Bringing Technical and Enterprise Groups Along with Atlan
The Lively Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan clients who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Lively Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve discovered to the following knowledge 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 knowledge stack, progressive use instances for metadata, and extra.
On this installment of the collection, we meet Kevin Nutbrown, Senior Knowledge Analyst at International Excel Administration, a medical price containment and claims administration firm, processing over $1.9 billion in medical claims yearly throughout greater than 90 international locations. Kevin shares the historical past of how his group has grown, and the way Atlan will play a key function in driving Knowledge Governance and fascinating with their enterprise colleagues.
This interview has been edited for brevity and readability.
May you inform us a bit about your self, your background, and your workforce at International Excel?
I’ve been at International Excel for 28 years, and I’ve seen the corporate develop from a small operation dealing with claims for Canadians touring outdoors of the nation to the worldwide chief it’s at present. After we have been simply beginning out, leveraging knowledge as an asset was a comparatively new idea, and our techniques have been fundamental. I acquired inquisitive about how we might higher handle our knowledge, so I began determining how tables linked and how you can pull the knowledge we would have liked, 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 muse to assist construct our data techniques as the corporate grew.
Our workforce is now divided into two elements: the Knowledge Staff, which pulls knowledge from totally different sources and units it up for reporting, and the Analytics Staff, which makes certain that knowledge is introduced in a means that’s straightforward to grasp.
My function is type of within the center. I’m not a programmer, but when there’s a mission that requires knowledge alternate between shoppers, for instance, I’ll help with that in addition to different tasks, corresponding to implementing an information catalog.
Why seek for an Lively Metadata Administration answer? What was lacking?
As International Excel grew, the necessity for a extra structured and built-in method to knowledge administration grew to become clear. We lacked a unified system to doc and handle our knowledge, 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, now we have a desk referred to as ‘Declare’ in a single system, and one other desk referred to as ‘Declare’ in a distinct system, however they’re not the identical factor. Consequently, totally different groups would possibly use the time period ‘Declare’ otherwise, relying on the system they’re working with, which creates confusion and discrepancies in reporting.
When totally different groups pull knowledge and get totally different outcomes, it’s irritating and time-consuming to determine why. That’s why we began in search of an answer; a approach to carry the whole lot collectively in a single place, so we’d all be on the identical web page.
We would have liked a approach to carry the whole lot collectively in a single place and enhance our Knowledge Governance, so we knew who was liable for what. Our purpose was to make sure that everybody, from technical groups to enterprise customers, had a shared understanding of our knowledge belongings to enhance accuracy and confidence within the knowledge.
Did something stand out throughout your analysis course of?
What stood out was Atlan AI, the way in which lineage is introduced, and the overall “intuitiveness” of the software.
Particularly for individuals that aren’t technically oriented, or not on the info workforce, if you wish to know what “Declare” is, Atlan offers you Google-style outcomes. The glossary permits the enterprise to work together with knowledge and is an effective means to make sure we’re talking the identical language relating to 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 knowledge extra successfully but in addition 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 info workforce to rapidly discover lineage, entry any potential influence of modifications and effectively navigate our knowledge panorama. This integration has considerably streamlined our onboarding course of for brand spanking new workforce members, who can now rapidly acquire visibility into our knowledge platform with out sifting by way of advanced SQL queries or a number of tables. Instantly, that was a key win.
Relating to Knowledge Governance, we see Atlan as a software that we are able to construct on prime of. We now have a a lot clearer understanding of who can entry what knowledge, particularly relating to 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 knowledge possession. It’s essential for us to know who’s liable for what, and to verify everybody agrees on the that means of our knowledge belongings. It will assist us keep away from confusion and make it simpler for our enterprise customers to resolve issues on their very own, with out all the time having to show to the tech workforce for solutions.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have individuals liable for sure knowledge, and that it will likely be easy for the enterprise to grasp what it’s and who to ask about it. It signifies that if someone sees a quantity go up or down, they’ll know what it means and the place it got here from through the use of Atlan, moderately than asking us first. Downside-solving can be of their palms, and that’s extra of a “individuals” than tech drawback, however requires a little bit of setup to allow it. It’s serving to us shift a few of the duty to the enterprise customers, which is precisely what we would have liked.
We’ve completed lots of work to resolve ‘knowledge 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