NatWest Markets was already in the process of migrating to the cloud when it began looking for a new way to manage data quality, so it needed a cloud-native solution. With much of its risk application estate already running on Google Cloud, NatWest Markets approached the Google Cloud team and was introduced to Dataplex, which powers unified data management, governance and discovery in BigQuery. “Seeing Dataplex in that demo was a lightbulb moment,” recalls Jeremy. “Not only did it measure data quality, which was exactly what we needed, but it could do it on-demand. That opened up a whole new world of possibilities.”

The Data Management Program team ran a proof of concept in late 2023, and implemented the solution soon afterwards. It worked closely with Google Cloud to refine its use of Dataplex, with the Google Cloud team honing product features and finding workarounds to tailor the product to NatWest Markets’ specific needs. That close collaboration continues to this day. “The Google Cloud team is very supportive,” says Devdatt Kamat, Solution Architect, Data Management Program at NatWest Markets. “They really try to understand our objectives so they can come back with better solutions to meet our needs.”

For NatWest Markets, maintaining data quality means ensuring that key data in each department meets a defined set of standards, such as completeness, accuracy, and consistency. With Dataplex, the Data Management Program can now easily set rules for each department’s data in BigQuery and highlight when it’s falling short of those data-quality standards.

Previously, when the team had to build pipelines to extract the data, it would take the Data Management Program up to six months+ to set up and configure rules. Now, with Dataplex, it takes six to eight weeks to define a set of rules and implement them. This equates to a 66% cost-efficiency improvement, allowing the team's resources to focus on value-add for the customer.

The team now has more than 500 rules running on data across three domains at NatWest Markets. Dataplex uses a red, amber, green color code to show how all data elements are performing against those rules, giving business users a clear, on-demand view of the quality of their data and where it is falling short. The Data Management Team configures thresholds for each of the defined rules. When data falls below that threshold, Dataplex sends users an alert, highlighting the issue so they can investigate. The team also uses Dataplex’s automated data profiling to provide teams with instant statistics on their data attributes, giving users another easy way to identify potential problems such as missing or inaccurate data.

“Dataplex gives business users a way to look at their data quality directly,” says Jeremy. “They no longer need somebody to interpret it for them. It tells them which data is broken in business language, enabling them to make decisions on the best approach to address the issue and maintain its quality.”

For NatWest Markets, Dataplex has become a key tool to support compliance with policies and regulations. By providing on-demand visibility of its data quality, Dataplex gives the bank the evidence it needs to show regulators it understands its data and is taking measures to maintain its quality. 

“Having Dataplex, allows us to demonstrate the journey we have come on, from a manual approach to automated data quality management across departments,” explains Daniel Dyche, Project Manager, Data Management Program at NatWest Markets. “That makes it easier for us to comply with our policies and regulatory requirements.”

For business users, having these data-quality insights on-demand lets them know they can rely on their data. They can see immediately whether the data can be used as it is or if it needs remediating, they can do so straight away. This makes data-driven decision-making more efficient, and dependable as a result. 

“Trusted Data is critical for our customers and colleagues. Tools like Dataplex build confidence in our data, helping to optimize key processes and support effective decision making” says Mike Carrier, Markets COO.

As NatWest Markets expands its use of Dataplex, writing and implementing data-quality rules across more departments, the Data Management Program is helping to embed a new culture where users across the organization take more responsibility for managing their own data. “We’re putting data-quality information at the users’ fingertips and it’s our job to help the business understand how to use that information and get value from it,” Jeremy explains. “That process takes time.” 

Meanwhile, the Data Management Program is combining Dataplex with more AI capabilities, both to identify patterns in its data it might otherwise have missed, and to explore new ways of working, including using generative AI to automate and scale data quality reporting. “We've come a huge distance in a year, learning as we go,” explains Jeremy.

Tom Carr, Markets CIO, agrees. “Dataplex is fundamental to our technology strategy as it delivers essential insights to the business and offers rapid feedback to our application teams enabling us to optimize our technology stack and control environment.”