The Unseen Backbone of Brilliance

The Unseen Backbone of Brilliance

- by Dr. Joe Perez, Expert in Data Analytics & BI

Think for a moment about the majesty of a towering skyscraper piercing the clouds or the cozy family home nestled in the cozy confines of a peaceful suburb. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps its beauty, the welcoming warmth of its windows, or the sheer size of its existence. Rarely does our eye, or our initial thought, fall on what lies below – the intricate network of steel, concrete, and engineered dirt that supports it. But without this unseen backbone, the most awesome architectural marvel would be doomed to collapse. This lower layer, though often out of sight, is undoubtedly the most vital element, bearing the entire burden of everything above it and assuring its stability over time.

And just like a building relies on a solid and properly engineered substructure, the universe of information, in its entirety and the entirety’s complexity, relies on foundations that are seldom seen with the naked eye. These unseen elements, while perhaps not at the forefront of discussion, are the precise foundation on which intelligent analysis, sound decision-making, and groundbreaking innovation are built. Most recently, in a discussion on one of my threads, Chelsea Wood posted a quote that eloquently captured just this idea: “Foundations aren’t always visible; but they’re always vital.” This lovely and strong statement led to a thought – what if we captured this wise concept on a T-shirt, a throwaway reminder of a universal principle in the data world? (You can see the design we made with this article!)

Chelsea’s sentence is an exact expression of a central maxim that every data practitioner, from the veteran to the new gunslinger, has to accept. Our data foundations, like the foundation of a building, are not necessarily immediately apparent, but their solidity and structural integrity hold the key to the success and stubbornness of everything we construct on them. Let’s consider why they always do end up being out of sight, but why their vigor is quite irrefutable.

The Hidden Architecture of Data Foundations

Similar to the complex rebar and cast concrete of a building’s base that lies below grade, a number of critical attributes of data foundations frequently work out of sight, unnoticed by the ultimate consumers of their strength.

1. Genealogy: The journey that a single piece of data makes from where it is created to where it ends up being in a report or analysis model is often a twisted and complex one. Data is created in a vast array of sources – transactional systems, sensors, customer touchpoints, external feeds – with its own structure, format, and inherent quirks. The diligent work of data stewards and data engineers to track this lineage – understanding where the data started, how it has been transformed along the way, and who handled it – is largely invisible to the business users who will eventually act on the insights. And yet this hidden thread of lineage is critical to establishing trust and context for the data. Without history, we risk misinterpreting its meaning or drawing bad conclusions based on potentially biased data. Just as acquiring knowledge of the quality of the raw material entering into the foundation of a building, data lineage allows us to have assurance that we’re building our architecture atop solid pieces. The effort of mapping data sources, logging transformations, and establishing ownerships is considerable, typically requiring bespoke tools and expertise. However, this unseen work provides the crucial context that allows us to confidently interpret and utilize data for strategic advantage.

2. Orchestration: In today’s data landscape, information rarely exists in isolation. Instead, it flows through intricate pipelines, moving between various systems for processing, analysis, and storage. The seamless movement of such data, the automated tasks that trigger transformations, and the scheduling of data load are all part of the complex orchestration that underpins modern-day data activities. This complex dance of data transfer is usually transparent to the end-user, who only waits for the reports and dashboards to be refreshed and available for consumption on demand. But the orchestration in the background is important to ensure the timeliness and predictability of information delivery. Just as coordinated labor by construction workers and proper timing of material deliveries are required in order to build a strong building, data orchestration’s well-oiled machine ensures that the right data ends up at the right destination at the right time, enabling data-driven decision-making. The beauty of modern-day data orchestration tools allows for complex dependencies, error handling, and performance monitoring, all behind the scenes to provide an optimized and stable data flow.

3. Normalization: For consistency purposes and to avoid redundancy, data often has to undergo normalization, whereby data is organized in a database such that duplication is minimized and data integrity is maintained. For example, customer information may be stored in one master table and referenced by other tables rather than being duplicated across multiple datasets. While this structured approach is vital to safeguard data integrity and performance, the underlying database schemas and inter-table relationships are generally not exposed to business consumers who use the data through simple interfaces or report tools. But this normalized schema is the very foundation that prevents things from getting out of sync and that guarantees that the same piece of information is presented consistently across the entire data environment. As standardized building codes provide consistent structural integrity across a building, data normalization provides consistent and solid architecture for storing and retrieving data even though the underlying design may be invisible to most users.

The Vital Importance of Strong Data Foundations

Just as a strong and well-constructed foundation is vital to the durability and stability of any physical structure, a sound data foundation is totally essential to any company that wants to be successful in the age of data.

1. Credibility: In its very nature, a sound data foundation promotes credibility. If data is reliable, consistent, and accurate – the direct result of strong underlying foundations – decision-makers and business users will have the confidence in the insights that it yields. Without trust, data is noise, and analytic efforts are thwarted. Just as occupants of a structure have to believe in the stability of its foundation, stakeholders across an organization need to believe in the reliability and quality of their data. Such belief is established by ongoing data quality practices, robust governance mechanisms, and transparent data lineage. As data foundations are strong, they become a trusted source of truth, enabling decisive data-driven decisions. Conversely, weak or poorly underpinned data foundations undermine confidence, triggering skepticism and resistance towards the application of data for fundamental business activities.

2. Velocity: In today’s fast-paced business environment, how quickly data is accessible, processed, and analyzed is essential in maintaining a competitive edge. Sound data foundation, with well-defined data pipelines, efficient storage systems, and streamlined data models, enables organizations to rapidly move from raw data to meaningful information. Just like a well-organized construction site with efficient material flow facilitating fast progress in construction, a solid data foundation accelerates the entire analytics cycle. This responsiveness helps businesses respond quickly to shifts in the marketplace, detect emerging trends early, and make decisions based on the latest information in a timely manner. Poor data foundations, however, with data silos, poor processes, and bad data slow down the entire analytics process, which hinders an organization from responding quickly and efficiently.

3. Value Creation: Ultimately, the quality of a data foundation influences an organization’s ability to generate value. When data is accurate, available, and easily comprehended, it is a valuable force that can fuel innovation, streamline operations, deepen customer interactions, and shape strategic course. As a firm and solid building can yield great economic and social benefits, a strong data foundation allows organizations to tap the maximum potential of their information. This value is created in a number of ways, ranging from discovering new sources of revenue and enhancing efficiency to reducing risk and understanding the customer better. A robust data foundation enables organizations to derive actionable insights that have real business impacts. In contrast, poor data foundations constrain an organization’s potential to maximize the use of its data, stifling innovation and even causing unnecessary errors or the loss of opportunities.

Building Foundations for Data Excellence

Establishing and maintaining solid data foundations is not something that happens by chance; it requires effort, ongoing vigilance, and best practices. These are three methods through which data management experts can make deliberate action to improve the foundations of data in their institutions:

1. Cultivation: Data quality is not a single-touch; it has to be cultivated. This involves establishing robust data quality standards, using data cleansing and validation procedures, and continually inspecting data for defects and inconsistencies. A gardener will need to maintain their plants on a continuous basis, removing defects and nourishing them; data professionals similarly need to nurture the quality and well-being of their data stores on an ongoing basis. This includes establishing data governance mechanisms that define roles, responsibilities, and data ownership and implementing tools and technologies that deliver automated data quality checks and remediation processes. Creating high-quality data assures resulting insights are credible and reliable and form the basis for sound decision-making. This proactive data quality is required to prevent error accumulation and the integrity of the data environment.

2. Harmonization: Organizations with diverse systems and data sources require harmonization to produce one consistent view of information. Harmonization involves unifying data from different silos, making the data format consistent, and creating common data models. Just like different instruments in an orchestra must play together to make pleasing music, different data sets of an organization must harmonize to bring out informative and consistent insights. To do this, a strategic integration plan of data must be adopted through technologies such as data warehouses, data lakes, and ETL/ELT processes. Unifying data breaks down silos, enables end-to-end visibility in the business, and provides a solid foundation for cross-functional reporting and analysis. Having this one view of data provides companies with the ability to identify trends and patterns that are often missed when data is split across multiple systems.

3. Documentation: Documentation is the typically quiet contributor to an effective data foundation. This entails meticulously recording data sources, data definitions, data transformations, data lineage, and data governance policy. Just as detailed blueprints are imperative for understanding the structure and systems in a building, comprehensive data documentation provides a clear and understandable idea of the data assets of the organization. This documentation is a valuable resource for data analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders that enables them to understand the history, quality, and intent of data. It also enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, and onboard new team members. Investing in good data documentation habits secures the organization’s information awareness is not siloed in the heads of individual team members but rather available and kept up to date continually, providing a lasting and accessible platform for the use and comprehension of data.

As the greatest buildings rise as testaments to the vision and power of their unseen foundations, so too are those organizations that dedicate themselves to building strong, healthy data foundations poised for long-term success in the years to come. The above-board triumphs – the groundbreaking insights, the paradigm-busting products, the optimized processes – are all direct derivatives of the oft-secret work beneath the surface. Lineage commitment, orchestration accuracy, and normalization consistency are the unglamorous architects of data-driven excellence. The cultivation of high-quality data, the harmonization of disagreeing sources, and the precise chronicling of the data environment are the ongoing investments that maintain the foundation firm and reactive to future obstacles.

The worth of a healthy data foundation is not only that it can serve today’s needs but also that it can provide room for future growth and innovation. Just as a well-designed foundation will be able to support the subsequent addition of stories to a building, a solid data infrastructure can accommodate additional data sources, advanced analysis techniques, and evolving business requirements. By placing the normally invisible task of building solid data foundations front and center, organizations are not just addressing short-term needs; they are paving the way for a future in which data really is a powerful force for change, driving long-term growth and unlocking unsuspected possibilities.

So the next time you gaze up at a towering building or look longingly at a company achieving unprecedented success with data, remember the cardinal, yet ethereal, pillars upon which they are built. Treasure the worth of creating, aligning, and documenting your data assets, and you too will be building an unshakeable pillar of sustained excellence.