Thread to Thread: Weaving Together a Seamless Modern Data Architecture
In today’s fast-paced digital economy, operational efficiency and standout customer experiences are deeply rooted in the accessibility and integration of data.
We partnered with a leading global fabric manufacturing organization to design, implement, and support a modern Azure data lake architecture tailored to our client’s operational dynamics. This journey toward Digital Leadership began with a clear vision:
- Enhanced Customer Experiences: The goal was to provide insights into a product’s manufacturing journey, pinpointing defect origins, from machinery and bale origins to its fabric combinations.
- Unified Data Accessibility: Fragmented systems had created data gaps. Our aim was to weave these into a unified view.
- Quick, Smart Decisions: Ditching long data retrieval times and manual Excel work was crucial. They sought swift analytics at their fingertips.
The Solution
Creating The Roadmap: Designing a scalable and effective modern data architecture requires focusing on four critical areas:
- Processes: Documenting the core business operations that support the business.
- People: Identifying key personnel and the nature of information essential for their roles.
- Systems: Categorizing tools and applications integral to each business process.
- Data: Cataloging the information produced from each system.
From deep dive business analysis, we designed a feasibility matrix. This helped spotlight the what-and-when of construction, guaranteeing top value. This blueprint shaped the data framework, model, and the rollout plan.
Starting with a Core Division
Immediate impact was crucial. We revamped a central business segment, highlighting the data platform’s effectiveness and bolstering leadership trust.
Constructing an effective, scalable solution and enabling their teams to get value from their new platform required:
- Integrating numerous disparate systems: Ranging from on-premises SQL Server to Microsoft Access databases, to MySQL databases. Each of the systems were owned by different groups that had different data engineering maturity levels.
- Crafting a Tiered Data model: A medallion (bronze, silver, gold) data lake architecture.
- Empowering Through Power BI: Introducing and training teams to dynamic report generation.
- Building for Tomorrow: Laying foundations for data security, governance, and sustained growth.
- Onboarding New Talent: Upskilling new data team members in Azure data engineering best practices.
The Results
What once took 2 weeks now takes only seconds. A unified data lake feeds a shared data model and Power BI report – refreshed four times daily – ensuring real-time tracking of every product detail. This transformation reflects the essence of Innovation Velocity.
Analysts harness this power, refining processes from quality checks to delivery speeds and pricing strategies. Sales teams, with pricing info at their fingertips, engage customers deeply, discussing fabric choices and volume-based rates.
With robust governance and analysis-ready models, our client has evolved into a data-forward organization, a hallmark of Digital Leadership. A three-year partnership that began with a single business arm now spans five, even touching their global operations, serving over 200 enthusiastic users, proving that Inspired Teams and Innovation Velocity pave the path to Digital Leadership – ensuring sustained success.
Join Lantern in unlocking the full potential of your data-driven journey. Let us empower your organization with the tools and strategies needed to achieve Digital Leadership, drive Innovation Velocity, and transform your customer experiences. Your path to operational excellence and sustained success starts here.