Table Of ContentYun Ma · Hao Du
Enterprise Data
at Huawei
Methods and Practices of Enterprise Data
Governance
Enterprise Data at Huawei
·
Yun Ma Hao Du
Enterprise Data at Huawei
Methods and Practices of Enterprise Data
Governance
YunMa HaoDu
HuaweiTechnologiesCo.,Ltd. HuaweiTechnologiesCo.,Ltd.
Shenzhen,China Shenzhen,China
ISBN978-981-16-6822-7 ISBN978-981-16-6823-4 (eBook)
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Foreword by Tao Jingwen
TheThirdIndustrialRevolution,alsoknownastheDigitalRevolution,wasmuchlike
thefirsttwointhatittransformedthewayindustriesusedtechnologiesforproduc-
tion.However,thisshifttodigitalelectronicshasnotbeenparticularlyeffectiveat
minimizingtheoperatingcostsofenterprises.Thatisthemainchallengeaddressed
by the nascent Fourth Industrial Revolution. As part of this revolution, digitalized
production is seeing wide adoption. This is a new method of production in which
dataisanobjecttobeprocessed,ICTplatformsareproductiontools,andsoftware
acts as a carrier.Smart technologies and new ICTplatforms help us undertake the
challengeofenablingenterprisestocreatethebestproductsandexperiencesinthe
mostcost-efficientway.
Around the world people in all kinds of industries are actively exploring and
advancing digitalization. Industries are leveraging digital technologies to achieve
long-termandsustainablegrowth.Asaworld-leadingICTinfrastructureandsmart
devicedeveloperwithmorethan30yearsofhistory,Huaweiisalsoworkingtowards
digitaltransformation.
WhyDoesHuaweiPromoteDigital Transformation?
Huawei is a company that encompasses R&D, marketing, manufacturing, supply,
procurement, service, and other divisions, but it is not a digital native enterprise
(DNE). In the early days of the information era, Huawei built many independent
IT systems. That is, we established a closed IT architecture characterized by “one
scenario, one IT system and one database”. As a result, data silos have emerged
oneafteranother.DifferentITsystemsusedifferentdatalanguages,anddataisnot
integratedacrosstheseITsystems.Thesamedataneedstoberepeatedlyenteredin
eachsystemthedatausedin.Thereareofteninconsistenciesinthesamedataacross
multiple systems. All these issues hinder operational efficiency. Huawei therefore
believesthaturgentchangeisneededintheformofdigitaltransformation.
v
vi ForewordbyTaoJingwen
WhatIstheDigitalWorld LikeinHuawei’sBlueprint?
Huaweihasablueprintfordigitalizingbusinessobjects,businessprocesses,andbusi-
nessrules.Weaimtobuildadataplatformthatisaware,connected,andintelligent.
Makingtheplatform“aware”meansestablishingacompleteandeffectivemapping
between the physical world and the digital world. “Connected” means connecting
andintegratingamyriadofscattereddata.“Intelligent”meansincorporatingbigdata
andadvancedmodelsandalgorithmsintoenterpriseprocesses.
HowDoesHuaweiImplementDigitalTransformation?
Wemustfirstgraspthecruxofdatagovernance.Huaweihasexperienceddifficul-
tiesimplementingdatagovernancestemmingfromthehistoricalbaggageofitsIT
systemsanddata.Todate,wehaveonlyachievedaqualifiedsuccess.Ouraimisto
buildnewdataplatformswithoutcausingdisruptivechangesinexistinginformation
systems.Tothatend,weareimplementingautomatedcollectionofdatabyapplying
awareness capabilities. Furthermore, we are leveraging our technical expertise to
aggregateandlinkdatafromseparatedatabasesaccordingtoclearstandards.These
solutions make use of Huawei’s data lake to prevent the formation of data silos in
advanceandlayasolidfoundationforin-depthdatagovernance.
Digitaltransformationiscurrentlyahottopicamongenterprisesindifferentindus-
tries.Itisagreatopportunitybutalsoahugechallengeforenterprises.Inourindustry,
thereistoomuchfocusontryingtoadvancetechnologies.However,inmyopinion,
digitaltransformationshouldfocusprimarilyonthebenefitstobusinessoperations.
WecanfollowPaulRomer’sendogenousgrowththeoryandconsiderthefollowing
questionswhenimplementingdigitaltransformation:
First, what exactly are the customer problems that need to be resolved through
digital transformation? What exactly do users need? What are the concerns of
usersandcustomers?
Second,whatproblemsshouldourstrategiesbedesignedtoresolve?
Finally, is there a well-planned and sustainable architecture available for trans-
formation?
Digitaltransformationisacontinuousprocessofimprovement.Onceitissetin
motion,itdoesnotstop.
ForewordbyTaoJingwen vii
ThisbooksummarizesHuawei’sexperienceandlessonslearnedfromdatagover-
nanceduringHuawei’sdigitaltransformation.Datagovernanceisamatterofexper-
tise. We hope that this book can serve as a reference and inspiration for our peers
andfacilitateindustrydiscussionandresearchondigitaltransformation.
TaoJingwen
Director,PresidentoftheQuality
BusinessProcessandITManagement
Department;CIOofHuawei
Shenzhen,China
Foreword by Xiong Kang
Early in 2017, digitalization was in the ascendant. Guo Ping, Huawei’s Rotating
Chairman, proposed in the company’s 817 Transformation Strategy Plan (SP) that
weshouldtaketheleadinimplementingdigitaltransformationinternallyandregard
providingReal-time,On-demand,All-online,DIY,andSocial(ROADS)experience
andcomprehensivelyimprovingoperationalefficiencyasthecommontransforma-
tion goals of all business units (BUs) and functional domains. Huawei is a tradi-
tional enterprise that integrates R&D, manufacturing, procurement, supply, sales,
and service, is involved in 2B and 2C business domains, and has been operating
for over 30 years. In light of this fact, when our Executive Steering Committee
(ESC)convenedtodiscussthetransformation,thediscussionrevolvedaroundhowto
leveragedigitalmeanstocomprehensivelytransformourprocessesandITsystems
and reform an operational model that supported the operations of nearly 200,000
employees.
For non-digital native enterprises (non-DNEs), digital transformation truly is
something transformative. It involves changes to business models and operational
models,processes,organizations,ITsystems,culture,andmore.ForHuawei,which
wasgrowingrapidly,itwaslikechangingatireinthemiddleofabusyhighway.In
2017,Huawei’sdatawasspreadacrossITsilosinvariousfunctionaldomains,but
Huawei also relied on these IT systems to support transactions and analytics on a
massivescale.Whathadoncebeenexpedientsolutionsfordatamovementhadnow
becomestumblingblocks,andautomationtoolsthathadoncebeenhelpfulwerenow
weighingHuaweidown.Datawasownedbydifferentbusinessdepartmentsthathad
noinclinationtosharewithoneanother,andeffortstowardachievingdigitaloper-
ationwouldalltoooftenamounttoall-nightersinwhichemployeeswouldhastily
cobble together Excel spreadsheets. Huawei paid its data scientists very well, but
many of them chose to leave because they felt that the lack of available data was
thwartingtheirambitions.
Afterthoroughdiscussion,theESCreachedaconsensusthatdigitaltransforma-
tionshouldbedrivenbybusinessneedsandtechnology,andshouldrevolvearound
data. Only by establishing a unified, clean, and intelligent data foundation could
ix
x ForewordbyXiongKang
we support the operations of our new business, satisfy the differentiated require-
mentsofvariousmarketsegments,realizereal-timedatavisualization,automation
of massive transactions, and algorithm-based decision-making, and build a fully
connected,intelligentworld.
InOctober2017,theprojectofbuildingaunifieddatafoundationwasinitiated.
To address pain points such as frequent data movement, difficulties in finding and
accessing data, data unintelligibility, and data unreliability, the project aimed to
eliminate data silos, enable digital transformation, and achieve on-demand, agile,
self-service,andsecuredatasharingincompliancewithallapplicableregulations.
Greatimportancewasattachedtobothdatalakeentryandlinkageanddataconsump-
tion,andaftermorethantwoyearsoftirelessworkbytheprojectteam,Huawei’s
data foundation was essentially completed. Today, that data foundation supports
Huawei’s differentiated operations in over 170 countries, enables transactions and
analysis of BGs on a massive scale, and is driving a shift toward online, remote,
andcentralizedoperationalmodelsindelivery,supply,finance,andmore.Ithasalso
assistedthecompanyinquicklyanalyzingandrespondingtoextremepressurefrom
theU.S.Inshort,thedatafoundationhasbecomeacornerstoneofHuawei’sdigital
transformation.
However,digitaltransformationisnotjustabouttechnologytransformation,and
thisisclearlydemonstratedinHuawei’sdatafoundationconstruction.Thisbookis
asummaryofHuawei’sdatatransformationpracticesinourdigitaltransformation
process.Wehope thatitcanhelpother enterprisesimplementing theirowndigital
transformations. We also hope that this book will precipitate a vibrant discussion
abouttheseissueswithfriendsfromallwalksoflife.
XiongKang
DirectoroftheEnterpriseArchitecture
andTransformationManagement
DepartmentofHuawei
Shenzhen,China
Foreword by Su Liqing
The digital transformation of enterprises has already gathered strong momentum.
Throughwell-reasoneddatagovernancemethods,theconstructionofdataplatforms,
dataanalysisandmodeling,dataisbeingturnedintoservices,allowingthefreeflow
ofdatawithinanenterpriseandbringingenormousvalue.Makingdataaccessibleto
thosewhoneeditistheessentialstartingpointfordigitaltransformation.
Successfuldigitaltransformationsaredata-driven.Theyarebuiltonthefounda-
tionofthecloud,shapedbyanewkindofenterpriseITarchitecture.Butwhatare
enterprisestodowiththeexistingITsystemstheyhavebuiltupovermanyyears?
Andwhatofthemassivevolumesofhistoricaldatastoredinthoselegacysystems?
AcorepartofHuawei’sapproachtodigitaltransformationiswhatwecall“Bi-model
IT”.ByintegratinglegacyITsystemsintothenewITarchitectureandenvironment
inwhicholdandnewdataandapplications,currentandfutureIoTdata,areallinter-
connected,anenterprisecanbuildaunifiedplatform.Onsuchaplatform,machine
learning,artificialintelligence(AI),andothertechnologiescanbeappliedtodata,
meaningitcancreatemorevaluethaneverbefore.
Datacanpotentiallybeappliedtocountlessscenarios,buttodothisinamean-
ingfulway,anenterprisemustintegratedataintoallofitsoperations.Whenproblems
arise,therelevantdatacanbeanalyzedtofindandswiftlyimplementasolution.The
eraofdataishere,andHuawei’sowndigitaltransformationisalreadywellunderway.
Thischangecanbeseeneverywhere,fromourfactoryatSongshanLakeinDong-
guan,acrossourglobe-spanningsupplychain,toourprojectdeliveriesinmorethan
170countriesandregions.Throughobjectdigitalization,processdigitalization,and
rule digitalization, and by integrating IT tools and elements of AI, we are moving
beyond ways of working that are based on tedious manual labor, and moving to a
newparadigminwhichtheonlineandofflineworldsoperateinstepwitheachother,
creatinggenuinevalue.
This book presents a systematic account of how Huawei has reinvented its
approachtodatagovernanceanddataconsumption.ThechangesHuaweihasmade
toitssystemsofdatagovernance,architecture,processesandregulations,ITtools,
anddataorganizationsallreflectthechallengesfacingenterprisestoday,andpresent
possiblesolutions.Thisbookwillalsodetailcertaininnovationsthatareuniqueto
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