 years, and I’ve seen the corporate develop from a small operation dealing with claims for Canadians touring exterior of the nation to the worldwide chief it’s at present. After we had been simply beginning out, leveraging information as an asset was a comparatively new idea, and our techniques had been fundamental. I obtained inquisitive about how we might higher handle our information, so I began determining how tables linked and the way to pull the data we wanted, which led me into the world of Knowledge & Analytics.
I finally went again to high school and picked up a Certificates in Pc Science to enrich my enterprise diploma. That gave me the inspiration to assist construct our data techniques as the corporate grew.
Our staff is now divided into two elements: the Knowledge Group, which pulls information from completely different sources and units it up for reporting, and the Analytics Group, which makes positive that information is introduced in a method that’s simple to know.
My position is type of within the center. I’m not a programmer, but when there’s a venture that requires information change between purchasers, for instance, I’ll help with that in addition to different tasks, similar to implementing an information catalog.
Why seek for an Energetic Metadata Administration resolution? What was lacking?
As World Excel grew, the necessity for a extra structured and built-in strategy to information administration turned clear. We lacked a unified system to doc and handle our information, resulting in inefficiencies and inconsistencies ensuing with these of us who’ve been right here for a very long time up being a useful resource.
As an example, we now have a desk referred to as ‘Declare’ in a single system, and one other desk referred to as ‘Declare’ in a unique system, however they’re not the identical factor. In consequence, completely different groups would possibly use the time period ‘Declare’ in another way, relying on the system they’re working with, which creates confusion and discrepancies in reporting.
When completely different groups pull information and get completely different outcomes, it’s irritating and time-consuming to determine why. That’s why we began on the lookout for an answer; a solution to deliver every thing collectively in a single place, so we’d all be on the identical web page.
We wanted a solution to deliver every thing collectively in a single place and enhance our Knowledge Governance, so we knew who was accountable for what. Our objective was to make sure that everybody, from technical groups to enterprise customers, had a shared understanding of our information property to enhance accuracy and confidence within the information.
Did something stand out throughout your analysis course of?
What stood out was Atlan AI, the best way lineage is introduced, and the final “intuitiveness” of the software.
Particularly for folks that aren’t technically oriented, or not on the information staff, if you wish to know what “Declare” is, Atlan provides you with Google-style outcomes. The glossary permits the enterprise to work together with information and is an effective method to make sure we’re talking the identical language in the case of our metrics and phrases.
This ease of use and give attention to collaboration between technical and non-technical groups was a key differentiator. It was clear that Atlan wouldn’t solely assist us handle our information extra successfully but additionally foster higher communication and understanding throughout the group.
How have you ever applied Atlan, to date? What’s subsequent?
Atlan is built-in with Snowflake and MSSQL, permitting the information staff to rapidly discover lineage, entry any attainable impression of modifications and effectively navigate our information panorama. This integration has considerably streamlined our onboarding course of for brand spanking new staff members, who can now rapidly achieve visibility into our information platform with out sifting via complicated SQL queries or a number of tables. Straight away, that was a key win.
Relating to Knowledge Governance, we see Atlan as a software that we will construct on high of. We now have a a lot clearer understanding of who can entry what information, particularly in the case of delicate data like PII. It’s not only a theoretical dialogue anymore, it’s one thing we’re actively managing.
What’s forthcoming is getting extra readability round enterprise definitions and information possession. It’s essential for us to know who’s accountable for what, and to ensure everybody agrees on the that means of our information property. It will assist us keep away from confusion and make it simpler for our enterprise customers to unravel issues on their very own, with out all the time having to show to the tech staff for solutions.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have folks accountable for sure information, and that it will likely be easy for the enterprise to know what it’s and who to ask about it. It implies that if anyone sees a quantity go up or down, they’ll know what it means and the place it got here from by utilizing Atlan, moderately than asking us first. Downside-solving shall be of their palms, and that’s extra of a “folks” than tech downside, however requires a little bit of setup to allow it. It’s serving to us shift a few of the accountability to the enterprise customers, which is precisely what we wanted.
We’ve achieved plenty of work to unravel ‘information points’, and I’m hopeful that Atlan will give us the leverage to shift to a extra data-driven company tradition.
Photograph by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash