Bringing Technical and Business Teams Together with Atlan
The Active Metadata Pioneers series features Atlan customers who have completed a thorough evaluation of the Active Metadata Management market. Paying forward what you’ve learned to the next data leader is the true spirit of the Atlan community! So they’re here to share their hard-earned perspective on an evolving market, what makes up their modern data stack, innovative use cases for metadata, and more.
In this installment of the series, we meet Kevin Nutbrown, Senior Data Analyst at Global Excel Management, a medical cost containment and claims management company, processing over $1.9 billion in medical claims annually across more than 90 countries. Kevin shares the history of how his organization has grown, and how Atlan will play a key role in driving Data Governance and engaging with their business colleagues.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and your team at Global Excel?
I’ve been at Global Excel for 28 years, and I’ve seen the company grow from a small operation handling claims for Canadians traveling outside of the country to the global leader it is today. When we were just starting out, leveraging data as an asset was a relatively new concept, and our systems were basic. I got curious about how we could better manage our data, so I started figuring out how tables connected and how to pull the information we needed, which led me into the world of Data & Analytics.
I eventually went back to school and picked up a Certificate in Computer Science to complement my business degree. That gave me the foundation to help build our information systems as the company grew.
Our team is now divided into two parts: the Data Team, which pulls data from different sources and sets it up for reporting, and the Analytics Team, which makes sure that data is presented in a way that’s easy to understand.
My role is kind of in the middle. I’m not a programmer, but if there’s a project that requires data exchange between clients, for example, I’ll assist with that as well as other projects, such as implementing a data catalog.
Why search for an Active Metadata Management solution? What was missing?
As Global Excel grew, the need for a more structured and integrated approach to data management became clear. We lacked a unified system to document and manage our data, leading to inefficiencies and inconsistencies resulting with those of us who have been here for a long time up being a resource.
For instance, we have a table called ‘Claim’ in one system, and another table called ‘Claim’ in a different system, but they’re not the same thing. As a result, different teams might use the term ‘Claim’ differently, depending on the system they’re working with, which creates confusion and discrepancies in reporting.
When different teams pull data and get different results, it’s frustrating and time-consuming to figure out why. That’s why we started looking for a solution; a way to bring everything together in one place, so we’d all be on the same page.
We needed a way to bring everything together in one place and improve our Data Governance, so we knew who was responsible for what. Our goal was to ensure that everyone, from technical teams to business users, had a shared understanding of our data assets to improve accuracy and confidence in the data.
Did anything stand out during your evaluation process?
What stood out was Atlan AI, the way lineage is presented, and the general “intuitiveness” of the tool.
Especially for people that are not technically oriented, or not on the data team, if you want to know what “Claim” is, Atlan will give you Google-style results. The glossary allows the business to interact with data and is a good way to ensure we’re speaking the same language when it comes to our metrics and terms.
This ease of use and focus on collaboration between technical and non-technical teams was a key differentiator. It was clear that Atlan would not only help us manage our data more effectively but also foster better communication and understanding across the organization.
How have you implemented Atlan, so far? What’s next?
Atlan is integrated with Snowflake and MSSQL, allowing the data team to quickly find lineage, access any possible impact of changes and efficiently navigate our data landscape. This integration has significantly streamlined our onboarding process for new team members, who can now quickly gain visibility into our data platform without sifting through complex SQL queries or multiple tables. Right away, that was a key win.
Regarding Data Governance, we see Atlan as a tool that we can build on top of. We now have a much clearer understanding of who can access what data, especially when it comes to sensitive information like PII. It’s not just a theoretical discussion anymore, it’s something we’re actively managing.
What’s forthcoming is getting more clarity around business definitions and data ownership. It’s important for us to know who is responsible for what, and to make sure everyone agrees on the meaning of our data assets. This will help us avoid confusion and make it easier for our business users to solve problems on their own, without always having to turn to the tech team for answers.
It’s encouraging to know that we’ll have people responsible for certain data, and that it will be simple for the business to understand what it is and who to ask about it. It means that if somebody sees a number go up or down, they’ll know what it means and where it came from by using Atlan, rather than asking us first. Problem-solving will be in their hands, and that’s more of a “people” than tech problem, but requires a bit of setup to enable it. It’s helping us shift some of the responsibility to the business users, which is exactly what we needed.
We’ve done a lot of work to solve ‘data issues’, and I’m hopeful that Atlan will give us the leverage to shift to a more data-driven corporate culture.
Photo by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash
