At the IRM-UK held in London last month, Shell group data architect Andrew Schulze teamed with Accenture’s Duncan Slater to present Shell’s foundation for enterprise master data management. The project spans Shell’s global upstream and downstream businesses with standardized terminology and a high level enterprise data catalogue. A 2010 proof of concept (PoC) project extended Shell’s SAP master data management system with Microsoft’s master data services. Now Shell has a further six MDM PoC projects underway. Even at the PoC level, MDM has not been easy. The golden rule? There are no golden rules! MDM practitioners have to balance realizable projects with the requirement of enterprise deliverability.
Statoil’s lead information architecture advisor, Eldar Borge, has been studying data management methodologies. Oil data management differs from the mainstream with the ‘normal’ breakdown of 20% structured and 80% unstructured practically reversed—mainly due to large seismic data volumes. Statoil has a long history of leveraging upstream data methodologies and evolving standards. Its ‘Score’ project was effectively an enterprise architecture well before the concept was invented! Statoil is now attempting to reconcile its framework with mainstream information management concepts. Borge compared DAMA, IBM’s information governance and The Open Group’s TOGAF approach. Statoil has settled on the DAMA methodology for concept and function definitions. This is proving useful in documenting information domains and their relations with process, governance and data stewardship. DAMA is now being used as the basis for an enterprise master data pilot project. But, Borge warns, ‘DAMA describes what to do, not how to do it!’
Human resources data management architect Mark Smith traced Shell HR’s journey towards information quality ‘top quartile performance.’ The move to an integrated, global ‘HR Online’ system for Shell’s 93,000 employees has seen a major data clean-up effort. Shell HR’s information quality ‘community’ spans talent, training, pay and other stakeholders who now share accountability for the data framework. HR Online includes data definitions, a business glossary and data quality KPIs. Shell is still adding to the system and enhancing its data verification capabilities. More from IRM-UK.
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