Consulting Services 

Data Strategy and Planning - Companies from around the globe have generated more data, due to organizational changes - like reorganizations, new business lines, acquisitions, and regulatory changes. Rarely is this data adequately managed, and thus it is not available when and where it is needed.  Industry pundits think that there are two predominant issues that cause the road block to achieve successful Enterprise Data Management (EDM) solutions. One is a lack of a people-centric governance model and the second is the lack of a robust data management process to manage enterprise data within an organization. This is highly critical since EDM encompasses the proper identification and use of data, which translates into actionable information that can be used to manage performance throughout the organization and to achieve a long-term business strategy.  To achieve excellence in Enterprise Data Management, an organization will need to adopt a roadmap that will show a multiyear process - a data management journey that is prioritized based on business value and vision. There are three vital elements in this effort: 

• Current State Assessment: A data management assessment is required to evaluate the organization's current capabilities in several areas, like Data Structure and Databases, Data Governance, Data Storage, Data Architecture, Metadata Management, Data Quality and Data Security.  
• Future Vision Statement: The creation of the future state vision is achieved by analyzing the portfolio of EDM project initiatives - based on immediate business needs and the areas targeted for improvement. They may be standalone projects, for example, a data governance project that addresses a significant business issue, or a larger project initiative, such as an Enterprise Reporting.  
• Roadmap: An implementation roadmap that focuses on the sequence, in which, the future state can be achieved in an incremental manner, without impacting the current business functions. In laying out this roadmap, important factors to consider include the organization's business model, past actions and future plans, business objectives, technical dependencies and the requirements of projects already underway.  

Information Architecture - A primary objective of information architecture is business enablement - the ability to provide business users with access to quality information in a timely fashion that can be used to drive actionable decision-making. While most organizations have some of the necessary components of information architecture, most do not have a best-practice architecture that fully enables business users to make the informed decisions necessary to proactively and better manage their business.  To achieve excellence in Enterprise Information Management (EIM), Enterprise Information Architecture is the next step of the Enterprise Information Strategy. To be truly in control of enterprise information architecture, an organization's journey must incorporate the vital elements for success. There are three vital elements in this effort:  

• Current Architecture Assessment: Based on the Information Strategy Roadmap, an information architecture assessment is required to evaluate the organization's capabilities in several areas, like Information Metrics and Processes, Information Infrastructure, Information Consistency, Information Governance, Information Delivery, Information Metadata, Information Quality and Information Privacy and Security.  
• Logical Architecture: Often the first place to start is by creating a visualization of the processes. Information is created by successive layers of abstraction and translation, stored in data warehouses, data marts, etc , and users are examined in how they get to the information and how they use or share it, as well as, the security around that information. This will enable you to see the major focus of your company’s information needs aligned with the enterprise information strategy.  
• Physical Architecture: This would define the physical representation of the defined architecture (eg. Location and type of servers, network components, etc) and the actual setup of the proposed architecture. 

Data Governance - In today's fast-paced business environment, companies can no longer afford to be away from their mission-critical data, even momentarily. To be successful and avoid situations of “garbage-in-garbage-out” companies need quality data that provides complete and actionable insight. Data governance is not a technology solution, but rather an ongoing interactive effort with executive buy-in, to manage the people, processes and policies required to create and control a consistent enterprise view of an organization’s data.  According to a research performed by Accenture, “72 percent of CIO’s hope to have comprehensive data governance program in place in the next three years”. Most companies, that have benefited from data governance programs, have created an executive-level steering committee of leaders, who are the “champions” driving the data governance council to set policies, and business and IT data stewards who implement those policies and do the day-to-day work. DSE Partners can help you manage your data effectively by guiding you through this journey to achieve your EDM goals - thus taking your business to the next level in the process. 

Information and ERP Assurance Audits – Over years most global organizations have collected huge amounts of data, which many times is not well understood, often less managed, and not utilized properly. Using this hidden jewel (Data), the wealth of information that can be delivered to business leaders to make actionable business decisions, is enormous. Today’s smart business leaders are beginning to see that the organizational data is one of the most valuable assets of a company.  Without the guidance of a properly implemented data architecture and design, business applications might be implemented in different ways - thus making it difficult to understand and control the flow of data within the applications. An assurance audit ensures that your data will be processed, stored, and properly utilized in a given application environment or ERP, therefore allowing the organization’s leaders to make better and timely business decisions. 

Data Management Support & Staff Augmentation – Staff augmentation can help you achieve a number of business goals including faster speed-to-market, industry and technical experience that accelerates the quality and speed of development, and avoiding the cost and time required for internal training and skill development. DSE Partners Staff Augmentation services provide skilled data management personnel to work under your direction to help you develop, maintain, manage and support your applications and information. Our skilled professionals can help you manage fluctuating skill needs, skills gaps and changing staffing needs to meet your aggressive project timelines. DSE Partner resources work with you on-site or remote, and are certified in several key technologies.