On October 7-9, 2013, the Americas' SAP Users' Group held their 9th annual Data Governance (DG) Special Interest Group (SIG) event hosted by two members of the SAP data governance community, Newell Rubbermaid and The Coca-Cola Company, in Atlanta, Georgia.
By the Numbers:
- 240+ ASUG Data Governance SIG members attended, achieving the best attendance ever for this event
- 13 vendors sponsored the event including SAP who was the Premier Sponsor
- >50% of attendees are new to the event—even more than last year!
- 70% of attendees are from the business and 30% from IT
Activities and Successes at Event:
- SAP opened the event with a keynote on how SAP’s Data Management Program supported Inside Sales and Partner organizations by Anton Feig, SAP Chief Operating Officer of Ecosystems and Channels. We also got to hear from Newell Rubbermaid and The Coca-Cola Company. High-level executives talked about how information was transforming their business, and significantly contributing to aggressive corporate goals.
- American Water highlighted how they have transformed their business by equating clean data to clean water. Their initiative involves SAP Information Steward and SAP Data Services (both in batch and real-time).
- SAP held 4 Technology Track sessions on SAP Information Steward, SAP Data Services, and SAP Master Data Governance
- SAP hosted 11 Information Governance Clinics at the SAP booth. clinics gave customers a change to talk one-on-one with an information governance expert. The sessions were packed with best practice advice, and some general data therapy.
What is the goal of this free conference?
The ASUG DG SIG event is focused on getting SAP customers together in one location to discuss data and information governance related topics such as people, process, and technologies. This is more than a technology conference because it focuses on letting community members tell their stories, lessons learned, and successes. Also, it is an opportunity for organizations to learn about the latest SAP technologies that support information governance.
What were some of the highlights from the event this year?
The quality of presentations was impressive this year, as the agenda was packed with great customer stories, partner sessions, and industry analyst presentations. We also awarded the second annual Information Governance Excellence Award--the IGgie. The award recognizes the best achievements and innovations from our data governance community. This year The IGgie was awarded to the team from Colgate Palmolive. They are using SAP EIM solutions to achieve 100% data accuracy :!: for new Suppliers, General Ledger Account attributes and Cost Centers, and new Material SKUs. They have achieved cost savings via productivity enhancements of 800% in Finance, 50% in Suppliers, and 22% in Material.
Also, Sgt. Matt Eversmann regaled the group with stories from the Black Hawk Down operation, and how what he learned in that high-pressure situation relates to leadership in business. I can't even summarize everything that he said here, because his presentation was so engrossing. Here's a clip from a similar talk from St. Eversmann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gObSrwvt0jM
What key themes emerged from the event this year?
A few key themes emerged this year at the 2013 ASUG DG SIG event.
- Members continue to talk about metrics and what they are measuring such as productivity and capacity resource dimensions and data quality dimensions. However, most companies have just started to take steps to measure and report on results.
- We saw greater use of the SAP enterprise information management (EIM) tools such as SAP Information Steward, SAP Data Services, and SAP Master Data Governance; and people starting to talk about how they are using them to automate their data governance processes.
- Much more conversation this year on information governance policies and definitions, including best practices for storing these policies. American Water and Sysco Corporation shared some of their own policy management ideas with the audience.
What innovative things are customers doing to achieve success with information governance?
- Members continue to extend their efforts beyond vendor, customer, and material, to additional domains like purchasing information records (PIR) and APO data, pricing, assets, and HR data.
- Organizations need to be told the impact of their data via business value metrics. Innovative companies are doing this on a recurring basis, with a consistent cadence of executive stakeholders.
What can we expect for next year?
The 10th annual ASUG DG SIG event is in the works and will be held around October 2014. Johnson & Johnson will be hosting the event in New Jersey. In addition, we will open submissions for the third annual IGgie Award, which is rapidly becoming a coveted honor for organizations doing amazing things with information governance.
For those of you who missed the event, you may download all of the session presentations at the ASUG DG SIG site (http://www.asug.com/discussions/community/sig_communities/business_integration__technology_%26_infra...). You must be an ASUG member in order to download. Learn more about SAP solutions for information governance. Don't miss the upcoming ASUG Webinars.
