The Situation
A growing organization preparing for an acquisition needed a clear understanding of how sensitive business data moved through its environment. Leadership knew which key systems held Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). But many processes had grown over time without good documentation.
There was no complete picture of the data flowing between the tools used to manage bids, work with subcontractors, and store files, including email. On top of the acquisition, a key person was preparing to retire, taking a great deal of undocumented knowledge with them.
To bring the two organizations together, leadership needed a clear picture of both companies’ processes and systems to fully understand their CUI scope. The company being acquired lacked the documentation needed to prepare. In many cases, critical data was being copied, shared, and stored in several places.
Secure systems were in place, but no one could see how work was actually getting done. The organization had made progress on compliance, but without mapping dataflows across departments, it couldn’t accurately define its CUI scope.
A static inventory wasn’t enough. Leadership needed to know which teams used which systems, what kind of data was involved, and how it moved between business functions. Without that visibility, they risked missing key gaps, adding avoidable risk, and weakening future integration across business and IT teams. You can’t protect what you can’t see. You also can’t integrate, restructure, or scale it.
Our Solution
Edwards started by meeting with project leads and technical staff to understand how work actually moved through the organization. Instead of beginning with a checklist, we asked direct questions. What does your day look like? What systems do you use? Where does the data go?
That gave us a real picture of the environment. We weren’t just tracking where CUI might be. We were learning how business processes worked in practice. Using Visio Professional, we built custom data flow diagrams that connected systems, roles, data, and workflows in a way that could be reviewed, reported on, and updated over time.
Each team walked us through its day-to-day work. The goal wasn’t to chase documents or system lists. It was to understand what work was being done, what data was moving, and how each system was really used. Most environments hold surprises, and this one did too. Critical work was happening over email, through shared drives, and inside third-party platforms. Even harder, the two companies used very different systems for the same business functions.
The result was a set of visual, data-rich diagrams and reports that showed how the business really operated. Built in Visio Professional with added system and data flow details, they tied specific workflows to systems, users, and data types. These weren’t just reports. They were decision tools. Leadership used them to judge scope, spot risks, and make informed choices about system integration, team alignment, and security.
This approach is essential during mergers and acquisitions, when people, platforms, and policies must line up quickly and accurately. Without it, critical gaps are almost always missed. The diagrams reveal blind spots, build agreement, define what the future needs to look like, and show how to get there.
The method is repeatable and built to scale.
Dataflow Mapping as a Core Strategic Capability
Dataflow mapping has grown beyond compliance. It now supports organizations through high-impact changes, including mergers, offboarding, and restructuring. By showing how data moves across systems, users, and functions, it makes scope clear, ownership obvious, and decisions stronger.
The output isn’t a static diagram. It becomes a living reference that brings risk to the surface, guides alignment, and builds confidence in how the organization operates. If you’re making decisions without this level of visibility, you’re not working with the full picture. Getting the full picture puts you in control of what comes next.
