A Credit Union’s Data Journey: Informatica to Azure Data Factory Migration

Client

Our client, a long-standing member-owned, not-for-profit credit union in the US, has been committed to improving financial wellness for decades. They provide tailored solutions to support community initiatives and drive meaningful impact.  

Challenges

Our client’s unique strength was in their strategic use of data to acquire new members, manage risks effectively, and deliver personalized experiences. Their outlook was to foster growth, deepen member engagement, and showcase their commitment to community service. 

In their journey to achieve reimagined business outcomes with their data, they faced several challenges that prevented them from using their data effectively for various objectives. Some of the issues related to data integration and migration included: 

• Unstructured process for data integration: The absence of a well-defined framework, guidelines or best practices for managing and governing the data integration process created lack of consistency and inefficiency. 

• Expensive maintenance for databases: Due to the existing older infrastructure, the client had to spend a lot of money on licensing and maintenance expenses, which caused budgets to stretch. 

• Aggressive timelines and limited resources: The client wanted to migrate over 1,000 data integration jobs from Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS) to Azure Data Factory (ADF), all within 3 months. 

• Data security and compliance risks: There was a critical need to safeguard sensitive information even while ensuring compliance with regulations like PCI-DSS, GDPR and HIPAA. 

• Data architecture scalability constraints: Due to fragmented workflows, the scalability and optimization of data operations was difficult. 

These challenges obstructed efforts to fully leverage data to improve customer satisfaction, manage credit risk, and empower their community to enhance financial well-being using its digital platforms. 

Solution 

Hexaware designed and implemented a comprehensive data management solution that fast-tracked and streamlined the transition from Informatica to Azure Data Factory, ensuring efficiency and scalability for the company’s digital platform and enterprise data/AI initiatives.  

Key components of the solution included: 

• Core Banking Data Integration: Data from core banking systems was transformed into Snowflake’s Enterprise Data Platform (EDP), supporting business intelligence (BI) and analytics for critical banking operations. 

• Digital Member Services: Integration of core banking data with the Member Service Platform enhanced customer support through streamlined workflows and real-time access to information. 

• Onboarding Platform for Loan Agents: Salesforce data was synchronized with Snowflake for real-time analytics, optimizing onboarding processes. 

• Fraud Detection and Credit Scoring: Hexaware integrated data with external platforms like Sentilink and Experian, enabling precise fraud detection and credit risk evaluation. 

• Data for Marketing Campaigns: A centralized Snowflake repository empowered marketing teams with actionable insights, driving effective campaigns. 

Data Integration: Azure Data Factory and Snowflake Data Cloud 

Hexaware offers a metadata-driven migration framework to simplify and enhance data integration. It uses Snowflake as both a metadata repository and target store. Integration with Azure Data Factory (ADF) allowed for efficient data movement, while flexible ingestion enabled smooth transfer of data from various sources. 

Optimized Data Workflows and Migration with ADF 

The framework’s orchestration within the Azure Data Factory streamlined workflows with comprehensive logging and monitoring to ensure transparency. Performance was optimized through job execution controls and fault tolerance. A notification system alerted teams to job success or failure in real time, while the built-in metadata reader tool accelerated field mapping configuration, reducing migration time and effort. Additionally, the framework adapted to diverse data sources and locations using fuzzy matching for accurate data mappings.  

Benefits  

 The client achieved remarkable results with Hexaware’s migration framework: 

• $150K Annual Cost Savings: Reduced licensing and maintenance expenses contributed to substantial financial benefits. 

• Standardized Data Integration: Consistent workflows minimized errors and enhanced data quality across teams. 

• Effort Reduction: Automation and reusable templates streamlined development, allowing resources to focus on strategic initiatives. 

• Rapid Onboarding: New data sources and targets were integrated with minimal effort, accelerating time-to-market. 

• Scalable Operations: Metadata updates enabled seamless adaptability to new requirements without major architectural changes. 

• Enhanced Orchestration: Simplified job scheduling and dependency management improved operational efficiency. 

Summary 

Hexaware’s data migration roadmaps with a metadata-driven migration framework empowered the client to transform their data ecosystem, aligning infrastructure with strategic business goals. Ultimately providing a comprehensive solution for data integration across its multi-cloud setup.   

By integrating Azure Data Factory with Snowflake, Hexaware delivered a scalable, cost-efficient, and compliant solution. With notable annual savings, improved workflows, and an enhanced customer experience, our client achieved significant operational efficiency, reinforcing their mission to support financial well-being for its members.