IHS Markit plans ‘low-code, no-code’ configuration for EDM platform

IHS Markit is planning to add a drag-and-drop user interface builder to its enterprise data management (EDM) platform as part of its efforts to build a low-code/no-code configuration environment.   

“The drag-and-drop functionality will make it possible for non-technical users to configure UI screens, user workflows, and data-quality rules themselves, rather than relying on their IT team,” says Devendra Bhudia, head of product for EDM, at IHS Markit. 

IHS Markit’s drag-and-drop add-on will not be available to all users of the platform and will require authorized access. “You don’t want every single user in an organization to build their own screens. We will give our clients the ability to control who in their organization can do this. Then once they have built their screen, they can push it out to their users,” Bhudia says. 

Low-code or no-code platforms allow users with limited or no programming capabilities to build applications. The market for low-code platforms is predicted to reach $50 billion by 2026.

For IHS Markit, one application of the UI builder is in the EDM platform’s Data Dictionary. This is a web-based interface, introduced in July, that allows users to see what data is available within an organization. 

“If there is a business definition for a security in the Data Dictionary, it will, for example, have 150 attributes. There are no database tables or columns; there is no code. It’s a pure business view definition. We are taking that definition and putting it on a drag-and-drop screen, so you as a business user can start dragging and dropping these attributes and building your own screen so that you can more easily view the information you need to do your job. All of the data will have been validated by EDM, so you can be confident in the data,” Bhudia says. 

Currently, data developers using IHS Markit’s EDM platform need to understand the data feed, and then map it to database tables and columns. He says an “abstraction layer”—software that provides an interface to a complex underlying system—is put on top of the database so the tables and columns have business meanings.

“In most data management platforms, you are working with a storage definition, database tables and columns, or you are working at the data feed definition level. But that doesn’t represent the business. So what we are doing is configuring screens, data quality rules, and user workflows at a business definition level,” Bhudia says.  

The release of the drag-and-drop UI is planned for the end of the year.    

Bhudia says that, historically, data management at financial firms was in the hands of IT departments. With low- and no-code apps, these capabilities can be spread to business users within the organization. 

“If I am working in an organization, and I am a data manager, and I know that I have quality issues around a certain dataset, I am the best person to address those issues, rather than being dependent on IT to do so,” he says.  

For a quicker return on any investment in these apps, Bhudia says, users should try and configure as close to the problem as possible.

He says that, more generally, financial technology is evolving to give end users more control over the platforms they use. “The trend we see in the industry is for software to be self-configurable or configurable by the end user. It’s like smartphones: they are so intuitive, when you pick up the phone, you just know how to use it and use the apps on the phone. We have hired specialist user experience resources because we want to move in that direction,” he says. 

Jeremy Stierwalt, partner and US head of data analytics at consultancy Capco, says low- and no-code offerings are still in their early days within the data management space. 

“I do see this concept of citizen developers being able to use low-code and no-code to support enhancements to data management capabilities, but I don’t think that particular function has permeated the industry for data management,” he says.

Stierwalt says many of the functions around data management have been relegated to the back office and IT. He says while such technologies may be used to string applications together, or around end-user computing from a banking perspective, it hasn’t caught on in the world of data management as much as it has in other areas. 

While the back office is typically slower to innovate, Stierwalt says, there is a need for those functions to keep pace with the front office as technology advances. 

“There is a convergence from the front office to the back office. Those in the front office are effectively saying: ‘We will start to go down this path with or without you’, which is where low-code, no-code platforms come into play. I think on the back office, they are looking to accelerate how they can help support the front office through software-as-a-service [SaaS]-based solutions and data management,” Stierwalt says.   

Some industry skeptics say that low-code and no-code platforms are useful for simple workflow needs, but not for enterprise-grade trading systems. Instead, the best use cases for low-code and no-code are for simple, manual tasks, and workflow-like approval chains. However, since the technology is still relatively new, as adoption grows, so might its use in more complex systems, such as data delivery. 

IHS Markit will follow its UI builder with the release of functionality that allows users to define business processes using visual means. 

The firm is also moving its EDM platform toward a SaaS model, freeing clients from upgrade cycles for new features. “As we move through the rest of this year and next year, we will be releasing more and more features in our SaaS platform. Our goal is to migrate our existing clients onto that platform and to become an exclusively SaaS solution,” Bhudia says.