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Unit 14: Quality Driven Data Warehouse Design

the real meaning of each element, and ensuring that all valid data elements are part of the notes
matching equation. It then standardizes content into a consistent format.
Beyond address correction
In the logistics industry, accuracy is everything; FedEx needed to identify customers
reliably based on a variety of data elements, including business names, office suite
numbers, and other address elements. Its chosen data quality solution had to identify and
distinguish between companies on different floors of an office tower or divisions within
a geographically dispersed corporate campus. It had to link customers based on detailed
analyses of abbreviations, nicknames, synonyms, personal names, street addresses, and
other information.
FedEx knew they needed more than address verification software that only confirmed
that an address was internally consistent and correct according to postal authorities. They
needed precision matching capabilities that would lie at the heart of InSight. The Trillium
Software System had all these capabilities, in addition to usability features that allowed
FedEx to tune and test quickly and iteratively the matching process until the match results
met the company’s stringent requirements.

split-second processing
Speed was another requirement. To efficiently handle the volume of FedEx’s daily
transactions, the software had to identify and resolve matches at sub-second rates. Only
the Trillium Software System could demonstrate this capability and process millions of
records per day—as many as 500,000 records per hour.
surgical precision
“That we could customize [business] rules and surgically make changes was a big, big
winning point,” said the senior technical analyst. The Trillium Software System lets FedEx
target specific data issues and quickly modify rules to resolve them. The business rules,
written in plain text, were understandable, traceable, and repeatable. Because the analyst
team could see what the rules were and how they worked, they were more confident about
the matching process. “There’s a certain amount of confidence you have to have in the
product. You have to trust in what it’s doing.”

rapid rollout
FedEx took only about four months to implement its solution fully. Trillium Software
professional services helped FedEx get started. After just three days, the senior technical
analyst was ready to work on his own: “Once I understood it, it was just a matter of
applying that knowledge,” he stated.
He also gives Trillium Software Customer Support a lot of credit: “The Trillium Software
tech support is just terrific. Most of my support is done through email and someone always
gets back to me quickly. If I call, there’s no kind of triage. I tell them what language I speak,
and then I get to talk to someone.”
award-Winning insight
FedEx won several e-commerce awards for its innovation, and customers raved about their
InSight experiences. In fact, FedEx customers communicated that they would forgo lower
shipping rates from competitors, because they prized the ability to track their incoming
and outgoing shipments so easily with InSight.
FedEx also realized concrete gains from its investment. Repeatedly, implementation of
InSight was shown to align with significant increases in use of FedEx services by some of
the company’s largest customers.
Contd...

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