If you’re in the corporate world, chances are you’ve heard this phrase in the last year: “we need to make data-driven decisions.” It’s a simple phrase but often complicated to implement as it involves identifying KPIs, collecting the measurable data, analyzing the data for facts, and turning the insights into actions that will grow your business. So how exactly do you start the process of “data-driven decisions” when there is data everywhere – data of all different kinds and in all different locations? The task can sound downright daunting or even impossible. Our ability to freely share and use data is too often plagued with interoperability challenges. Data integration is the key to alleviating this problem. Put simply, data integration helps different systems and formats work together. The ultimate goal is to generate valuable and usable information to help solve problems and gain new insights, a.k.a. data-driven decisions! In this webinar, learn how data integration can be used in any and all industries. And see how the workflows increase communication between departments, provide better customer service, streamline operations, improve decision making, and overall increase productivity.

1. S A F E S O F T W A R E
Makers of the FME® Integration Platform

2. Welcome to the Webinar!
Amanda Schrack
Technical Content Marketing Specialist
Tiana Warner
Product Marketing Manager

3. Agenda
1. What does “data-driven
decisions” really mean?
2. What is data integration?
3. How to start making
data-driven decisions in
your organization.

4. What does “Data-Driven
Decisions” actually mean?

5. It means...
Turning factual insights into actions that will produce a desired result.
OR
Turning data into knowledge that will allow you to take the next best step.

6. Data-driven decisions
in the real world
Data Science and Its Relationship to Big Data and Data-Driven
Decisions Making by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett (2013)

7. 1. Discovery led decisions
Walmart during hurricane season

8. 2. Decisions that repeat
Telecommunications customers

9. 3. Automated decisions
What should I watch next?

10. Common data struggles:
Data silos: Data stored in unusable formats, is only accessible by specific
departments, or needs to be transformed to be used properly.
Poor quality data: From inconsistencies to missing entries. “Garbage in,
garbage out” problems.
Lack of knowledge: Not knowing where or how to look for data, or not
knowing the right tools.
Lack of technology: Not having access to specific software. A common
issue with proprietary data formats.

11. What is Data
Integration?
The process of bringing together data
from disparate sources in a unified view
to create a dataset with both valuable
and usable information
What’s Involved?
● Data Conversion
● Data Transformation
● Data Validation

12. EnergyUtilities Government
TelecomCommercial
Transportation
AEC
and more!
Data
integration
is for any
and all
industries!

13. “What tools and processes do I need to
make data-driven decisions?”

14. Data Integration the FME way

15. Connect Your Data Sources
Integrate and convert information
across 400+ applications.
Transform Your Data
450+ powerful transformers on
safe.com/transformers | hub.safe.com
Automate Your Workflows
Build event-based workflows in
a visual interface.

16. CONNECT
CAD
GIS
FME release by year
NumberofsupportedformatsinFME
1995
10500100300
20202015201020052000
TABULAR
DATABASE
RASTER
POINT
CLOUD
BIM
3D
WEB
XML
CLOUD
BIG
DATA
IOT
BI
AR / VR
AI / ML
INDOOR
MAPPING
GAMING

17. 1. Discovery-led decisions
Goal: integrate all of the data you have and get it into
a useful format.
For example:
● A central data repository for easy analysis.
● PDF reports to share with the team.
● Business Intelligence software for advanced
analysis (e.g. Qlik, Power BI, Tableau).

18. "FME was the best solution we knew of, and
had we tried to do it another way, we probably
would have failed before we even got started."
- Jim Sparks, Geographic Information Officer
for the State of Indiana
https://www.safe.com/customers/state-of-indiana/
PROJECT
Homogenize GIS data from 92 counties into
a central repository and online portal.
SOLUTION
Integrate GIS data from all counties into a
central Esri repository using FME Server,
and make it available via an online GIS
portal.
RESULTS
● Counties did not need to implement
their own processes.
● Data can be accessed through the
IndianaMap online GIS portal.
● State-wide data is available for
initiatives and emergency response.
STATE OF
INDIANA

19. Demo: Making discovery-led decisions using FME
Build your data integration workflow in
FME Desktop.
1. Read data from existing sources.
2. Transform data and perform
calculations to get the insights you
need.
3. Write it to your system of choice.

20. Tutorials and Sample FME Workspaces
● Webinar: FME for Business Intelligence
● Webinar: Web Data & Reporting
● Tutorial: Writing data to Tableau
● Tutorial: Creating a cartographic PDF

21. 2. Decisions
that repeat
Goal: analyze new data and make
decisions on an ongoing basis.
● Use repeatable workflows.
● Run your workflows on demand
or automatically.

22. "The building block nature of FME's repeatable
workflows help to ensure that we can sustain
our Google Transit offerings while affording us
the time to develop other initiatives as well."
- Michael Grant, Manager of Monitoring and
Forecasting, BC Transit
https://www.safe.com/customers/bc-transit/
PROJECT
Improve decision making and innovation
by integrating databases into an
interconnected system.
SOLUTION
Integrate, validate, and transform data with
FME to create a unified spatial data
management system.
RESULTS
● New insight into the relationships
between assets, time, location, etc.
● Better analytics, which means
improved service.
● Improved efficiency and productivity.
BC TRANSIT

23. 3. Automated decisions
Goal: set up event-based workflows.
● Watch for new data and integrate/analyze it when it arrives.
● Run on a schedule.
● Run in response to a custom event, e.g. an email arrives.

24. Demo: Automated decisions in FME
Set up event-based workflows in FME
Server.
1. Watch for an event.
2. Automatically run your workflow.
3. Get back useful data.

25. “FME is our main software for business and
spatial data translation and transformation. It
greatly improved the efficiency of GIS service
and online reporting service.”
- Annie Ye, McDonald's China
https://www.safe.com/customers/mcdonalds-china/
PROJECT
Improve business decisions like new
restaurant site selection, growth modeling,
and delivery modeling.
SOLUTION
Use FME to automatically integrate data
between multiple business systems,
respond to events, and perform spatial
analysis.
RESULTS
● Improved efficiency and decreased
costs.
● Gained insights into important
business data, like development
strategies, location assessments,
customer analysis, and more.
MCDONALD’S
CHINA

26. Overcoming the common data struggles
Data silos: Build a workflow to synchronize your data, whether by keeping
all systems up to date or by combining them into a central repository.
Poor quality data: Send data through FME’s QA transformers, like the
AttributeValidator, GeometryValidator, and XMLValidator.
Lack of knowledge: Connect all available data sources and automate your
workflows to ensure you never miss a new dataset.
Lack of technology: Convert your data into format(s) you can work with,
like FOSS or tools your organization has available.

27. Trend: Being Data-Driven with Spatial Data
No matter what your interests are or what field you work in, spatial data is
always being considered whether you know it or not.
Business:
Understand your
customer base, discover
growth insights, manage
facilities and networks,
and provide location
information to customers
Society:
Inform citizens about their
surroundings, keep your
community safe with
timely information, and
support your community in
times of need
Environment:
Gain insights into habitats,
share information with
volunteers, provide
location-specific weather
alerts, and track plant and
animal communities

28. Summary
● “Data-driven decision making” means turning data into
insight and taking action based on that insight.
● Data integration workflows help you generate insight from the
data you have, wherever it is.
● Build data integration workflows in FME and automate them
to generate data-driven insight on an ongoing basis.

29. Registration is now open
for a city near you!
safe.com/worldtour

30. Free resources
About Data Integration:
safe.com/what-is/data-integration
About Data Validation:
safe.com/what-is/data-validation
Introduction to FME Desktop
(Free Training Course, February 11):
safe.com/training
100+ Recorded Webinars:
safe.com/webinars
Try FME for free at safe.com/trial

31. S A F E S O F T W A R E
Makers of the FME® Integration Platform