Data Management and Architecture: Services Overview

Successful data management requires much more than investment in technology—it also involves putting the processes and people in place to manage all aspects of the data lifecycle. Thus, all three areas have an important role to play in how data is created, stored, moved, used and retired. Leading businesses are beginning to understand the importance of data management and architecture, which is vital to ensuring that the data needed for organizational decision making and reporting is available, accurate, complete and secure.
 
Most executives are constrained by information and data that are often insufficient or untrustworthy, or so copious that they require weeks to analyze. How often are you faced with the following situations?

• I receive numerous reports every day, but they all use different terminology and data formats—what does this all mean?
  
  
• I call them products, other people call them parts, one system calls them SKUs—and our customers call them by their catalog names and numbers—are they all the same thing?
  
  
• I just reviewed a data model of our business to prepare for an acquisition. It looked very nice but it used indecipherable terminology, a very old business model and had nothing to do with our current organization and strategy.
  
  

Effective data management enables insight to support better decision making, leading to compliance with government regulations; reduced risks inherent with improved data quality; improved productivity and operational efficiency; improvements in customer satisfaction; and increased enterprise agility, thus achieving high performance.

Accenture's Data Management & Architecture practice provides a structured, holistic approach that delivers offerings and assets to support our clients in managing their data. We structure data management & architecture into the following domains:

• Data Governance—The human organization to manage and oversee data.
  
  
• Data Structure—The definition of data.
  
  
• Data Architecture—The storage, movement and retrieval of data.
  
  
• Master Data Management—The maintenance of consistent core data throughout an enterprise and with business partners.
  
  
• Metadata—The management of data definitions and information about data.
  
  
• Data Quality—The accuracy, completeness and legal compliance of data.
  
  
• Data Security—The protection of data and the authorization to use it.
  
  

Accenture's team of data management & architecture professionals helps clients define and put into place the processes, people and technology to manage data effectively across its lifecycle. With deep expertise in the six key areas that enable effective data management, Accenture combines an industry-specific focus with world-class data management capabilities to allow us to address the technical, as well as the functional, components that underpin all of our strategic solutions. We are able to deploy teams that are uniquely qualified to meet any data management challenge, in any sector, anywhere in the world.

Viewed as a leader in information management, Accenture is increasingly the partner of choice for companies wanting to maximize the value of their data. Since the early 1990s, Accenture has helped hundreds of clients transform the way they use information to drive their businesses to higher levels of performance. Our expertise in database technology and data management dates back even farther—to the 1970s—when we helped clients with managing data storage, access and security.
 
Accenture takes an integrated, holistic approach to information management, which includes the creation of a dedicated organization focused on integrating and managing all the diverse information assets necessary to plan and run a high-performance organization. Data Management & Architecture is part of Accenture Information Management Services, a global network of more than 16,000 people with deep industry skills, experience and knowledge in information management process, strategies and technologies.

Global Delivery Excellence
The Accenture Delivery Suite—a comprehensive set of proven methods, processes, tools and architectures distilled from our collective experiences and innovations—enables us to deliver proven solutions on time and at a competitive price.

We have a network of more than 50 delivery centers around the world dedicated to providing a full range of technology and outsourcing services to clients in every industry. In our Data Management and Architecture domain, we offer master data management services, as well as customer-centric data integration solutions, which help our clients ensure they have the data they need to generate insights for high performance. The Accenture Center of Excellence for Data Center Services helps our clients generate knowledge and value for their organizations.

Alliances with Market Leaders
Our implementation experience and vendor relationships allow us to select and work with "best-fit" vendors to ensure that client needs are best met.

Thought Leadership
Accenture has an extensive library of assets that can be used in planning and delivering projects.

• For example, our Data Management & Architecture Diagnostic helps us to identify clients' business issues, analyze their current practices, perform a gap analysis and develop recommendations.
  
  
•  Our practitioners develop and refine our assets on an ongoing basis, and tailor them as appropriate to address specific industry sectors.
  
  

Innovation
Our technology R&D group, Accenture Technology Labs, combines deep technical and scientific expertise with business know-how to create unique solution assets such as predictive monitoring approaches and knowledge discovery tools.

Our services in Data Management & Architecture support the entire data lifecycle, including how data is created, stored, moved, used and retired. We integrate six capabilities into a master framework that leads to a structured data management approach across the enterprise. The six capabilities leverage a comprehensive set of assets including diagnostic and implementation tools, and design guidelines and best practices that reflect the best thinking in effective data management.

Our specific service areas include:
 
Data Governance
Data Governance includes the rules, policies, procedures, roles and responsibilities that guide overall management of an enterprise's data.

Data Structure
Data Structure is how data is organized in a specific enterprise, from overall corporate data models down to the level of an individual system.

Data Architecture
Data Architecture describes is the processes, systems and human organization required to store, access, move and organize the data.

Master Data
Master data is the language of doing business, including core information on customers, employees and products.

Metadata
Metadata is structured information about data that helps enterprise systems work together and makes them easier to maintain.

Data Quality
Data Quality is the ability of data to satisfy the organization's requirements, typically measured in terms of the data's accuracy, completeness and legal compliance.
- Accenture Data Quality Solution for Risk and Regulatory
Management

Data Security
Data Security is the protection of the data from unauthorized access, viewing, modification, or deletion, whether accidental, intentional or malicious.