Scenario

You have been assigned as the consultant to NexStar Finance and have been given the task of developing an analysis of the current state of NexStar’s enterprise data management capabilities and providing recommendations for improvement where appropriate.

Your submission will focus on the design and implementation of an architecture that meets the needs indicated in the following scenario:

You have been hired as a consultant to reimagine data architecture for a modern financial startup, NexStar Finance, founded in 2017. NexStar offers digital banking, peer-to-peer transfers, and cryptocurrency investment services to underserved communities. With operations in the United States, Latin America, and parts of Africa, the company has experienced rapid growth but also serious data fragmentation, limited system integration, and governance gaps.

NexStar currently operates on multiple cloud platforms and legacy systems inherited from acquisitions, with siloed customer, transaction, and vendor data. Leadership has mandated a strategic shift: implement a scalable enterprise data strategy, consolidate systems, and ensure compliance with global data standards over the next 18 months. Your job is to create a strategic plan and technical roadmap for data architecture that addresses structured and unstructured data challenges.

Recent Market Trends: NexStar's market share has decreased from 16.2% in 2021 to 12.8% in Q1 this year due to more integrated competitors. The company has invested in mobile-first technologies but lacks centralized analytics, a customer master record, and robust reporting capabilities.

You have been selected to serve as the consultant to the enterprise data/information management strategy project.

Prompt

In this assignment, you will create an analysis paper that evaluates the current state of NexStar’s enterprise data management, based on the industry-standard framework principles, and recommend a plan for improving the enterprise data and information management operation.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Executive Summary: Write an executive summary introducing the problem being faced, the scope of your work, and the goal of your report.
2. Current State Assessment
   1. Summarize the current enterprise architecture used by NexStar.
   2. Evaluate current data management tools, technology, and components against industry-standard enterprise data management principles and frameworks.
   3. Evaluate the operational impact and challenges caused by NexStar’s current state of enterprise data management.
3. Data Model
   1. Create a database schema visual map that models the data requirements for NexStar Finance.
   2. Write 10 unique SQL queries based on the database schema.
   3. Explain how each SQL query is relevant to the data model decisions, schema logic, and business needs.
4. Recommendations
   1. Recommend two current technologies to improve NexStar’s management of data and information.
   2. Recommend improvements NexStar can make to its current management of structured and unstructured data and information.
   3. Describe the impact that the technology and management recommendations will have on operations, analytics, unified data sources, and long-term success.
   4. Discuss ethical and regulatory implications related to data privacy, proprietary financial information, customer protections, and access controls.
5. Implementation Plan
   1. Outline an implementation plan for the technology and management recommendations.
   2. Describe necessary tradeoffs, including management attention, implementation requirements, and technical expertise required.
6. Financial and Ethics Standards
   1. Estimate the financial impact and cost-effectiveness of the recommendations.
   2. Discuss ethical standards and protections necessary for financial systems.
7. Conclusion: Summarize the report and discuss future impacts of your suggestions, including additional tools for future growth.