From Legacy to Modern MDM: A Banking Transformation Story

Key Results & Achievements

• Golden Record creation: establishing a single, authoritative view of every commercial client across all systems.  

• Zero-risk migration guarantee: two systems running in perfect parallel, proving accuracy down to every single data point before cutover.

• Architecture redesigned for operational reality: early-stage critical assessment led to complete redesign aligned with the bank's actual workflows, risk tolerance, and regulatory requirements

• Production stability: system running flawlessly since go-live, supporting critical daily operations with zero compromise to business continuity

• Client referral: this project came through a recommendation from an existing client, particularly meaningful in an industry where institutions carefully vet their technology partners

• 10-week delivery: efficient execution leveraging our banking MDM expertise and proven implementation methodology, supported by the client's comprehensive process documentation

Client Background

Our client is a top-tier Dutch banking institution operating in the commercial banking sector. They came to us through a referral from an existing client - a significant factor in an industry where institutions carefully vet their technology partners. They needed expertise in master data management with a clear understanding that in banking, the margin for error is zero.

The Real Business Challenge

The Compliance Nightmare

‍The bank’s Master Data Services (MDS) platform had reached end-of-life. No vendor support, no security patches, no compliance coverage. For a financial institution operating in commercial lending, this was not a technical inconvenience, it was a material regulatory risk. An unsupported platform at the heart of customer master data management creates immediate exposure during audits, supervisory reviews, and regulatory reporting.

What Was Really at Stake

• KYC and sanctions compliance: Without a Golden Record, customer identity existed in fragments. Proving that the bank truly “knows its customer” across systems, jurisdictions, and regulatory checks became increasingly difficult.
• Credit and lending risk: Customer records spread across multiple systems, each using different identifiers, update cycles, and data quality standards. This ambiguity raises a fundamental question: are lending decisions being made on a complete and accurate view of the counterparty?
• Regulatory exposure: Operating unsupported core data infrastructure introduces audit risks that escalate quickly under banking supervision, especially when tied to customer and credit data.
• Business continuity: The master data platform was mission-critical for daily operations. Any disruption would directly impact lending workflows and operational decision-making.

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Our Approach: Risk Mitigation from Day One

Architecture Redesign: Challenging Assumptions to Minimize Risk

‍At project kickoff, we conducted a critical assessment of the initially proposed architecture. While it appeared comprehensive on paper, our analysis identified potential operational and compliance risks that could emerge in a banking production environment. Rather than proceeding with the existing blueprint, we went back to fundamentals: analyzing the bank's actual operational patterns, regulatory requirements, risk tolerance, and system dependencies. This assessment led to a complete architecture redesign - a decision that fundamentally reduced project risk.

Discovery: Comprehensive Requirements Analysis

‍The client provided extensive documentation of existing processes and workflows. Our requirements workshops went deeper, examining compliance obligations, lending workflows, audit requirements, and risk parameters. This comprehensive understanding informed every subsequent design decision.

Architecture Design: Operational Alignment

‍We implemented a modern integration architecture designed around the bank's specific requirements:

• Azure Data Factory for orchestration, configured to meet banking change control and audit requirements.
• SQL database layer for data transformation and staging, with complete audit trail capabilities.
• Profisee MDM platform as the central master data hub, configured to establish the single source of truth required for KYC and sanctions compliance.

Migration Strategy: The Safety Net Approach

1. Parallel Production Operation

‍We ran both legacy and new systems simultaneously in full production mode. Every transaction, data update, and query executed across both platforms in parallel. The objective: Daily operations teams compared outputs. Downstream systems validated data quality in their actual workflows. Edge cases were identified and resolved in a production-equivalent environment, not in isolated testing. This approach required additional effort, but it eliminated uncertainty. In banking, where data accuracy directly impacts lending decisions and regulatory compliance, this level of verification was essential.

2. Golden Record Implementation: Establishing Single Source of Truth

‍Implementation of Profisee's matching engine delivered:

• Unified client view: One definitive record per commercial client, consolidating data from multiple source systems.
• KYC foundation: Complete customer knowledge with full data lineage documentation.
• Sanctions compliance: Single authoritative record for screening, eliminating risks from fragmented data.
• Credit decision support: Complete, accurate customer information for lending decisions.The Golden Record isn't a feature – it's the foundation of safe banking operations.

3. Integration Architecture

• Comprehensive integration layer connecting all source systems.
• Accommodation of varying data delivery patterns, schedules, and reliability levels across systems.
• Strategic leverage of the client's internal data platform where appropriate.
• Architectural flexibility to support banking's operational complexity.

4. Data Migration with Quality Control

‍Selective data transfer filtered obsolete records and inactive systems while ensuring complete migration of all business-critical information. Two complete migration runs verified data completeness and accuracy before final cutover.

Implementation: Comprehensive Validation

Production-Equivalent Testing

• Daily operations teams compared outputs between systems during parallel operation

• Downstream consuming systems validated data quality within their actual workflows

• Rigorous validation identified edge cases in production-equivalent conditions

• Every discrepancy investigated and resolved before final cutover

Change Management

The parallel operation period served a dual purpose: validating system accuracy while enabling operations teams to gain practical experience with Profisee in a risk-controlled environment. With the legacy system remaining operational, teams could verify their work, compare results, and build operational proficiency without exposure to production errors.

User Interface: Workflow Optimization

We developed tailored UI solutions aligned with the bank's specific operational workflows. In banking environments, successful adoption requires seamless integration with established operational processes and user expectations.

Results: What Changed for the Business

Compliance and Risk Management

• Single source of truth established across up to 500,000 master data records consolidated from 6 disparate source systems - eliminating data conflicts in lending decisions

• KYC and sanctions screening integrity - authoritative Golden Records with complete data lineage supporting regulatory requirements

• Regulatory risk eliminated - migration from unsupported end-of-life technology removed audit exposure

Operational Excellence

• 10-week delivery with 3-week parallel validation - zero disruption to daily lending operations or client-facing activities

• Enterprise-grade functionality - 5 matching strategies and 10+ data quality rules replaced custom-built tools

• Production stability - system operating without incident since go-live

Strategic Foundation

• Scalable architecture - 3 hierarchies and 5 access roles supporting current operations with capacity for growth

• Modern, supported platform - eliminating technical debt and enabling future regulatory adaptation

Conclusion  

This 10-week master data transformation achieved what defines success in banking: establishing the compliance foundation that enables confident lending decisions while eliminating the regulatory exposure of unsupported technology. We removed the fundamental uncertainty of fragmented data across six systems through three weeks of parallel validation that proved mathematical certainty - exactly what banks require before trusting critical operations to new platforms.

The architecture redesign at project kickoff demonstrated a critical principle: challenging initial assumptions to align with operational reality reduces risk more effectively than flawless execution of flawed plans.

The client's subsequent referrals to other banking institutions represent the ultimate validation in an industry where reputations are built over decades.

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