Introduction
FinWise Bank is a modern Utah-based bank that serves community banking needs while helping fintech brands deliver the next generation of lending, payment and card solutions. With a strong compliance and risk management-first culture, the bank needed a faster, more reliable way to build and operate its enterprise data warehouse. WhereScape helped FinWise accelerate delivery, strengthen auditability and create a scalable data foundation for reporting and analytics.
Pre-WhereScape Challenges
- Manual integration: Legacy ETL and hand-built modeling slowed delivery and increased rework.
- Slow time to value: New data integration and reporting projects often took weeks to complete.
- Compliance pressure: Auditability was harder without clear traceability, lineage and deployment records.
- Human error risk: Manual SQL coding increased the chance of mistakes in data movement and update logic.
- Modeling complexity: Building a complex enterprise data model by hand was expensive and inefficient.
- Growth constraints: The team needed an approach that could scale across new environments without heavy lift and shift.
“With WhereScape, the team implemented an EDW using Data Vault 2.0 in 3 months, a feat that would have taken 18 months with the previous manual modeling and integration approach.”
– VP, Director of Data Services at FinWise Bank
Why WhereScape?
FinWise chose WhereScape because of its automation capabilities, ease of use and support for multiple platforms. The data team wanted a solution that could automate modeling, integration, orchestration and documentation; all together in one place, to support their future growth. WhereScape also fit the bank’s need for stronger governance, faster delivery and a lean operating model – all without adding unnecessary manual effort.
The Solution
Automated Data Modeling
FinWise used WhereScape 3D to model its enterprise data warehouse more efficiently, reducing the time and effort required to design a complex Data Vault 2.0 architecture by hand.
Metadata-Driven Delivery
With WhereScape RED and Data Vault Express (DVE), the FinWise Team automated object creation, ELT workflows and deployment routines. That reduced repetitive manual coding and helped them to standardize how the warehouse was built and maintained.
Faster Environment Migration
The team used templates and automation scripts to streamline movement into new environments. Existing templates could be reused, while custom templates could be copied and extended; without changing the base framework.
Stronger Governance
FinWise used custom satellite types to track PII, PCI and other sensitive data. Trackback and documentation features made it easier to show auditors how data moved from source to target and how business rules affected it.
“Implementing WhereScape has reduced time-to-delivery from months/weeks to days/hours.”
– VP, Director of Data Services at FinWise Bank
Results
🚀 Accelerated Delivery
- Built a new Data Vault 2.0 EDW in 3 months, instead of an estimated 18.
- Integrated new data sources into the EDW, all within just a few hours.
- Delivered reporting data to business users in days or hours, not weeks.
🚀 Leaner Operations
- Reduced the need for additional headcount through automation.
- Enabled one skilled developer to deliver work at much higher throughput.
- Kept the team cross-trained, reducing dependence on any single person.
🚀 Better Compliance
- Used trackback to show auditors full source-to-target lineage.
- Tagged deployments to ticketing systems; for a clean admin paper trail.
- Improved visibility into where sensitive data appears downstream.
🚀 More Reliable Delivery
- Applied rule checks on incoming data directly in the tool.
- Used the scheduler to automate recurring quality checks.
- Reduced data-movement errors during migration into new environments.
“Promoting code to production is a breeze and can typically be done within minutes.”
– VP, Director of Data Services at FinWise Bank
Built for a Regulated Environment
For a bank operating in a highly regulated environment, data governance is not optional. FinWise needed a platform that could support compliance, documentation and audit readiness; all while still moving quickly to meet changing business demands. WhereScape gave the team a practical way to combine automation that the traceability auditors expect.
The ability to track sensitive data using custom satellite types was especially valuable. By marking PII, PCI and related data classes in the model, the team gained better visibility into how those data elements were used in downstream reporting and analytics.
“Modeling, automation, and orchestration all in one spot —chef’s kiss!”
– VP, Director of Data Services at FinWise Bank
A Better Use of Technical Time
One of the biggest operational changes was how the team spent its time. Before automation, too much effort was tied up in manual integration, repetitive coding, and the overhead of moving changes through the environment. With WhereScape handling much of that repetitive work, the team could spend more time on modeling, testing, profiling, discovery and actually understanding the business problem behind each request.
That change matters because often the best BI and data warehouse outcomes don’t simply come from typing SQL faster. Instead, they typically come from understanding requirements more clearly and designing the right architecture up-front.
Scalable by Design
FinWise is already integrating SQL Server, flat files and AWS-based data through WhereScape, and the bank sees room for future expansion, including to platforms such as Snowflake. That flexibility of WhereScape was all part of the original appeal for them. The team wanted a solution that could support future growth without a major rebuild each time the architecture evolved.
WhereScape’s template-driven approach has helped create that scalability. When customization is needed, the team can copy an existing template, preserve the original and then extend the logic in a controlled way. That keeps the environment flexible, without making it chaotic.
Long-Term Value
FinWise explained that introducing WhereScape resulted in meaningful savings in both time and staffing. By reducing manual effort and keeping their team lean, the bank estimates the operational value in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. Just as important to note, alongside ROI, it’s important to remember that FinWise has gained faster reporting delivery, stronger governance and a more resilient data platform for future growth.
“The automation alone is enough for us.”
– VP, Director of Data Services at FinWise Bank
