CHAPTER 14 Case Study: Using VHDMs and HDMs at an International Energy Company The organization in this case study is a very large international energy company which operates in many countries. Offices are dispersed across geographic regions, often in remote locations. As a result it was difficult, if not impossible, to get a single view of the corporate-wide information assets that drive the business, such as drilling fields, wells and their locations. By implementing an enterprise-wide VHDM and several corresponding HDMs--and using many of the implementation steps we've outlined in this book, this previously distributed organization was able to achieve a single, centralized view of their strategic information assets. We'll explain how they were able to achieve this and we'll point out some of the key strategies they used to gain buy-in and acceptance of their models from both business people and IT. Remember, marketing your data model is as important as building it! The Pain Point Information management in general, and data modeling specifically, had not been managed in a consistent manner across the organization. Partly due to the scale of the company, and partly due to the decentralized culture, management of data as an asset had not been tackled in any serious, concerted manner. Data modeling, for example, was undertaken on a project-by-project basis, with no common method, tools or standards. Data modeling was often performed simply as a by- product of process modeling, usually in a silo with limited scope. The project-focused nature and absence of a corporate repository also meant that project team members (frequently consultants) left at the project's conclusion, taking with them