MDM Modernization: Global Financial Trading Institution

Executive Summary

A global liquidity provider and market maker faced a critical operational risk: their master data management platform was approaching end-of-life, threatening the stability of real-time trading operations where every minute of downtime translates to significant financial exposure.

We partnered with their team to eliminate this risk through a strategic migration to a modern, enterprise-grade MDM platform, delivering not just technical modernization, but operational peace of mind and team empowerment that positioned them for sustainable growth.

The outcome delivered in just 12 weeks: Zero trading disruption during migration, a self-sufficient internal team, and client confidence strong enough to generate referrals to other financial institutions.

Client Background

Our client is a global liquidity provider and market maker operating in highly competitive financial markets. As an innovative financial institution, they bring greater transparency and efficiency to trading operations worldwide, actively investing in the financial ecosystem while developing cutting-edge technologies to enhance market accessibility.

The Business Challenge

When Technology Risk Becomes Operational Risk

The institution faced a scenario that keeps financial executives awake at night: their Microsoft Master Data Services (MDS) platform - the backbone managing critical trading data, legal entity structures, and cost allocations - was approaching end-of-life with no vendor support.

The Real Stakes

For a real-time trading operation, this wasn't just a technology problem, it was an operational time bomb:

• Trading Continuity Risk: In financial markets, system failures during trading hours mean immediate revenue loss and potential regulatory scrutiny

• Regulatory Compliance Exposure: Operating unsupported systems raises red flags with auditors and regulators

• Data Governance Vulnerability: Without a modern platform, maintaining data quality and approval controls becomes increasingly fragile

• Strategic Limitations: Legacy technology constrains their ability to scale operations or integrate new trading strategies

What They Needed

Beyond technical migration, they needed a partner who could:

• Eliminate operational risk without disrupting daily trading operations

• Preserve business continuity while fundamentally upgrading infrastructure

• Build internal capability rather than create long-term dependency

• Establish sustainable governance that scales with business growth

• Deliver certainty in an inherently risky transformation project

Our Approach

From Risk to Resilience

Phase 1: Building the Foundation for Zero-Disruption Migration

We began by deeply understanding their operational reality, not just technical architecture, but business processes, risk tolerance, and team capabilities.

Discovery Activities:

• Comprehensive mapping of existing data flows and dependencies across trading, cost management, and legal entity domains

• Risk assessment identifying potential disruption points in trading operations

• Capability assessment of internal team to guide knowledge transfer strategy

• Governance framework design aligned with regulatory requirements

This foundation allowed us to design a migration approach that prioritized business continuity above all else.

Phase 2: Modernization Without Disruption

Strategic Platform Selection

We implemented Profisee MDM - created by the original Microsoft MDS developers-providing a natural migration path that preserved familiar workflows while delivering modern capabilities. This strategic choice minimized business logic recreation, reduced training overhead, and significantly lowered migration risk.

Technical Foundation Delivering Business Value

• Cloud-Native Azure Infrastructure Eliminated aging on-premises vulnerabilities with enterprise-grade reliability: guaranteed uptime backed by Microsoft SLAs (99.9% to 99.99%), automatic scaling during peak trading periods, and no more maintenance windows disrupting trading operations.

• Automated Data Pipelines Replaced manual processes with Azure Data Factory orchestration. Data updates that previously took hours now happen automatically overnight, eliminating human error risk while freeing the team for strategic work.

• Proactive Data Quality Framework Validation rules check accuracy at point of entry - before reaching trading systems. Traders and risk managers work with trusted data, while compliance teams gain confidence in regulatory standards without constant manual verification.

• Approval Workflows for Governance Structured approval processes create audit trails satisfying regulators while ensuring accuracy. Clear accountability for data decisions, protection against unauthorized changes, and no more questioning data lineage during audits.

• Enterprise Security Controls Secure single sign-on and role-based access protect sensitive trading data while enabling collaboration - the right people get the right access, nothing more.

Migration Scope

• Successfully migrated critical domains with zero trading disruption:

• Trading data models supporting real-time market-making and position management

• Cost management structures enabling P&L analysis across global operations

• Legal entity hierarchies managing regulatory reporting across dozens of jurisdictions

• Reference data ensuring consistency in reporting and operations

Phase 3: True Knowledge Transfer

Here's where we departed from typical consulting engagements.

Rather than creating dependency on external consultants, we invested heavily in empowering the client's data engineering team to become self-sufficient platform owners. Through structured training, documentation, and hands-on mentorship, we transferred not just technical knowledge but strategic thinking about data governance and platform evolution.

The Result: Within weeks of go-live, their team was independently adding new data models, configuring workflows, and making platform decisions.

Business Impact

From Operational Risk to Competitive Advantage

Operational Peace of Mind

• 500,000+ master data records migrated across 10 entity types with zero trading disruption- maintaining business continuity throughout the transformation

• Delivered in 12 weeks - on time and on budget, despite the complexity inherent in financial services migrations where overruns are common

• Eliminated end-of-life risk with modern, fully-supported enterprise platform

• Regulatory confidence through auditable governance managing 5 hierarchies and 10 automated data quality rules

• Scalable foundation supporting 50+ attributes per entity for future trading strategies

Team Empowerment & Strategic Independence

• Client team achieved complete platform autonomy within project timeline - independently managing workflows, access roles, and new models

• Eliminated ongoing consulting dependency, reducing long-term operational costs while retaining critical knowledge internally

• Foundation for continuous evolution without external support requirements

Validation Through Client Confidence

The strongest measure of project success: our client became our advocate, referring us directly to banking sector players evaluating similar MDM transformations.

This validation proved that technical excellence combined with genuine partnership creates advocates, not just satisfied customers.

Conclusion

This master data modernization project achieved what many financial institutions struggle with: eliminating the operational risk of system failure during trading hours while maintaining business continuity and building internal capability for sustainable platform ownership.

For trading operations where every minute of downtime translates to financial losses and regulatory exposure, we removed the constant threat hanging over the business, the risk that critical systems could fail mid-trading day with no vendor support available.

This engagement proved a fundamental truth about technology modernization: the right partner doesn't just migrate systems - they eliminate risk, empower teams, and create foundations for competitive advantage.

The client's willingness to refer us to their network demonstrates the ultimate validation: when you treat a migration as a business transformation rather than a technical project, you create value that extends far beyond go-live.

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