Atlan > Case Studies > Implementing Effective Data Governance at Brainly

Implementing Effective Data Governance at Brainly

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Middleware & Microservices
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Equipment & Machinery

Use Cases

Inventory Management
Mesh Networks

About The Customer

Brainly is a rapidly growing organization that operates on a distributed model. This means that teams within the organization are independent and own their own data. The company operates in a remote setting, which adds to the complexity of data governance. As the teams grow, each team has and owns their data silos, making it difficult for other teams to find and access the data they need. To address this, Brainly has implemented a data catalog and a gamification plan to improve data discoverability and governance.

The Challenge

Brainly, a rapidly growing organization with a distributed model, faced a significant challenge in data governance. With independent teams each owning their data silos, the discoverability of data became a major issue. The remote setting further complicated the situation as it was difficult for teams to find and access the data they needed. The requirements for addressing this challenge included having metadata of all data assets in one place, making data assets discoverable, enabling collaboration and trust, reducing dependencies between business, analysts, and engineers, and showing where the data comes from.

The Solution

To tackle this challenge, Brainly decided to implement a data catalog and chose Atlan as their data catalog after evaluating various vendors. The reasons for choosing Atlan included its desired functionalities, intuitive and simple use, ability to integrate all of Brainly's data tech, good support from the vendor, and reasonable cost. However, the implementation of the tool was not enough. Brainly also needed to focus on the context and collect it, which required a change in the company culture among the Data People. To facilitate this shift, Brainly implemented a gamification plan to engage teams and create greater awareness of the importance of documenting data assets. They also learned that clear ownership was key to successful data governance. As part of their ongoing efforts, Brainly plans to adopt Data Mesh during their migration to Snowflake to decentralize data management and enable teams to own and operate their own data services.

Operational Impact

The implementation of a data catalog and a gamification plan has significantly improved data discoverability and governance at Brainly. The gamification plan, in particular, has created a friendly competition among teams and raised awareness about the importance of data governance. The company has also learned the importance of clear ownership in successful data governance. Wherever the ownership of data was clear, teams were more engaged and willing to document and share their data assets. However, in areas where ownership was unclear, the documentation remained poor. This has highlighted the need for establishing clear roles and responsibilities for data ownership and access within the organization. As Brainly continues its migration to Snowflake, it plans to further improve its data governance and ensure that teams can easily access and share data across the organization.

Quantitative Benefit

Over 200 tables were documented and shared across teams through the gamification plan.
Clear ownership led to more engagement and willingness to document and share data assets.
Adoption of Data Mesh is expected to improve data discoverability and governance.