Merlin Datawise - data management through the full data lifecycle

Companies produce vast amounts of data, at huge cost, as part of their business processes. Most of the value from these data is often lost the second they enter company systems, as they become unsearchable ‘dark data’ from that point onwards! Do you know that technical staff often spend a THIRD of their time just finding data?

At Merlin Datawise, we want to make sure you can unleash the full value of the information within you corporate archive by bringing it to your fingertips.

Use our experience with data

With over 30 years’ experience of handling data Merlin Datawise knows what matters. We understand the problems that companies experience with data and provide pragmatic solutions which deliver real business benefits. No matter the size of the job, or wherever your business may be on the road to digital maturity, we can provide support which can deliver huge commercial benefits.   

We aim to keep your business ‘data-informed’ and flowing – ‘Datawise’ for short.

Find – Organise – Retrieve – Maximise

‘FORM’ is Datawise’s process for delivering best practice and primary goals in any data management task. The stages generally progress in order but equally may be repeated as part of a continuous improvement program. By approaching projects using FORM we can understand your existing data management challenges and advise on appropriate actions and additional improvements. Good data will always have been FORMed in one way or another.

Datawise work throughout the data lifecycle

How Datawise 'form' your data

document digitalisation

Organise your data to optimise your use of digital assets.

Specialising in large format scanning, we can transform all physical documents to the digital domain. This provides a fully accessible archive of your data, simplifies distribution and access of data between staff and offices, and reduces physical storage costs. Above all this provides a firm  foundation for your digital future.

We understand the importance of scanned material being an exact replica of the original with particular focus on maintaining fidelity to original images and graphics. Once scanned, text can be extracted using optical character recognition (OCR). This provides searchable documents which are ready for machine learning.

Dedication to image precision and quality assurance of OCR results enables confident ‘no-regret’ destruction of original materials.

data rationalisation

In order to realise the full value of your data you need to know what you have and where items are located.

In order to realise the full value of your data you need to know what you have and where items are located. This is relevant for both physical and digital document archives. Clean, well-organised data are key to the foundations of good business and form the precursor to developing any digital strategy. 

Do you have multiple data stores across the company, or do individuals tend to store company data locally? Through finding, organising and cataloguing your data assets can be fully understood, managed and material accessed when required.

Business joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, or simply a new project can suddenly expand physical and digital data holdings. These new data may be of a different quality or audited to different standards. By undertaking a data rationalisation exercise your data will provide a more functional business asset.

keywise - intelligent keyphrase extraction service

Keywise service enables key words to be extracted from text documents.

Your drives are full of data but finding the documents you need feels like ‘looking for sugar in salt’. Sound familiar…? If it does, then our affordable Keywise service can help.

Extracting Keywords and Keyphrases is THE place to start unlocking value from your document archives. BUT… Working with text is messy and complex. To allow you to unlock value through the use of Keywords and Keyphrases, Datawise created the Keywise Service, a simple solution to a messy problem.

Geographic Information System (GIS) Services

UK oil and gas fields and windfarm site agreements 2022

Merlin provides GIS (Geographic Information System) project support, including full geodetic audit and project set up. Merlin utilises the full power of GIS, using data visualisation and analysis tools to aid understanding and evaluation, unlocking trends and patterns that only become apparent when analysing data within its geographical context. Merlin uses ESRI and Blue Marble Geographics software to create, display, manipulate and edit data, producing a variety of digital deliverables designed to enhance your project.

consultancy services

Merlin Datawise assists a number of clients by providing a virtual data management team.

You may not have the need for permanent in-house data management or perhaps you don’t have enough hands to cover everything that needs doing. Merlin Datawise assists a number of clients by providing a virtual data management team. This gives access to experienced data management support without the requirement for full time in-house staff.

Working as an extension to client teams we provide friendly impartial advice. Taking a pragmatic approach to planning and support we are able to find the appropriate data solution for your business. This ensures data dependent processes can be carried out as efficiently as possible in your business.

Want to know more?

We maintain a library of technical articles which explain more about the services we deliver. Please click on the link to explore the library.

Testimonials

Alpha Petroleum Resources Limited (formally ATP Oil & Gas) has used Merlin Datawise as its data storage repository for a number of years and has found the services provided by Datawise to be not only very efficient but most importantly cost effective too.

The services have been customised to meet Alpha’s needs and the company provides excellent turnaround for its digital and hardcopy data, copying and distribution. The expert team at Merlin understand all the data types and always ask the right questions to ensure first rate data entry and excellent search and retrieval. Useful review meetings are provided to make sure that the storage needs of Alpha Petroleum are being fully met.

ALAN BIRD, DATA MANAGER
Alpha Petroleum Resources Limited

Spectrum Data Management has always found the staff at Merlin Datawise to be very pleasant, helpful, and knowledgeable about archiving seismic data. When performing our annual offsite storage audit of our data at Merlin Spectrum Data Management staff has always received a warm welcome and valuable feedback of our archive process. For this audit process Merlin provided British Standards Institute recommendations for digital media preservation and detailed records of compliance with these standards. Their historical knowledge of seismic data surveys, thorough inventory, and willingness to share their experience has aided in Spectrum’s development of Seismic Data Inventory Policies and Procedures.

 

KATHY BURRIS, MULTI-CLIENT DATA MANAGER USA
Spectrum Geo Inc.

One of the most important Merlin’s strength is communication even in complex topics. Over the past few years I was dealing with few service companies and with Merlin I know that all will be done right because of their quality and responsiveness.

ANNA KORDEK, MULTI CLIENT DATA MANAGER
Spectrum Geo Ltd

Summit Exploration and Production Ltd has been a customer of Merlin Datawise for ten years, and I have personally used them for longer than that when I worked for other companies. I have found the staff to be extremely knowledgeable about the data that they are storing. This makes information searches and retrievals efficient and rapid when requested.

We found their service to be much better than other offsite suppliers with the result that we have now consolidated all our offsite data storage with Merlin.

RICHARD INWARDS, IT MANAGER
Summit Exploration and Production Limited