How To Conduct A Big Data

Maturity Assessment? 1

By J.W. MIDDELBURG

www.cybiant.com | info@cybiant.com 1

OCTOBER 2019
 W H I T E P A P E R
How to conduct a Big Data maturity assessment?

How To Conduct A Big Data

Maturity Assessment?
Assess your organization’s methods and capabilities against best practices.

1. INTRODUCTION TO MATURITY MODELS

As organizations feel pressure to gain competitive advantage, retaining their market

position, identifying ways of cutting costs, improving quality, reducing time to market, the
need to invent or reinvent new products and services becomes increasingly important.
Maturity models have been developed to assist organizations in this endeavour. In short,
maturity models allow an organization to have its methods and processes assessed
according to management best practice, often against a clear set of external benchmarks.

In management theory, the term “maturity” is defined as the state of being complete,
perfect or ready. 1 As such, it provides organizations with a long-term objective to strive
for, regardless of personnel changes, technology updates, or management hierarchies.
Maturity provides a long term-goal, which can be achieved in a number of steps or
iterations.

Because of its iterative nature, organizations progress towards maturity in steps. Each
step can be broken down into projects or activities, which makes progress towards
maturity comprehensible. Most organizations start with an ‘initial’ state of maturity, which
means they have little capability in a specific domain. Over time, they progress towards
‘total’ maturity, which means they are fully capable in the specific domain.

The Big Data Maturity Model assists organization to progress from an initial state of
maturity, with little or no capability in Big Data and Analytics, towards total maturity. In
this last stage, the organization uses information from data sources (both internal and
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external) for everyday decision making. Consequently, the Big Data Maturity Model
guides organizations towards data driven decision making.

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2. PURPOSE OF THE BIG DATA MATURITY ASSESSMENT

Big Data Maturity can be defined as the evolution of an organization to integrate, manage
and leverage all relevant internal and external data sources. 2 As a result, a Big Data
Maturity Model helps to build an ecosystem that includes technologies, data
management, analytics, governance and organizational components. Organizations use a
Big Data Maturity model for one of the following two reasons:

1. To track overall progress toward data-driven decision making. The Big Data
Maturity Model functions as a measurement scale to track progress.

2. To identify relevant initiatives to advance capability. The Big Data Maturity

Model provides information to identify and prioritize projects and activities.

Both objectives help organizations to further their capabilities in Big Data. Whereas the
first objective provides an independents snapshot of the current state of the organizations
(Where are we now?), the second objective provides input to advance the maturity
towards a higher level (How do get there?). Both objectives reinforce each other.

The Big Data Maturity Model helps to create structure around a Big Data program and
determines where to start. It is a simple yet effective tool for organizations to determine
goals around the program and communicate their visions for data-driven decision making
across the organization.

Additionally, the Big Data Maturity Model provides a proven methodology to measure,
monitor and direct the state of the Big Data program and the efforts needed to move
towards the next maturity level. The model measures and manages the speed of
adoption, reporting both the progress and obstacles that organizations face in their
journey towards data-driven decision making.

The goal of the Big Data Maturity Model is to provide a capability assessment tool that
focuses on specific Big Data key areas in organizations, help guide
3 development
milestones and to avoid known pitfalls. Because of its strong focus on capabilities (i.e.
the ability to succeed), Cybiant has developed the Big Data Capability Model as defined
in the Enterprise Big Data Framework.

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3. BIG DATA MATURITY MODEL

3.1 DESIGN METHODOLOGY

For the development of the Big Data Maturity Model, established academic and scientific
practices were used. 3 The development of the Big Data Maturity model, scope definition
and assessment questionnaires were conducted following the model development
approach, as depicted in figure 1:

Scope Design Populate Test Deploy Maintain

FIGURE 1: BIG DATA MATURITY MODEL DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

Each of the phases are iterative in nature, helping to make adjustments throughout the
whole process. Each phase is equally contributed to the final design of the Big Data
Maturity Model as presented in this paper.

3.2 SCOPE DEFINITION

The defining purpose of the Big Data Maturity Model has been structured as a
comparative model. A comparative model has been chosen because they are best for
capturing domain and industry specific issues. They fulfill the following three objectives:

1. To explain the state the maturity;

2. To indicate how to approach improvement, better business performance and

value;

3. To provide benchmarking possibilities across industries or regions.

The scope definition for the development (and testing) of the Big Data Maturity model has
been determined as enterprise and government organizations that have access,
governance and control over large quantities of structured and unstructured data. The
scope definition is important. This is because the Big Data Maturity Model works under
the assumption that the organization that is measured against the assessment criteria will
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have processes for data management, data governance, as well as data security and
data privacy policies. Although smaller SME organizations might score low against these
criteria (because of the absence of such documents or processes).

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How to conduct a Big Data maturity assessment?

However, they could still benefit from the assessment to learn which processes and
policies will need to be established to move towards higher maturity levels when the
organization expands.

3.3 DOMAIN CAPABILITIES

For the development of the Big Data Maturity Model, the six capabilities of the Enterprise
Big Data Framework® have been chosen. The Enterprise Big Data Framework consists of
six core capabilities that organizations need to take into consideration when setting up
their Big Data organization. A high-level overview of the Big Data Framework is depicted
in figure 2:

FIGURE 2: THE SIX CAPABILITIES OF THE ENTERPRISE BIG DATA FRAMEWORK

The reason why these capabilities have been selected is because they provide a holistic
overview of all aspects that need to be considered to be successful in Big Data. Each of
the capabilities has a distinct focus, ranging from technical capabilities (the Big Data
Architecture capability) to knowledge development and skills (the Big Data Functions
capability). A short summary of the six measure capabilities is outlined below:

1. Big Data Strategy - In order to achieve tangible results from investments in Big Data,
enterprise organisations need a sound Big Data strategy. How can return on investments be
realised, and where to focus efforts in Big Data analysis and analytics? The possibilities to
analyse are literally endless and organisations can easily get lost in the zettabytes of data. A
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sound and structured Big Data strategy is the first step to Big Data success.

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2. Big Data Architecture - In order to work with massive data sets, organisations should have
the capabilities to store and process large quantities of data. In order to achieve this, the
enterprise should have the underlying IT infrastructure to facilitate Big Data. Enterprises
should therefore have a comprehensive Big Data architecture to facilitate Big Data analysis.
The Big Data Architecture element of the Big Data Framework considers the technical
capabilities of Big Data environments. It discusses the various roles that are present within a
Big Data Architecture and looks at the best practices for design.

3. Big Data Algorithms - A fundamental capability of working with data is to have a thorough
understanding of statistics and algorithms. Big Data professionals therefore need to have a
solid background in statistics and algorithms to deduct insights from data. Algorithms are
unambiguous specifications of how to solve a class of problems. The Big Data algorithms
element of the framework focuses on the (technical) capabilities of organizations to retrieve
value from Big Data.

4. Big Data Processes – Process capability helps enterprises to focus their direction.
Processes bring structure, measurable steps and can be effectively managed on a day-to-day
basis. Additionally, processes embed Big Data expertise within the organization by following
similar procedures and steps, embedding it as ‘a practice’ of the organization.

5. Big Data Functions - Big Data functions are concerned with the organisational capabilities of
managing Big Data in enterprises. This element of the Big Data framework addresses how
organisations can structure themselves to set up Big Data roles and discusses roles and
responsibilities in Big Data organisations. Organisational culture, organisational structures
and job roles have a large impact on the success of Big Data initiatives.

6. Artificial Intelligence - One of the major areas of interest in the world today, AI provides a
whole world of potential. The AI capability addresses the relationship between Big Data and
Artificial Intelligence and outline the key capabilities of AI. The Big Data Framework takes a
functional view of AI in the context of bringing business benefits to enterprise organisations.

By using the holistic model of six capabilities of the Big Data Framework, the Big Data
Maturity Model fulfils the scope definition, covering all aspects of the enterprise and
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providing relevant opportunities for improvement.

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How to conduct a Big Data maturity assessment?

3.4 ASSESSMENT MODEL

In order to measure the capabilities over the six capability domains, a 5-point Capability
Maturity Model is utilized. Developed by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering
Institute (SEI), it is the most well-known maturity model, being accepted as the de facto
standard by the IT Industry. 4 Because of the strong roots of Big Data in the technology
domain, the 5-point CMM-scale is the most suitable measurement approach for
measuring Big Data capability. The CMM proposes a five-stage evolutionary path and
defines five different levels of process maturity, illustrated in figure 3:

FIGURE 3: BIG DATA MATURITY MODEL DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

The whole CMM model ultimately consists of the four different aspects, which are used in
the Big Data Maturity Model:

• Maturity Levels are well-defined evolutionary entities toward achieving mature Big Data
capabilities, across the 6 domains of the Big Data Framework. Each maturity level
indicates a level of process capability. The CMM consists of five maturity levels,
namely Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed and Optimizing

• Key Process Areas (KPAs) indicate the areas an organization should focus on to
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improve its Big Data capabilities and to achieve process capability goals. There are a
number of KPAs located at each maturity level.

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• Common Features are attributes and practices that indicate whether the
implementation and institutionalization of a KPA is effective, repeatable, and lasting.
The five common features are commitment to perform, ability to perform, activities
performed, measurement and analysis, and verifying implementation.

• Key Practices describe the infrastructure and activities that contribute most to the
effective implementation and institutionalization of the key process area.

Based on the domain capabilities (section 3.3) and the assessment model (section 3.4),
the Big Data Maturity Assessment was developed. The Big Data Maturity Assessment
was developed. The Big Data Assessment can be conducted by organizations (typically
annually) to measure the Big Data maturity and identify improvement opportunities.

3.5 ASSESSMENT EVALUATION AND VALIDATION

In order to objectively measure capability across organizations (to be used as the

benchmark) a total of 180 questions have been developed. Theses consists of the 6
domains, for which in each domain 30 questions have been developed.

An example of the questions for the ‘data governance process’ (part of Big Data
processes) is illustrated in figure 4:

FIGURE 4: EXAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THE DATA GOVERNANCE PROCESS

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The Big Data Maturity assessment in organizations can be either done through external
audit or individual self-assessment. It is recommended that the latter should be
approached as a team exercise involving people from different functional groups, to
ultimately eliminate single-respondent bias. 5

4. RESULTS AND BENCHMARKING

4.1 RESULT OF THE BIG DATA MATURITY ASSESSMENT

During the Big Data Maturity Assessment, every area of the Big Data Framework is
subsequently assessed to determine the level of capability. The outcome of the Big Data
Assessment Model is depicted in figure 5 and provides valuable information on the
potential improvement areas for the organization.

FIGURE 5: EXAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THE DATA GOVERNANCE PROCESS

4.2 BENCHMARKING OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Because of the objective nature of the Big Data Maturity Assessment and corresponding
questionnaires, the results provide input information for a global benchmark report.
Because a comparative model was selected (see section 3.2), the maturity results can be
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used by organizations to determine how they compare with regards to industry or regional
peers. Benchmarking can compare an actual situation with industry-specific best
practices in order to support management decisions for continual improvement.

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Industry specific benchmarks that are captured are:

• Manufacturing • Healthcare
• Oil & Gas • Retail
• Utilities • Telecommunications
• Banking • Smart Cities
• Aerospace & Defense • Transportation

In this case, the Big Data Maturity Model is essentially used as a representation of the
as-is situation, recommendation for action, and an instrument for controlling. The model
also raises awareness of the analysis aspect and serves as a frame of reference for
improvements, ensuring a certain quality and avoiding errors.

5. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jan-Willem Middelburg is the CEO and co-founder of Cybiant, based in Kuala Lumpur. He
started Cybiant with the mission to make a more sustainable world for the Next
Generation through the use of data and automation. Jan-Willem authored and co-
authored numerous books, including Serious Gaming (2013), The Service Automation
Framework (2017) and recently The Enterprise Big Data Framework (2018).

A pioneer and advocate for professionalisation in Automation

and Big Data, he is a frequent keynote speaker and moderator
at universities and technology conferences around the world.
Jan-Willem holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering,
a Master’s in Supply Chain Management from the Rotterdam
School of Management, and is currently pursuing a second
Master’s degree in Computer and Information Technology at the
University of Pennsylvania.

1 Dictionary, O.E., 1989. Simpson, JA, W einer, ESC.

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2Halper, F. and Krishnan, K., 2013. TDW I big data maturit y model guide interpreting your assessment score. TDW I Benchmark Guide, 2014,
p.2013
3 De Bruin, T., Freeze, R., Kaulkarni, U. and Rosemann, M., 2005. Understanding the main phases of developing a maturity assessment model
4 Mettler, T., 2009. A design science research perspective on maturity models in information systems.
5 Mettler, T., Rohner, P. and W inter, R., 2010. Towards a classification of maturity m odels in information systems. In Managem ent of the
interconnected world (pp. 333-340). Physica-Verlag HD

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