Kentucky Commonwealth Office of Technology

Kentucky Enterprise Data Architecture

Background

Historically, the Commonwealth’s approach to designing data elements in the application development process has been done with a narrow focus on traditional business needs in compliance with agency approved technology standards. The absence of an enterprise view on how the data could or should be utilized in non-traditional uses and global standards has created what Gartner refers to as a ‘spaghetti’ data environment, which is highly fragmented with significant duplication.

To transition the Commonwealth from a tactical approach on data use to a strategic role, we must change our views on data ownership and access, and position it to be used for all decisions that benefit the entire Commonwealth. Data is the strategic resource owned by the Commonwealth and a holistic view in a timely manner is key and essential for improved results when making economic development, budget, and policy decisions.

Future benefits of the KEDA initiative will include the following:

Improve Data Interoperability: Facilitate the elimination of point-to-point architecture and the increased proliferation of enterprise-based systems.
Improve Data Reliability: Facilitate agency level comprehension of standardized data elements and the ability to communicate within and between agencies about data with a clear understanding of its meaning.
Decrease Redundancy: Facilitate the elimination of redundant data, decreasing Commonwealth hardware, software and support resource costs.
Promote Reusability: Facilitate reduction in logical and physical database design time by utilization of established standards. Standardized interfaces will also decrease time-to-production for system development.