State of Oklahoma Launches Centralized Data Hub With Google Cloud

OKLAHOMA CITY and SUNNYVALE, Calif. — The State of Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) worked with Google Cloud to create a centralized data hub that can access and analyze data across multiple agencies to deliver faster services. 

Built on Google Cloud BigQuery, a multicloud data warehouse, the hub allows state agencies to more precisely and quickly identify needs and services, roll out targeted social programs faster, and create personalized recommendations for services, according to Google Cloud last week.

De-siloing state-wide data

OMES provides agencies within the State of Oklahoma with a broad range of services, including finance assistance, human resources, property management, and business expertise. Within OMES, each agency has its own repository of data that was previously siloed and prevented other agencies from cross-referencing data sources.

With its new data hub, OMES can now help agencies find critical connections between sources to better serve its 4 million Oklahomans. 

For example, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (SDE) can analyze multiple data sources to ensure students in need have enough funding for school lunches. And if an unexpected event prevents students from attending school, SDE can more easily identify their guardians to receive lunch funding and keep home pantries full.

3 outcomes from the central data hub

• Unified 23 petabytes of data across sources and agencies: Using a hub-and-spoke model to pull in data from individual sources, the state unified 23 petabytes of data into one central space for analysis. Agencies across the state can now opt in to share their data in a secure, controlled way, while also adhering to their particular compliance standards.
• Reduced query times from months to minutes: Agencies across the state incorporate multiple levels of oversight and compliance to fulfill existing data-sharing agreements, while also cutting data query times from months to minutes. The hub, built to open standards, can accommodate existing systems, letting agencies use their familiar processes and tools.
• Enhanced security, standardization, and privacy: With data sitting in different places and adhering to unique standards, ensuring security across systems is a key priority for the state. Standardizing data governance into a single platform has simplified management, while also boosting security. State officials and staff can manage all the data in the hub to the same standards, and apply compliance where it is needed, while also ensuring that agencies maintain ownership of their own data.

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The State of Oklahoma is taking a “holistic, forward-thinking approach” toward modernizing its data strategy and connecting all of its agencies together, said Mike Daniels, VP of global public Sector, Google Cloud. 

“Oklahoma will be able to scale for future growth as well, allowing additional agencies to share information quickly and efficiently,” Daniels said. 

Google Cloud is “a great strategic partner to us,” said Joe McIntosh, director of service delivery, OMES. 

“For a whole host of the services that we spun out across the state, Google was right there,” McIntosh said.

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