Ruukki's Master Data Management Solution Receives International Innovation Award
06/14/2013 - Ruukki is the first Finnish company to receive Informatica's annual Innovation Award. The award was announced on 6 June at the Informatica World 2013 data integration conference held in Las Vegas.
Ruukki is the first Finnish company to receive Informatica's annual Innovation Award. The award was announced on 6 June at the Informatica World 2013 data integration conference held in Las Vegas.
The award-winning master data management (MDM) solution has halved the time it takes to process master data at Ruukki. The solution is based on Informatica's MDM products and implemented under Ruukki's instructions by Affecto Finland Oy. Master data management means the processes, standards and tools an organization uses to manage the master data that are key to its business. The ultimate intention is that a large organization does not use possibly different versions of the same data in its various operations.
Informatica makes an annual innovation award for the best Informatica solution globally that takes the sector forward. This year, Ruukki was the first Finnish company among the finalists. Informatica solutions are used globally by a total of over 5,000 companies, including more than 80 per cent of Dow Jones listed companies.
The solution effected by Affecto and Informatica replaced Ruukki's fragmented previous generation system with a new system which divides customer and supplier data into 12 different systems. Ruukki's solution combines data integration, data quality and master data management functionalities. Ruukki has long experience of master data management of strategy, functions and applications. The solution also incorporates a centralized integrated support solution designed for operative systems designed earlier.
"The new system improves Master Data quality significantly because already when making a customer or vendor request, mandatory fields and other business rules are used to validate the data. The system also checks if the VAT of the requested company is valid in the EU," says Esa Pallaspuro, owner of Ruukki's master data concept.
"Ruukki's award highlights Finnish IT project expertise internationally. IT solutions are configured in Finland and copied elsewhere," notes Petri Räsänen, sales executive/business intelligence expert at Affecto. In future, everyone is likely to have the type of integrated solution Ruukki has rather than endpoint solutions.
Ruukki was a finalist in two categories: Data Quality and Master Data Management. The other finalists were large international companies.
Ruukki specializes in steel and steel construction. We provide customers with energy-efficient steel solutions for better living, working and moving. We have around 9,000 employees and an extensive distribution and dealer network across some 30 countries including the Nordic countries, Russia and elsewhere in Europe and the emerging markets, such as India, China and South America. Net sales in 2012 totaled €2.8 billion.
