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The Journey to Data Integration
A
UKCeB Seminar for
Data, Standards, Management, Integration Specialists Today companies buy information systems to support their business processes, e.g. supporting the design process with a CAD system, ERP for planning and controlling materiel, etc. These are large and complex systems with their own built in data models. In addition business users in their quest for information to support the decisions they have to make typically create their own reports using readily available applications such as Excel or Access; this is often true even when sophisticated business intelligence systems are overlaid on top of the monolithic information systems. The result is that corporate information is dispersed in multitudes of loosely coupled or unconnected databases; some of which are proprietary. Constructing information from data in different databases through the use various intermediary applications does not create an integrated coherent whole. Efforts to extract, transform and load data into neutral databases are expensive to implement and require ongoing investment to maintain corporate data as applications change. Maintenance of data quality and integrity is therefore a constant battle. Add to this the need for data longevity where data is needed to support products and services for many years; often for longer than the currency of the information system that created it and it is clear that data management is a major challenge imposing a significant ongoing financial burden. Data and the information that is derived from it is of course a key corporate asset the loss of control over corporate data inhibits companies from realising their investment in information assets with a resultant loss of competitiveness, inefficient business processes and a lost opportunity for innovation. Changing the focus from the integration of systems to integration of information assets offers a different approach. This requires companies to take a more coherent and holistic view of how their information assets can deliver value to their business. It requires businesses to consider their information requirements without the external constraints that come with use of proprietary data models. Standards have a big role to play in this approach. But the role they play has to change from an enabler for data exchange processes to supporting controlled Shared Data Environments. While this cannot happen overnight, there is a lot that can be done today to move in this direction. At this event we will hear about the data integration challenges faced by the Defence Industry in managing data across a range of contracting models that increasingly see Industry taking on significant risk in managing data when supporting capabilities through life. A speaker from BAE Systems will describe how that company approaches the challenges it faces in particular the problem of data longevity. Nigel Newling will then explore a real case in some detail by describing how the Aircraft Carrier Alliance is addressing data integration. Kais Al-Timimi from Datamation will introduce his concept of true data integration and how it is different from current approaches. He will take us through the various stages organisations go through as their data integration capability matures. This will be followed by Phil Rutland from the MOD logistics Network Enabled Capability, (LogNEC) team who will describe how the MOD is using standards as part of its approach to data integration. After lunch Professor Michael Henshaw from the Loughborough University Systems Engineering Innovation Centre will give us an overview of good practice in data integration in the context of a systems engineering approach. We will then pick up on this theme with David Camm from the MOD Systems Engineering Integration Group who will explore data integration in relation to the MOD System of Systems Approach, (SOSA) Having heard from the speakers, there will then be an opportunity to ask questions of them as they join in a facilitated discussion.
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