PwC Canada's Sustainable Agile Analytics Journey

Since joining PwC Canada in 2011, Neil Hepburn has been on a quest to determine why it is so difficult to answer unexpected questions at executive speed. To this end, Neil has conducted over 20 hands-on Agile Analytics proof-of-concepts. The PoCs were all successful and client testimonials like "you have accomplished in 3 weeks what would normally take 3 years" were not uncommon.

These PoCs clearly revealed that identifying and accessing raw data are the biggest obstacles and data preparation is the biggest bottleneck. The PoCs also pointed the way to potential solutions. Namely:

Disintermediation of resources: Methodical collaboration between builders with analysts
Integrated and portable Data Prep + Data Visualization tools
A curation system for managing: partitioned flat files; flattened metadata; and analytical apps

In this talk Neil will review PwC's findings, the aforementioned proposed solutions, and how Neil and PwC Canada have implemented these solutions internally and at client sites.

Neil Hepburn is a Certified Data Management Professional (mastery level), holds an honours B. Math in Computer Science, and has over 20 years IT and data management experience. Neil works within PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Information Management practice and is a recognized thought leader in the area of Agile Analytics. Neil has spoken on the topic of information management in numerous public forums including: Enterprise Data World; FSOSS (Free and Open Source Software Symposium); CMA IT Symposium; and numerous universities including University of Toronto, Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier, Ryerson, and McMaster.