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 discovered to the subsequent knowledge chief is the true spirit of the Atlan group! So that they’re right here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their trendy knowledge stack, modern 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 nations. 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 crew 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 exterior of the nation to the worldwide chief it’s at present. Once we have been simply beginning out, leveraging knowledge as an asset was a comparatively new idea, and our methods have been fundamental. I received interested by how we might higher handle our knowledge, so I began determining how tables related and learn how to pull the knowledge we would have liked, which led me into the world of Knowledge & Analytics.
I ultimately went again to highschool and picked up a Certificates in Pc Science to enhance my enterprise diploma. That gave me the inspiration to assist construct our data methods as the corporate grew.
Our crew is now divided into two components: the Knowledge Workforce, which pulls knowledge from completely different sources and units it up for reporting, and the Analytics Workforce, which makes positive that knowledge is introduced in a means that’s straightforward to know.
My function is sort of within the center. I’m not a programmer, but when there’s a venture that requires knowledge alternate between purchasers, for instance, I’ll help with that in addition to different initiatives, corresponding to implementing a knowledge catalog.
Why seek for an Energetic 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.
For example, we now 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, completely 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 completely different groups pull knowledge and get completely different outcomes, it’s irritating and time-consuming to determine why. That’s why we began searching for an answer; a strategy to convey all the things collectively in a single place, so we’d all be on the identical web page.
We would have liked a strategy to convey all the things collectively in a single place and enhance our Knowledge Governance, so we knew who was chargeable for what. Our aim 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 final “intuitiveness” of the instrument.
Particularly for individuals that aren’t technically oriented, or not on the info crew, if you wish to know what “Declare” is, Atlan gives 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 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 knowledge extra successfully but in addition foster higher communication and understanding throughout the group.
How have you ever applied Atlan, to this point? What’s subsequent?
Atlan is built-in with Snowflake and MSSQL, permitting the info crew to shortly discover lineage, entry any potential impression of adjustments and effectively navigate our knowledge panorama. This integration has considerably streamlined our onboarding course of for brand new crew members, who can now shortly achieve visibility into our knowledge 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 instrument that we will construct on prime of. We now have a a lot clearer understanding of who can entry what knowledge, 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 knowledge possession. It’s necessary for us to know who’s chargeable for what, and to verify everybody agrees on the which means of our knowledge belongings. 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 crew for solutions.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have individuals chargeable for sure knowledge, 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 any individual 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, reasonably than asking us first. Downside-solving will probably be of their arms, 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 among the duty to the enterprise customers, which is strictly what we would have liked.
We’ve performed a number of work to unravel ‘knowledge 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
