Top results
Cut spreadsheet usage by ~50% by identifying misused data and migrating reporting to governed systems
Assigned ownership to 20,000+ data assets, establishing clear accountability
Standardized KPI definitions to streamline executive decision-making
Adopted a document-first culture, requiring documentation before new BI development
Pain points
Fragmented insights slowing down decision-making
Different teams reported different versions of the same metrics, turning leadership meetings into number reconciliation rather than executive action.
No visibility into available data
Non-technical users couldn’t browse or discover existing assets and depended on engineers or analysts for basic questions.
Fear of unintended ripple down effect
Engineers avoided modifying or deleting assets because they couldn’t see downstream impact. Teams froze rather than risk breaking something they didn’t control.
Leaders were interrupted constantly
VPs fielded repetitive questions like “what does this number mean?” because ownership and documentation weren’t clear.
“People were kind of frozen or scared to touch content because they had no idea of the potential consequences.”
The challenge
Benjamin Raquin, Data Governance Lead, inherited an analytics environment where teams routinely created new dashboards and datasets for each question. Over time, this produced massive duplication, inconsistent KPI logic, and recurring disputes when it came time to make decisions.
The data governance team was formed in 2022 to address trust and consistency issues, but full deployment only began at the end of 2023 once the scope of EcoVadis’ data landscape was fully understood.
Operational risk compounded the problem. Engineers lacked end-to-end dependency visibility, leading to accidental deletions that broke critical dashboards. When incidents occurred, no one could trace impact or responsibility.
“We ended up with a huge volume of content because everybody created something new each time they required it.”
The evaluation
EcoVadis spent nearly a year benchmarking data catalogs that could inventory assets across its stack, scale to 20,000+ governed objects, support ownership and documentation, and remain accessible to occasional business users.
The initiative was sponsored directly by the co-CEOs and validated by the executive board. Ease of use for non-technical stakeholders was a critical requirement.
After evaluation, EcoVadis selected Coalesce Catalog as the foundation of its governance program and reference point for trusted metrics, citing strong product fit and hands-on support from the Coalesce team.
The migration
EcoVadis approached rollout as a greenfield catalog deployment, prioritizing systems that powered daily analytics.
Because all technologies were already connected during the benchmark phase, moving from test to production was fast.
“Implementation has been very fast. There were still some connectors to improve or change, but things were there. We did not start from a blank page.”
Once connected, the catalog immediately surfaced duplication and unused assets. Lineage views revealed datasets with no downstream consumers, while naming conventions exposed redundant objects. The governance team prioritized cleanup and redirected users to certified sources.
Over time, EcoVadis reduced spreadsheet-based reporting by about 50% and built a durable knowledge base with 350 catalog pages documenting definitions, context, and ownership.
“If you look for the definition of a KPI, the definition in Coalesce is what matters.”
The impact
Accountability at scale
EcoVadis made ownership assignment non-negotiable and pushed responsibility closer to business domains. Owners were assigned across 20,000+ assets, enabling faster incident routing and eliminating guesswork when issues arose.
As ownership coverage increased, the governance team also identified concentration risk—too many assets owned by too few people—and redistributed accountability across teams.
“At first, people said, ‘it’s IT’s problem.’ With pedagogy and explanation, it became ‘it’s my data.’”
Self-service discovery reduced interruptions
With 350 catalog pages documenting definitions and ownership, business users could answer common questions without escalating through Slack. VPs and domain experts saw fewer interruptions, and operational teams resolved reporting questions faster.
“The customer support team has stopped asking questions because all the answers are in the catalog.”
A single source of truth guided development
By positioning the catalog as the authoritative reference for KPI definitions, EcoVadis eliminated recurring disputes over metric logic. BI teams adopted a documentation-first approach—documenting intent and definitions before building dashboards.
This discipline reduced rework, discouraged one-off datasets, and reinforced the company-wide reduction in spreadsheet usage. Governance was enforced by design: uncertified or non-compliant data could not reach production.
Looking ahead, EcoVadis plans to further decentralize ownership while maintaining a consistent bar for certification, documentation, and compliance. The team is also expanding use of Catalog AI for self-service answers, requiring users to consult the catalog before escalating questions.
“A lever for productivity and risk management. We reduced risk, increased productivity, and improved decision quality.”