Master Data Management:
Strategic Unity for Your Information Systems
Mark Raabe
Director of Application Services Faegre & Benson LLP
Shawn Samuel
Chief Architect Hubbard One Thomson Reuters
Agenda
• The problem: disconnected information systems • How Faegre backed into a solution
• Advantages of Master Data Management • Making the case and getting started
• Where do we want to take this?
• Hubbard One: “Master Data Mapping” • Q&A
Faegre & Benson Overview
• 460+ lawyers / 1100+ users • 6 offices worldwide: Practice Areas: • Corporate • Litigation • Intellectual Property • Finance / Restructuring • Employment • Real Estate• Why is it so difficult to get my various enterprise applications to share information?
• How do I ensure that all systems provide consistent
answers?
• Why are so many of my business units managing
duplicative lists?
• How can I deliver new information systems more quickly?
• How do we get up and running FAST with new clients,
The Problem:
The Goal:
Achieving
strategic unity
of information systems
… using the systems I already own.
= Systems that share: Facts
Business concepts Rules
Objectives
= Systems that don’t argue with each other. = Systems that enable each other.
Data integration at Faegre
In the mid-1990s, we relied on
1. Staged files in vendor-specified formats 2. Email notifications Manual updates
Data integration – v1.0
Time & Billing
Clients
Data integration – v1.0
Column Value
mdesc1 Hennepin County Arbitration re: Jacob Smith v. mdesc2 ACA International, Inc., a/k/a Audiovisual
mdesc3 Corporation of America
mdesc1 CLIENT REF # 1996-40-1112
mdesc2 USTM: STAR TRIBUNE - NEWSPAPER OF THE TWIN mdesc3 CITIES
Time & Billing
Clients
Data integration – v1.0
Some lessons:
• Vendors don’t know how to design databases!
• Applications don’t care about uses beyond the application • Custodians (e.g., Accounting Departments) don’t care either
Time & Billing
Clients
Data integration – v1.1
Column Value
MatterName Hennepin County Arbitration re: Jacob Smith v. ACA International, Inc., a/k/a Audiovisual Corporation of America
MatterName USTM: Star Tribune – Newspaper of the Twin Cities Time & Billing Clients Matters DMS T rans form clname1 mdesc2 (etc).
Transform
Data integration – v1.1
Time & Billing DMS T rans form CRM Time Entry DocketTransform
Data integration – v1.1
Time & Billing DMS T rans form CRM Time Entry DocketData integration – v2.0
DMS CRM Time Entry Docket T rans form Time & Billing HubData integration – v2.0
T rans form Time & BillingWhat have we accomplished so far?
• Eliminated complexity
• Standardized matter representation
• Eliminated dependence on Elite’s design
• Insulated ourselves from Accounting’s business practices • Reduced load on the Elite server
Data integration – v2.0
Time &
Billing Hub
Elite “Matter” =
A way to compile and present the bill
Hub “Matter” =
A way to organize all of the Firm’s work:
Documents / Events / Contacts / Financials / etc.
What have we accomplished so far?
• We have established a master concept of “Matter” that matches its growing significance to the Firm
• We have found a way to represent it • We have found a place to put it
Data integration – v3.0
Time & Billing Hub Administrative PPM system 1a 1b 1c 2 3How do we improve this concept?
1. Protect the data – Establish rules: (Data Governance)
a. Enforce standardized formats (as set by the standard transform) b. Control who (if anyone) gets to edit data in the Hub directly
c. Other systems may consult only the Hub (the System of Record), not Elite directly (the System of Entry)
Data integration – v3.0
The industry calls this “Master Data Management” (MDM):
“The technology, tools, and processes required to create and
• On 8/25/2010, Attorney X opened Matter Y
for Client Z.
• On 7/7/2010, Paralegal A recorded 3.2 hours to
Matter B for this purpose: “… [narrative] …”
• On 2/3/2010, we paid Vendor B $10,000.
What else goes in the Hub?
Well, what else (besides Matters) is “Master Data”?
What else goes in the Hub?
… then your master data are the shared nouns in your transactional sentences:
Matters Clients Departments & Practice Groups Vendors ? Invoices ? Documents ? Hub Attorneys Authors Timekeepers People Office Locations
What goes in the Hub?
For each master data entity, store the attributes (columns) that are likely to be shared:
Matters Matter Name Client Billing Attorney Matter Status Open Date … Matters Fee arrangement Bill format Billing address
Hub Time & Billing
Data integration – v3.0
24
The “Master Data Hub”:
The central repository holding the “official” version of all of this key information …
… cleaned, de-duped, available for all systems to use … … and stored in a data structure that describes your business.
What else can you do?
Aggregate entities that no one source application contains:
Contractors Attorneys and Staff Summer Associates HR System Recruiting Contracting
People
HubWhat else can you do?
Minimize the pain when an application changes:
DMS CRM Time Entry Docket Time & Billing Hub
What else can you do?
Find the right source of truth for a master entity:
Staff Timekeepers HR System Hub Time & Billing
What else can you do?
Provision master entities more quickly:
Matters Hub Hub DMS, etc. Time & Billing New Matter Approval DMS, etc. Time & Billing Add Billing Details Matters New Matter Intake
What else can you do?
Identify new master data entities:
Favorite Matters Favorite Matters Attorney adds to “My Matters” Hub CRM DMS
What else can you do?
Identify new master data entities:
Favorite Matters Favorite Matters Attorney adds to “Frequent Matters” Hub CRM DMS
The Business Case for MDM
MDM and a Master Data Hub allow you to:
• Provide master data to all of your applications that is – Consistent / Standardized / Accurate
– Protected
– Properly normalized
– Aggregated from all relevant sources – Early!
• Eliminate dependencies on particular applications and vendor data designs Avoid pain, lock-in, and delays! • Simplify upgrades, replacements, mergers
Perform a maturity assessment
Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
No (or haphazard)integrat ion between systems Whatever each vendor supplies Point-to-point integration Many paths A Hub containing some master data entities
Their meaning is not defined by any single system
A strategic Hub that is the basis of the firm’s data architecture
A comprehensive set of master data entities
Governance:
• Data formats and data quality • System of record – a true “master” • Rights to edit Transform Time & Billing DMS T ra n s fo rm CRM Time Entry Docket DMS CRM Time Entry Docket T ra n s fo rm Time & Billing Hub
How to start
• Proceed incrementally (but have a larger design in mind). • Pick a target entity. (Clients / Matters / People)
• Find your existing data flows. How many can be replaced? • Define roles.
(System of Entry, System of Record, Data Steward, etc.) • Design a table for the entity in the Hub.
What columns do your consuming systems need? • Develop the new data flows.
What you need
• SQL skills / Data modeling skills • Data integration tools
– ETL tools like DTS, SSIS – EAI tools like IntApp, BizTalk
• An eye for patterns and process improvement • Political & change management skills
Some obvious questions:
• Is there an easier way?• Why do I have to build this myself?
Where should we take this?
• We need to define standards.• The legal industry needs a unified, standard master
data model and an API to interface with it.
• At a minimum, vendors need to recognize and design for MDM:
– Simplify data interfaces to and from their applications – Provide web services where possible
– Interface with a Master Data Hub, if present – Ensure that we always have access to our data
Q & A
Keep us posted on your projects!
mraabe@faegre.com