The Evolving Role of the Data Architect – What Does It Mean for Your Career?

The Evolving Role of the Data Architect -
What Does It Mean for Your Career
Donna Burbank
Global Data Strategy Ltd.
Lessons in Data Modeling DATAVERSITY Series
April 27th, 2017

Global Data Strategy, Ltd. 2017
Donna Burbank
Donna is a recognised industry expert in
information management with over 20
years of experience in data strategy,
information management, data modeling,
metadata management, and enterprise
architecture. Her background is multi-
faceted across consulting, product
development, product management,
brand strategy, marketing, and business
leadership.
She is currently the Managing Director at
Global Data Strategy, Ltd., an international
information management consulting
company that specialises in the alignment
of business drivers with data-centric
technology. In past roles, she has served in
key brand strategy and product
management roles at CA Technologies and
Embarcadero Technologies for several of
the leading data management products in
the market.
As an active contributor to the data
management community, she is a long
time DAMA International member and is
the Past President & Advisor to the DAMA
Rocky Mountain chapter. She was also on
the review committee for the Object
Management Group’s Information
Management Metamodel (IMM) and a
member of the OMG’s Finalization
Taskforce for the Business Process
Modeling Notation (BPMN).
She has worked with dozens of Fortune
500 companies worldwide in the
Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa and
speaks regularly at industry
conferences. She has co-authored two
books: Data Modeling for the
Business and Data Modeling Made Simple
with ERwin Data Modeler and is a regular
contributor to industry publications.
She can be reached at
donna.burbank@globaldatastrategy.com
Donna is based in Boulder, Colorado, USA.
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Follow on Twitter @donnaburbank
Today’s hashtag: #LessonsDM

Lessons in Data Modeling Series
• January 26th How Data Modeling Fits Into an Overall Enterprise Architecture
• February 23rd Data Modeling and Business Intelligence
• March Conceptual Data Modeling – How to Get the Attention of Business Users
• April The Evolving Role of the Data Architect – What does it mean for your Career?
• May Data Modeling & Metadata Management
• June Self-Service Data Analysis, Data Wrangling, Data Munging, and Data Modeling
• July Data Modeling & Metadata for Graph Databases
• August Data Modeling & Data Integration
• September Data Modeling & MDM
• October Agile & Data Modeling – How Can They Work Together?
• December Data Modeling, Data Quality & Data Governance
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This Year’s Line Up

The Rise of the Data-Driven Business
Data, more than ever, is seen as a key business asset and strategic differentiator.
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The Rise of the Data-Driven Business
Data, more than ever, is seen as a key business asset and strategic differentiator.
5

Data-Driven Business
• In the current environment of data-driven business, Data Professionals have an opportunity to
have a “seat at the table”
• Business Optimization: Becoming a Data Driven Company - Making the Business More Efficient
• Better Marketing Campaigns
• Higher quality customer data, 360 view of customer, competitive info, etc.
• Better Products
• Data-Driven product development, Customer usage monitoring, etc.
• Better Customer Support
• Linking customer data with support logs, network outages, etc.
• Transformative: Becoming a Data Company - Changing the Business Model via Data – data
becomes the product
• Monetization of Information: examples across multiple industries including:
• Telecom: location information, usage & search data, etc.
• Retail: Click-stream data, purchasing patterns
• Social Media: social & family connections, purchasing trends &
recommendations, etc.
• Energy: Sensor data, consumer usage patterns, smart metering, etc.
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How can we Transform our Business through Data?
Business Optimization
Becoming a Data-Driven Company
• Making the Business More Efficient
• Better Marketing Campaigns
• Higher quality customer data, 360 view
of customer, competitive info, etc.
• Better Products
• Data-Driven product development,
Customer usage monitoring, etc.
• Better Customer Support
• Linking customer data with support logs,
network outages, etc.
• Lower Costs
• More efficient supply chain
• Reduced redundancies & manual effort
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Business Transformation
Becoming a Data Company
• Changing the Business Model via Data – data
becomes the product
• Monetization of Information: examples across
multiple industries including:
• Telecom: location information, usage &
search data, etc.
• Retail: Click-stream data, purchasing
patterns
• Social Media: social & family
connections, purchasing trends &
recommendations, etc.
• Energy: Sensor data, consumer usage
patterns, smart metering, etc.
How do we do
what we do
better?
How do we do
something
different?

Data Architects Play a Unique Role
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Technology Business
Janus

Data Architects Play a Unique Role
9
Janus
Core
Architectural
Principles
New Technology
Innovation &
Opportunity

Business Executive
• Results-Oriented
• Optimistic – Identifies opportunities
• “I’m busy.”
• “What’s the business opportunity?”
Data Architect
• Focused on architecture, data, technology
• Often seen as finding problems, not
solutions
• “Let me tell you about my data model!”
Data Advisor
• Focused on solutions, business, information
• Highlights issues & opportunities around
data
• “Less me show you how data can help your
business!”
The world is going to end if your
model is not in 3rd normal form!!
If you link your Customer data with
your Product usage stats, we can
increase sales.
What’s in it for me?
Be More “Data Advisor” and Less “Data Architect”

We Do It, Too – We Care about Results, not Details!
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Do we really care about the details of other people’s jobs?
We recently switched to accrual-
based accounting from cash-based
accounting to optimize…
I just want my
paycheck.
Accountant Data Architect

Tell a Story
• Humans have evolved over time as storytellers
• We can’t even sleep without dreaming in stories.
• No one cares about your data model…
• … but they do care about the RESULTS of your data model
• … relate the model to a real world impact or scenario..i.e.
“story”
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What impact does the data model have on the business?
Humans are Storytellers.
From Data Modeling for the Business by Hoberman, Burbank, Bradley, Technics Publications, 2009

Global Data Strategy, Ltd. 2017 13
Customer
Prospect
Salesperson
Is Father Of
Is Evaluating
Sells
Household
Product
Buys
Buys
Customer
Support Rep
Supports
Sells To
Is Trained On
Client
A Data Model Describes a Business
• When working with a business audience, the importance of a data model is in communication.
• Use creative ways to show models to a business audience.
• The data model should tell the “story” of the business.
Be Creative in your Data Model Presentation

The “Elevator Pitch”
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How Would you Describe Your Project to the CEO in 2 minutes?
VS.
I’m working on a project to
rationalize metadata across data
sources to ensure consistency…
Zzzzzzzz…
I’m working on a project to get a
more complete view of
customers for the big online
marketing campaign…
Interesting!

Data Architecture is at the Center of the Hot Technologies & Trends
Regardless of the technology or trend, there is value in an individual who
can understand technology & communicate it effectively.
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Data
Architecture
Data-Driven
Business
Data Strategy
Data Analytics
& BI
Data
Governance
…and More…the list keeps growing…
Master Data
Management

A Data Framework for Data-Driven Business
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A Successful Data Strategy links Business Goals with Technology Solutions
“Top-Down” alignment with
business priorities
“Bottom-Up” management &
inventory of data sources
Managing the people, process,
policies & culture around data
Coordinating & integrating
disparate data sources
Leveraging & managing data for
strategic advantage

Data Architecture Supports an Enterprise Data Strategy
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From Top-Down to Bottom-Up
Conceptual Data Model
Physical Data Model
Data Lineage
Impact Analysis
Metadata Management
Data Standards
Etc.
Data Modeling Ecosystem

Consumer Energy Company’s Business Transformation
• For the consumer energy sector Big Data and Smart Meters are transforming the ways of doing business
and interacting with customers.
• Moving away from traditional data use cases of metering & billing.
• Smart meters allow customers to be in control of their energy usage.
• Control over energy usage with connected systems
• Custom Energy Reports & Usage
• Smart Billing based on usage times
• As energy usage declines, data is becoming the true business asset for this energy company.
• Monetization of non-personal data is a future consideration.
• Architecture required to integrate Big Data Opportunity with Traditional Data Sources – both are important
• Business-critical data elements identified and definitions created
• Data Architecture helped define which data to move to Big Data Platform & which to keep in on-premises relational
systems
• Data Governance Program analyzing data in relation to business processes & roles
• New Data Quality Tools in place for operational and data warehouse data
Business Transformation via Data

Data Modeling for Master Data Management
• Master Data Management strives to create a “single version of the truth” for key business data:
customer, product, etc.
• A data architecture is critical to understand the impact & scope for both technical and business
data stakeholders & sources
• Data sources, their structure & usage
• Common business definitions
• Architecture for target MDM hub/system
• Data lineage between defined “version of the truth” and real-world implementations
• Data Architecture often ties into a broader enterprise architecture
• What business processes are using this data?
• What core capabilities does this data support?
• Etc.

Data Architecture is Key to Enterprise Architecture
• Enterprise Architecture provides a high-level view of the people, processes, applications, and data
of an organization
• Putting data in business context
• How does data link to the rest of my organization?
• If I change data, what business processes are affected?

BI is Only as Good as the Underlying Architecture & Definitions
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• Modern tools make it easy to create visual reports & graphs from data, but without business context, or
“metadata”, these reports are of little value.
• Many BI professionals, data scientists, analysts, etc. are frustrated by the lack of easily reportable, and well-
defined data.
What does ‘F2’ refer to?
Are there standard code sets?
Does this number represent a date?
Computing report…elapsed time
10 hours, 27 seconds…
Why does it take so long for the report to run?
• A robust data architecture provides data sets that have:
• Business context & definition
• Common structure & formatting
• Fast & easily-reportable data sets
Many Self-Service BI professionals spend
an estimated 50 – 90% of their time
cleaning and reformatting data to make it
fit for purpose.
Source: DataCenterJournal.com
• This is a great way to be seen as a crucial “trusted advisor” to the BI &
analytics team, particularly with the rise of self-service BI.

Data Architecture in Data Governance
• Like an auditing department for finance, data governance provides the guidelines,
accountability and regulations around data management.
• Data Architecture can help define:
• What are the standards, domains, and rules for data?
• How can data be architected in a way to improve data quality?
• What is the lineage and traceability of data?
• How can we integrate business definitions with technical database implementations?
• Architects are often members of Data Governance Committees (voting or non-voting)
Supporting the
Technical Data Steward
Supporting the
Business Data Steward
Data
Architect
• How can we architect the data to
improve data quality. E.g.
• Normalizing data structures
• Domains, drop-downs
• Reference data sets
• How can we architect the data to capture
business rules & definitions. E.g.
• Logical data models
• Glossary structures
• Taxonomies

Architecture & Metadata Make Data Governance Actionable
• A robust data architecture, including metadata & lineage, can help take the business rules &
definitions defined in policies and make them actionable in physical systems, maintaining a
lineage & audit trail.
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Policies & Procedures Technical Implementation Audit & Lineage

Emerging Technologies need Architecture, Too
• Technology is growing at an exponential pace. It can be difficult for an organization to know
where to begin.
• Architects are well-positioned to help lead the migration to these new technologies.
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Big Data AI & Machine Learning
Cloud Architectures Internet of Things (IoT)
Real-time databases, relational databases, graph databases,
legacy systems, etc…

Stay Educated
• With the wealth of online, low-cost (or free) resources, there is no excuse not to
keep up-to-date with the latest technologies. (and…yes…we’re all busy! )
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What are your favorites? Which ones did I miss?

Data Architects Come From a Wide Range of Backgrounds
• The following is a range of backgrounds of data architects I’ve worked with:
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…and that’s often what makes them effective!
• Musician
• Accountant
• Social Worker
• Mathematician
• Biologist
• Chemist
• Programmer
• DBA
• Statistician
• Teacher
• Economist
• Etc.
Any others I’ve missed?

Don’t Be Afraid to Go “Off Course”
• Don’t be afraid to take a roll that’s new or unexpected – you never know where it will lead you!
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Degrees in
Economics & English
Temp Jobs from Finance to
Manufacturing in College
DC Economic
Think Tank
Degree in
Computer Science
Consultant – Data Mgt
Consultant – EMEA
Programmer Product Management
Product Marketing
Consultant – Business
Transformation & Data Mgt
Managing Director, Global Data Strategy, Ltd
What’s Next?

Summary
• It is an exciting time to be in data management
• For us old folks, we finally have our day in the sun!
• Capitalize on this opportunity
• Keep learning
• Use your strengths
• Communicate
• Most importantly…
• Discover how you can add value to the organization
I told you so!

Contact Info
• Email: donna.burbank@globaldatastrategy.com
• Twitter: @donnaburbank
@GlobalDataStrat
• Website: www.globaldatastrategy.com
• Company Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-data-strategy-ltd
• Personal Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaburbank
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About Global Data Strategy, Ltd
• Global Data Strategy is an international information management consulting company that specializes
in the alignment of business drivers with data-centric technology.
• Our passion is data, and helping organizations enrich their business opportunities through data and
information.
• Our core values center around providing solutions that are:
• Business-Driven: We put the needs of your business first, before we look at any technology solution.
• Clear & Relevant: We provide clear explanations using real-world examples.
• Customized & Right-Sized: Our implementations are based on the unique needs of your organization’s
size, corporate culture, and geography.
• High Quality & Technically Precise: We pride ourselves in excellence of execution, with years of
technical expertise in the industry.
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Data-Driven Business Transformation
Business Strategy
Aligned With
Data Strategy
Visit www.globaldatastrategy.com for more information

DATAVERSITY Training Center
• Learn the basics of Metadata Management and practical tips on how to apply metadata
management in the real world. This online course hosted by DATAVERSITY provides a series of six
courses including:
• What is Metadata
• The Business Value of Metadata
• Sources of Metadata
• Metamodels and Metadata Standards
• Metadata Architecture, Integration, and Storage
• Metadata Strategy and Implementation
• Purchase all six courses for $399 or individually at $79 each.
Register here
• Other courses available on Data Governance & Data Quality
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Online Training Courses
Metadata Management Course
Visit: http://training.dataversity.net/lms/

Lessons in Data Modeling Series
• January 26th How Data Modeling Fits Into an Overall Enterprise Architecture
• February 23rd Data Modeling and Business Intelligence
• March Conceptual Data Modeling – How to Get the Attention of Business Users
• April The Evolving Role of the Data Architect – What does it mean for your Career?
• May Data Modeling & Metadata Management
• June Self-Service Data Analysis, Data Wrangling, Data Munging, and Data Modeling
• July Data Modeling & Metadata for Graph Databases
• August Data Modeling & Data Integration
• September Data Modeling & MDM
• October Agile & Data Modeling – How Can They Work Together?
• December Data Modeling, Data Quality & Data Governance
32
This Year’s Line Up

Questions?
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Thoughts? Ideas?

The Evolving Role of the Data Architect – What Does It Mean for Your Career?

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