Digital Platform part2: Master Data Unifies Information & Eliminates Silos

Overview

After establishing cross-product data interaction standards and processes on the Engineering Platform, we discovered that there was still a large amount of unstructured source data within the organization. This data was scattered across different countries or teams, lacking unified standards, which led to inconsistencies in data from the same domain across different systems, misalignment of data during cross-system interactions, and reduced responsiveness to business needs.

To address this issue, we designed and implemented a Master Data Management Platform. The core objective of this platform is to unify and consolidate these scattered data sources, ensuring data standardization and consistency. The Master Data Management Platform not only provides convenient query and maintenance functions for various teams but also ensures that data can be updated in real-time and quickly respond to new business requirements when changes occur by linking with downstream API and event management systems.

Business Challenges

This project was initiated to solve key business challenges:

Data Fragmentation: It was scattered across teams & systems, leading to inconsistencies & lack of a single source of truth.

Lack of Ownership: No clear responsibility for managing master data, leading to poor governance & uncoordinated updates.

Inefficient Processes: Data management was manual and prone to errors, lacking a unified platform for streamlined handling.

Limited Integration: Systems struggled to access and consume data, needing seamless integration through APIs and events.

Slow Business Adaptation: The organization needed faster responses to business changes through unified, reliable data management.

Persona

Based on the business needs & user research, we identified a potential gap: while this specific user role and responsibilities didn’t exist before building the system, there’s an opportunity to define a data owner role. This role would be responsible for managing and maintaining master data, with duties such as ensuring data consistency, overseeing a unified process for uploading, editing, and publishing, and ultimately taking ownership of the data across regions and systems. We abstracted these roles into a unified persona—Business Data Manager—to represent the common goals and pain points faced by data owners across the organization.

User Pain Points:

• Struggles with scattered data across different teams and systems, leading to inconsistencies.

• Faces challenges with manual data submission processes, causing delays and errors.

• Lacks a centralized tool for managing and editing data, leading to inefficiencies in data updates and reporting.

Solution

This solution integrates both the master data publishing and consumption processes into a unified platform. It allows business users to efficiently manage and publish master data while providing seamless access for both business and technical consumers. Business users can easily browse and interact with the data, while technical users benefit from automated API generation and event subscriptions, enabling real-time data integration across systems. This holistic approach ensures streamlined data management and consumption, meeting the diverse needs of all stakeholders.

Master data publisher work flow

The master data publish workflow divided into two key stages: business-driven actions, where users manage and publish data, followed by automated technical integration, where APIs and events are generated to enable seamless system consumption.

Master data consumer work flow

This consumer journey bridges both business and technical needs. While the platform provides robust API access for technical users, enabling seamless integration and real-time data consumption, it also offers a simple, user-friendly interface for business users to easily search and manage data without needing technical expertise. By addressing the distinct requirements of both roles, the platform ensures efficiency and accessibility, enhancing the overall data experience across the organization.

Design

The visual design emphasizes overall harmony and consistency, unifying both the organization’s broader visual branding system and the cohesive design language of the platform itself. This approach ensures that the interface not only aligns with the brand identity but also maintains a seamless, integrated experience across all product touchpoints.