Cofinimmo
Cofinimmo uses DataGalaxy to reduce data silos and provide detailed statistics on data usage within the organization.
DataGalaxy enables different teams to work together and share information more efficiently.
overview
Cofinimmo
Cofinimmo is an international real estate investment organization that has been acquiring, developing, and managing rental properties for 40 years across Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Italy, and the UK. Mainly focusing on healthcare office real estate, Cofinimmo aims to provide high-quality living and working environments to its many partner-tenants.
Key info:
- Cofinimmo’s data teams needed a standardized data language for use throughout the entire organization.
- Cofinimmo chose DataGalaxy due to the user-friendly nature of the platform that works for both technical and non-technical profiles.
- Today, Cofinimmo’s data teams have created an extensive Business Glossary with over 1,000 data term definitions and data usages.
Industry: Real estate
Headquarters: Belgium
Workforce : 180 employees
Financials: Value of 6.2 billion EUR
Project background & strategic challenges
Cofinimmo’s data team includes a data governance managers, data stewards, and data experts. In general, the executive committee noted a lack of data quality in the organization, including unclear data definitions and misalignment of the same data points among various systems and databases.
For example, Cofinimmo’s databases would often have several factors and techniques used to calculate the definition of a building’s total square meters – Does this include gross or net surface area? Including or excluding the building’s walls? Above or below ground? Finished or unfinished? In total, the group had nearly 10 different definitions for “surface area!”
Cofinimmo chose DataGalaxy because its platform is accessible and suits both technical and non-technical users.
Cofinimmo’s data catalog implementation process
Cofinimmo’s data teams had a few steps toward successful implementation:
- Active involvement of each data steward responsible for populating the definitions of data elements in their data domains
- Project coordination and refining of definitions led by the central data management team
- Short demo tutorials and emails to remind employees of the platform or introduce new DataGalaxy functionalities
Today, all of Cofinimmo’s 180 employees have access to DataGalaxy, and the group has achieved a 50% access rate so far with 15% of users consulting the platform regularly.
In the future, Cofinimmo plans to continue its data use case documentation, including describing the content of management reporting and further refining unclear data.
DataGalaxy is quite user-friendly and intuitive for non-experienced users, and the tool can be used by data and IT specialists to describe data lineage in-depth.
Benjamin de Reus
Data Manager
Results of using DataGalaxy
The benefits of using DataGalaxy
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Data is available to all users; they feel included and appreciate the transparency of the newly implemented system.
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Time-saving for all users needing to research specific data points
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Increased operational efficiency
Benjamin de Reus
Data Manager
“We chose DataGalaxy over other options because of its flexibility, its ease-of-use, and it was the right cost for the size of our organization.“
Cofinimmo’s tech stack
Power BI
SAP
SQL Server