Implementing a Complete Digital Thread: The Need for Data Element Mapping and Analysis

In the age of digitalization and the fourth industrial revolution, the concept of the digital thread has captured both the attention and resources of countless organizations. However, despite its growing popularity and a plethora of technologies being offered that promise to create the digital thread, this research revealed that no current techniques allow for the systematic uncovering of data and information flows in a way that reveals individual threads of data elements. Therefore, data element mapping and analysis (DEMA) is proposed as a tool capable of identifying all the data elements at the granularity necessary to connect digital threads. DEMA is a technology agnostic approach that allows an enterprise to move from a functional, document-centric view of data and information flows to a data element level view, with the data elements serving as the connectors of the digital thread.