Simple master data and metadata management for Microsoft Fabric

Manage data objects and structures in the Data & Analytics platform with GAPTEQ

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The client

lead link is a specialist agency for video performance advertising based in Grünwald near Munich. The team develops measurable advertising and digital campaigns for over 80 companies across Europe. The company's goal is to create engaging adverts that trigger immediately measurable and sales-boosting responses on its clients' websites.

The project

Development of a web application for user-friendly maintenance, management and creation of master data and metadata in Microsoft Fabric.

The advertising agency lead link has implemented Microsoft Fabric, a data and analytics platform for performance management. An application was set up with GAPTEQ for maintaining master data and metadata. The web solution integrates seamlessly into the Microsoft environment and enables lead link to manage and expand its data products easily and transparently.

Highlights

Efficient creation and maintenance of master data, metadata, database structures and data objects

Centralised management of stored formulas and mapping functionality

Seamless integration with Microsoft Fabric

Simple and customisable design of the attractive web interface

Flexible tool for other areas of application

Challenge

lead link develops measurable advertising campaigns for TV, CTV and social media. What sets the agency apart is its performance-oriented business model. With its combination of creative implementation, data-based control and complete measurability, lead link produces ‘advertising that works’ for its clients and proves this in performance reviews.

In collaboration with the data and analytics manufacturer QUNIS, lead link has implemented the lake-centric analysis platform Microsoft Fabric, which supports its data-driven business model and automates performance management. A major challenge here is the diverse range of internal and external data sources that lead link needs for its in-depth data analyses. TV stations and streaming providers send the agency booking and broadcast information about commercials in various file formats and via different channels. The logic and master data designations of the data packages also vary considerably. The station and customer data is also enriched with performance data from external service providers.

To establish a single point of truth (SPOT) in the data lakehouse, the project team harmonised the heterogeneous data and developed uniform business logic and data models. To maintain master data, metadata and reporting hierarchies on an ongoing basis, the internal team at lead link needed a simple and flexible tool that could be easily integrated into the data and analytics platform. The solution had to enable centralised management of data, logic and structures, as well as support the creation of new data products.

Solution

QUNIS set up an application for data management using the low-code platform GAPTEQ. As a powerful web front end for SQL databases and lakehouse platforms, GAPTEQ fits perfectly into the Microsoft environment. The intuitive web interface allows the lead link team to easily maintain and manage the data model in the lakehouse themselves.

The project team has stored a great deal of complex mapping intelligence for data and logic in the application's backend. For example, different spellings of source data from different TV stations only need to be maintained centrally in one place – the heterogeneous source data is then automatically reconciled when it is imported into the lakehouse. This keeps data maintenance simple for users in their day-to-day work, while smart, highly automated master data management (MDM) runs in the background.

‘With GAPTEQ, we were able to set up the master data system incredibly quickly. The interface was up and running in just three days.’

Florian Bechler, Chief Technology Officer, lead link GmbH

Florian Bechler, Chief Technology Officer at lead link, also highlights GAPTEQ's modern user interface. For lead link, an aesthetically appealing web interface for daily data work was an important aspect. Florian Bechler confirms: "With the low-code software GAPTEQ, we were able to design an intuitive interface with a lot of functionality with little effort. The working environment looks good and is easy to customise and manage."

Florian Bechler was surprised by how quickly it was implemented. The entire MDM application was set up in just one month, with the most effort going into data harmonisation and defining the mapping functionality in the backend. Once these foundations were in place, the user interface was ready and operational within two to three days.

Result

With the well-integrated combination of Microsoft Fabric and GAPTEQ, lead link has a powerful data and analytics environment that the internal team can administer and customise as needed.

Fabric combines proven Azure data services, including Power BI, in a preconfigured platform and enables even medium-sized companies such as lead link to build state-of-the-art analytics applications with a high degree of self-service. The master and metadata management in GAPTEQ fits in perfectly with this: it puts a lot of data power in the hands of the internal data team, enabling cost-efficient operation, flexible customisation and expansion of the analytics platform through the creation of new data products for further use cases.

lead link has recognised the potential of GAPTEQ and will also use the software for other areas of application. In future, a planning application is to be mapped as a use case in the data & analytics platform. GAPTEQ will serve as the interface for entering planning data.

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