Bringing Technical and Enterprise Groups Along with Atlan
The Lively Metadata Pioneers collection options Atlan prospects who’ve accomplished a radical analysis of the Lively Metadata Administration market. Paying ahead what you’ve discovered to the subsequent information chief is the true spirit of the Atlan neighborhood! In order that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their fashionable information stack, modern 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 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.
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 immediately. After we had been simply beginning out, leveraging information as an asset was a comparatively new idea, and our techniques had been primary. I acquired interested in how we may higher handle our information, so I began determining how tables related and how you can pull the data we wanted, which led me into the world of Knowledge & Analytics.
I finally went again to highschool 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 components: the Knowledge Group, which pulls information from totally different sources and units it up for reporting, and the Analytics Group, which makes certain that information is introduced in a method that’s simple to know.
My function is form of within the center. I’m not a programmer, but when there’s a mission that requires information change between shoppers, for instance, I’ll help with that in addition to different initiatives, similar to implementing a knowledge catalog.
Why seek for an Lively Metadata Administration resolution? What was lacking?
As World Excel grew, the necessity for a extra structured and built-in strategy to information administration grew to become 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, now we have a desk known as ‘Declare’ in a single system, and one other desk known as ‘Declare’ in a distinct system, however they’re not the identical factor. In consequence, totally different groups would possibly use the time period ‘Declare’ in a different way, relying on the system they’re working with, which creates confusion and discrepancies in reporting.
When totally different groups pull information 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 solution to deliver all the things collectively in a single place, so we’d all be on the identical web page.
We wanted a solution to deliver all the things collectively in a single place and enhance our Knowledge Governance, so we knew who was answerable for what. Our purpose 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 way in which lineage is introduced, and the overall “intuitiveness” of the instrument.
Particularly for individuals that aren’t technically oriented, or not on the information staff, if you wish to know what “Declare” is, Atlan will provide 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 on the subject of our metrics and phrases.
This ease of use and deal with 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 carried out Atlan, to this point? What’s subsequent?
Atlan is built-in with Snowflake and MSSQL, permitting the information staff to shortly discover lineage, entry any doable impression of modifications and effectively navigate our information panorama. This integration has considerably streamlined our onboarding course of for brand new staff members, who can now shortly achieve visibility into our information platform with out sifting by advanced SQL queries or a number of tables. Immediately, that was a key win.
Concerning Knowledge Governance, we see Atlan as a instrument that we will construct on high of. We now have a a lot clearer understanding of who can entry what information, particularly on the subject 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 necessary for us to know who’s answerable for what, and to ensure everybody agrees on the that means of our information property. This can assist us keep away from confusion and make it simpler for our enterprise customers to unravel issues on their very own, with out at all times having to show to the tech staff for solutions.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have individuals answerable for sure information, and that will probably be easy for the enterprise to know what it’s and who to ask about it. It signifies that if any person sees a quantity go up or down, they’ll know what it means and the place it got here from by utilizing Atlan, fairly than asking us first. Downside-solving might be of their fingers, 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 accountability to the enterprise customers, which is precisely what we wanted.
We’ve completed loads 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.
Picture by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash
