At a glance
Solution
Co-Create
Delivered with Cevo
D6 capability
Project Management
Industry
Media & Entertainment
D6 partnered with Mediality Racing to project manage the build of their racing data platform, aiming to address challenges around data accessibility and legacy systems. With a user-centric approach and AWS expertise, a new platform was built in partnership with D6’s sibling company, Cevo. This resulted in streamlined workflows, enhanced productivity, and improved data accuracy, ultimately delivering fast, accurate, and secure data to Mediality’s customers, improving user experience and customer satisfaction.
The customer
Mediality, formed in 2020 after the sale of Australian Associated Press (AAP), offers diverse media solutions to amplify and enhance news and information across publishing platforms. Mediality comprises four key business units: Mediality Racing, Pagemasters, Mediaverse and Medianet.
Mediality Racing consumes and delivers data on thoroughbred races to both internal and external customers. Internally, customers leverage the data to produce racing form guides and other similar publications. Externally, Mediality Racing provides data to dozens of customers, ranging from small, private punters, to Australia’s largest bookmakers.
Business challenge
In the face of rapidly advancing technology, Mediality’s core focus on providing their customers with data-driven insights demanded a swift evolution in their approach to data management and delivery, both domestically and internationally. To maintain their competitive edge, retain existing business and appeal to new customers, Mediality needed to modernise their data management and streamline data accessibility.
However, Mediality Racing’s existing database and multiple legacy systems had been built over an extended period, using custom tools and scripts, meaning that any enhancements would result in a complicated, lengthy and costly process.
With customers requesting more modern ways of accessing data, business stakeholders expressed a desire to build a new racing database platform that would better integrate with the wider business, match competitor’s offerings and service its customers with tailored data and insights.
Solution
Mediality Racing partnered with D6 and Cevo to consolidate multiple legacy systems and build a new modernised racing database platform on AWS, while modernising the team’s ways of working. D6 introduced an agile framework and governance structure for efficient program management, while our sibling business, Cevo, did the technical implementation via its Co-Create framework.
During the project’s initial three-week foundation phase, D6 and Cevo collaborated closely with Mediality Racing to define business requirements. This effort laid the groundwork for establishing clear roles and responsibilities within the team, facilitating quick decision-making, and streamlined delegation of authority. The core scrum team collaborated closely with users to identify and address pain points, ensuring the new system aligned with their needs and generated significant business value. D6 conducted thorough analyses of business use cases, process flows and integration points, leveraging a deep understanding of existing tools and scripts, to help Mediality’s team to streamline and enhance operational efficiency.
D6 then worked with Mediality Racing and Cevo through the Deliver phase of Co-Create to establish a best-practice AWS landing zone as part of a clearly devised migration plan. This technical implementation phase was structured into eight two-week agile development sprints, resulting in the successful deployment of the new racing data platform into Mediality’s AWS production environment.
D6 actively engaged with Mediality Racing and Cevo throughout the migration journey, fostering a culture of innovation and agility. This collaborative approach bolstered team velocity and decision-making processes, ensuring the project progressed seamlessly. It also ensured that the build was in business value increments, where D6 actively sought feedback from stakeholders including suppliers and customers, to efficiently adapt to evolving priorities.
By leveraging serverless applications and AWS managed services, D6 and Cevo helped to build a simplified, modern application that allows Mediality to have greater control, accuracy, and accountability over data entry operations and customer delivery.
Outcomes
Throughout the engagement, D6 and Cevo worked collaboratively with the Mediality team, with consistent communication that resulted in a strong team dynamic and effective working environment. This led to the successful output of a new racing data platform that provides fast, accurate and secure data to Mediality customers. The automation of cloud technologies and consolidation of multiple legacy systems saves Mediality teams countless hours which were previously spent on manual and time-consuming processes. Other benefits include:
- Streamlined workflows and enhanced productivity: Streamlining previously manual workflows and consolidating disparate systems into one platform have significantly boosted productivity and efficiency for end-users. For example, the automation of gear changes workflow saves users up to more than an hour per day, and the automation of registrations saves up to 45 minutes of manual data entry daily.
- A single centralised platform – The consolidation of functionality from existing legacy systems into a modern application with a user-friendly interface increases productivity and improves internal communication and data access.
- A single data model – The consolidation of existing duplicate data structures from multiple applications reduces confusion and improves data accuracy.
- Streamlined application development – The use of cloud-native technologies and the creation of an API layer for internal data access improved the efficiency and scalability of application development and deployment.
- Improved platform reliability: The use of AWS best practices has helped to improve the reliability and maintainability of the platform.
D6’s approach to platform design and roadmap also resulted in the following benefits:
- User-centric solution – Through close collaboration with users, D6’s core scrum team identified and addressed pain points, ensuring the new system aligned with user needs and generated significant business value.
- Enhanced decision-making – Clear roles and responsibilities established by D6 empowered Mediality Racing’s team with swift decision-making capabilities, ensuring seamless operations and effective delegation of authority.
- Agile adoption and consistent communication – D6’s active engagement and consistent communication throughout the migration project fostered team innovation and bolstered velocity, facilitating efficient and regular communication and agile mindset adoption.
- Accommodated evolving priorities – By liaising with stakeholders, D6 ensured that the build was delivered in business value increments, accommodating evolving priorities and soliciting efficient feedback from suppliers and customers.
