Launched in 2009, Cisco’s Hierarchy Management Platform aimed at consolidating and improving master data management by creating a one-stop shop for Enterprise hierarchies. Fast forward seven years and the mission has expanded to something even more intriguing: utilizing cross-hierarchy relationships to simplify and automate Cisco’s functional processes. Enabled by Neo4j, these relationships (and graphical visualizations of these relationships) are fundamentally changing how Cisco conducts operations globally. This discussion is intended for technical and non-technical audiences, focusing primarily on Enterprise hierarchy strategy, hierarchy data capabilities, and unlocking actionable business insights.

1. Enabling the Cisco
Decoder Ring
Andrew Chappell
Program Manager, Cisco Systems

2. Andrew Chappell
Program Manager, Cisco Systems
www.linkedin.com/in/andrewchappell

3. Andrew Chappell
Program Manager & Architect,
Hierarchy Management Platform, Enterprise Data Services
Enabling the Cisco
Decoder Ring
Using to automate Master Data
Management across the Enterprise

4. Any mechanism which
provides a mapping
from one thing to
another, in order to
translate something
from
…to sensible.
What is a Decoder Ring?
cryptic

5. “Every company has a decoder
ring, but not everyone knows
the various ciphers”

6. Answer: Hierarchy Management Platform (HMP):
Single Source ofTruth for hierarchies and data relationship management
Enables data roll-up depending on the business need
Consumes, manages, and publishes data in a consist manner
Goal: Centralized platform for the maintenance and governance of Enterprise hierarchies
Unify functional processes with a common platform for data management & governance
Simplify the systems used to maintain Enterprise hierarchies
Amplify business growth by connecting-the-dots across the functions
Problem: Overtime, numerous processes and systems have been created to manage data
resulting in the proliferation of silo'd hierarchies, data synchronization issues, and replication of
master data.
HMPValue Proposition: Unify, Simplify, & Amplify
Circa July 2009

7. Product Finance Marketing Strategy
BG
TG
BU
PF
PID PID
PF
BU
PF
PID
TG
Implementation: Focusing on the Hierarchies
Establish a Consistent Data Source using Neo4j
BE
SBE SBE
PF
PID
PF
PID PID
PC
SC
Series Series
Model
PF
Model
PF
SC
Series
Model
PF
TMS
PF
PID PID
PF
PID
Implement an
End-to-End
Organizational
Workflow
Connect to
Other Data
Domains
Customer

8. Our Journey
and Shift to
the Graph Segment
Category
Product
Model
Product
Series
Cisco.com
Business
Group
Technology
Group
Business
Unit
Product &
Services
Business
Entity
Business
Sub-Entity
Business
Entity
Product
Family
Sales Comp.Sales Comp.
Specialist
Comp.
Product ID
Global
Ultimate
Headquarter
Party
Physical
Site
Customer
Region
Sub-Region
Country
Sales
Territories
Counties
/ Cities
Warranty
Sales
Agent
Booking
Note: Nodes, Relationships, and Allocations
all have an associated Timestamp to track
past, present, and future changes.
Support
Product
Dev
Sales
Sales
Finance
Web
Marketing
Sales
Agent

9. Switch, Access,
Virtualize
Business Group
Internet
Switching
Tech. Group
Internet
Switching Biz
Unit
Product &
Services
Nexus 9K
Family
N9K-
C93128TX
The Walt Disney
Company
The Walt Disney
Co., 500 S Buena
Vista St, Burbank
Disney Consumer
Products, 1201
Flower St, Glendale
Disney Consumer
Products, 1202
Flower St, Glendale
Customer
Example #1
Note: Nodes, Relationships, and Allocations
all have an associated Timestamp to track
past, present, and future changes.
North
America
US &
Canada
US-
California
Sales
Territories
Glendale
Product
Dev
Oscar Torres
(#1235813) Sales
Agent
Enables Product Dev
to determine in real-time what
Customers are purchasing their
product, so they can prioritize
and customize product features
based on those top companies /
industries. They can additionally
work with Sales Agents to setup
specific engagements.

10. Enterprise
Networks
Routing &
Switching
Nexus 9500
Switch
Nexus 9K
Switching
Series
Cisco.com
Switching &
Wireless
Group
Data Center
Switching
Business
Entity
Nexus 9K
Family
N9K-
C93128TX
$45,000
Booking
Note: Nodes, Relationships, and Allocations
all have an associated Timestamp to track
past, present, and future changes.Web
Marketing
Finance
Example #2
Enables Web
Marketing to look at past,
present, and future Financial
bookings data in real-time to
launch new promotions or
discounts online.

11. Switch, Access,
Virtualize
Business Group
Internet
Switching
Tech. Group
Internet
Switching Biz
Unit
Product &
Services
Nexus 9K
Family
Comp-
Switching
Sales Comp.
Comp-
NX9K
N9K-
C93128TX
The Walt Disney
Company
The Walt Disney
Co., 500 S Buena
Vista St, Burbank
Disney Consumer
Products, 1201
Flower St, Glendale
Disney Consumer
Products, 1202
Flower St, Glendale
Customer
North
America
US &
Canada
US-
California
Sales
Territories
Glendale
2-Year
Warranty
Oscar Torres
(#1235813)
$45,000
Booking
Note: Nodes, Relationships, and Allocations
all have an associated Timestamp to track
past, present, and future changes.
Enables Sales to know in
real-time which Products
& Services have been
purchased by a Customer to
determine incentives, rewards,
renewals, up-sell, and cross-
sell opportunities.
1-Year
Support
Subscription
Sales
Example #3
Sales
Sales
Agent

12. Products
PartnersCustomers
• End of Sale / Life
• Renewals
• Expired / Uncovered
• Competitor Products
• Subscription Consumption
• Contracts / Subscriptions
• End of Sale / Life
• Renewals
• Coverage
• Usage
• Demand Generation / ROMI
• Inbound (Web / Social)
• Outbound
(Telemarketing / Events)
• Customer Interactions
(Web / Social / Email)
• Surveys
• Satisfaction Scoring
• Discounts / Offers
• Response Management
• Account Scoring
• Case Management
• Service Leads
• Demographics, Geographics,
Psychographics
• Newsfeed
• Social Media
• Competitor Insights
• Customer Industry Trends
• Partner Programs
• Accounts / Contacts
• Contact Roles & Responsibilities
• Certification / Specialization
• Partner Deals / Quotes
• Rewards
• Rebates
• Partner Performance Metrics
• Deals / Quotes
• Funnel / Forecast
• Accounts / Contacts
• Services Contracts / Subscriptions
• Leads
• Bookings
• Demo Loans / Try and Buy
• Exec / Customer Briefing Center
• Cisco Capital
• Historical Spend
Marketing
Install Base
Software & Licensing Sales
Channels
Customers
SupportFinance

13. • (Neo4j) -[:ENABLES]-> (DecoderRing) -[:UNLOCKS]-> (Insights)
Closing Us Out…
• Ensure your Data Model is Organizational Agnostic. Process / Policy / Data
doesn’t always need to be consolidated or standardized, it just needs to be mapped!
• Share all non-sensitive data company-wide: Read-Only Access for Everyone
• Setup a robust API layer. You’re not going to be able to satisfy every use case, but
give them an option
• Implement a crowd sourcing mechanism: Suggestions, Up-Vote / Down-Vote
Not Using
Neo4j for MDM
& Hierarchies
Starting to Use
Neo4j for MDM
& Hierarchies
Want to Take
Neo4j to the
Next Level

14. Special Thanks to a Phenomenal Team:
• Amit Kumar
• Scott Fronsdahl
• Brian Grossman
• Rajeev Thekkayil
• Srini Murthy
• CD Venkatesh
• Srikanth Natarajan
• Tom Reed
• Vamshi Rokandla
• Robby Greenfield
• Ronak Shah
• Waydon Destin
Thank You!
Find Me on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/andrewchappell
• Marty Haberstroh
• Arvind Toor
• Achal Shantharam
• Jimmy Pan
• Ashish Cloudhary
• Kumaran Anbalagan

15. Hierarchy Examples: Value & Usage
Hierarchy Purpose Used By
ERP Product
& Services
Classifies product types as Hardware, Software, and/or
Service, by which Business Units (BUs) receive revenue
credit for sales
• Finance to determine the BU that will receive revenue credit for a sale
• Marketing to evaluate product performance based on percentage bookings
• Manufacturing to generate build, plan, & scheduling reports
• Engineering to report product quality metrics by technology
• Software Team to report the percentage allocation of BUs to their
Bookings, Revenues, and CoGS for Software Products
Business
Entity
Enables organizational allocations at a Product Family
level for Financial roll-ups
• Finance to plan, review, and report performance of Product Families
• Marketing to promote offerings to target markets
• Supply Chain to analyze Go-To-Market strategy effectiveness
Cisco.com
Translates the relationship of internal Product Families to
Product Categories, Sub-Categories, Series, and Models
• Finance to categorize products per pricing list catalog
• Marketing to promote products via Categories, Series, & Models on
Cisco.com
Sales
Compensation
Enables the Architecture alignment and negotiated
percent allocation of products & services for Sales
Compensation and Crediting
• Sales to set goals, crediting (including Partners), and compensate Sales
Agents
Sales
Territories
Defines sales regions, countries, counties, cities, and
districts
• Sales to define the geographical territories by which Sales Agents manage
Customer
Registry
Enables an internal view of Cisco’s customers at a global
level down to a physical site and address level
• All Functions to determine the primary site location for each customer
company based on global, regional, and/or local presence
• Sales to determine global customer bookings aggregation and forecasts

16. Enterprise
Networks
Routing &
Switching
Nexus 9500
Switch
Nexus 9K
Switching
Series
Cisco.com
Switch, Access,
Virtualize
Business Group
Internet
Switching
Tech. Group
Internet
Switching Biz
Unit
Product &
Services
Switching &
Wireless
Group
Data Center
Switching
Business
Entity
Nexus 9K
Family
Comp-
Switching
Sales Comp.
Comp-
NX9K
N9K-
C93128TX
The Walt Disney
Company
The Walt Disney
Co., 500 S Buena
Vista St, Burbank
Disney Consumer
Products, 1201
Flower St, Glendale
Disney Consumer
Products, 1202
Flower St, Glendale
Customer
North
America
US &
Canada
US-
California
Sales
Territories
Glendale
2-Year
Warranty
Oscar Torres
(#1235813)
$45,000
Booking
Populated
Model
Note: Nodes, Relationships, and Allocations
all have an associated Timestamp to track
past, present, and future changes.
1-Year
Support
Subscription
Product
Dev
Sales
Sales
Finance
Web
Marketing
Sales
Agent