Bringing together technical and commercial teams with Atlan
The Active Metadata Pioneers series features Atlan clients who have completed a comprehensive assessment of the Active Metadata Management market. Passing on what you’ve learned to the next data leader is the true spirit of the Atlan community! That’s why they’re here to share their hard-earned insights into an evolving market, what makes up your 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 that processes more than $1.9 billion in medical claims annually in more than 90 countries. . Kevin shares the story of how his organization has grown and how Atlan will play a key role in driving data governance and engaging with his business colleagues.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Could you tell us a little about yourself, your experience and your team at Global Excel?
I have been with Global Excel for 28 years and have seen the company grow from a small operation that handled claims for Canadians traveling out 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 was curious about how we could better manage our data, so I started figuring out how tables connected and how to extract the information we needed, which led me into the world of data and analytics.
I eventually went back to school and earned 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 extracts data from different sources and configures it to generate reports, and the analysis team, which makes sure that the data is presented in an easy-to-understand way.
My role is in the middle. I’m not a programmer, but if there is a project that requires data exchange between clients, for example, I will help with that and other projects, such as implementing a data catalog.
Why look 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 evident. We lacked a unified system to document and manage our data, which led to inefficiencies and inconsistencies that resulted in those of us who have been here a long time being a resource.
For example, we have a table called “Claim” on one system and another table called “Claim” on a different system, but they are not the same. As a result, different teams may use the term “Claim” differently, depending on the system they are working with, creating confusion and reporting discrepancies.
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’re all 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 data accuracy and confidence.
Did anything stand out during your evaluation process?
What stood out was Atlan AI, the way the lineage is presented, and the overall “intuitiveness” of the tool.
Especially for people who are not technically oriented or not on the data team, if they want to know what “Claim” is, Atlan will give them Google-style results. The glossary allows the company to interact with the data and is a good way to ensure that we speak 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 potential impact of changes, and efficiently navigate our data landscape. This integration has significantly simplified our onboarding process for new team members, who can now quickly gain visibility into our data platform without having to sift through complex SQL queries or multiple tables. Right away, that was a key victory.
In terms of data governance, we see Atlan as a tool we can build on. We now have a much clearer understanding of who can access what data, especially when it comes to sensitive information like PII. It is no longer just a theoretical discussion, it is something we are actively managing.
What is to come is more clarity around business definitions and data ownership. It’s important for us to know who is responsible for what and make sure everyone is on the same page about what our data assets mean. This will help us avoid confusion and make it easier for our business users to resolve issues themselves, without always having to turn to the technical team for answers.
It is encouraging to know that we will have people responsible for certain data and that it will be easy for the company to understand what it is and who to ask about it. It means that if someone sees a number go up or down, they will know what it means and where it came from using Atlan, instead of asking us first. Troubleshooting will be in your hands, and that’s more of a “people” issue than a technology issue, but it requires a bit of configuration to enable. It’s helping us shift some of the responsibility to business users, which is exactly what we needed.
We’ve been working hard to solve the “data problems” 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 in unpack
