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Be the Business
2019
Data strategy, Data warehousing, Complex integrations, Power BI reporting dashboards
Since founding, BtB has grown rapidly. As they’ve grown, the amount of data they need to manage, analyse and understand has also increased rapidly.
For example, BtB need to access key insights about their activities, the number of people on their programmes and the impact they are having. This is essential if they are to direct resources to the right places and justify their funding. At the beginning of the project there was no system that could deliver these insights.
Several factors made data management challenging:
• They run a variety of programmes, from mentoring partnerships with universities to online tools.
• The data they collect is varied, from highly qualitative information to detailed business metrics.
• There was no consistent data format. Information was stored in spreadsheets, 3rd party systems and on paper.
• There were various stakeholders collecting data with no consistent way of collecting, storing or inputting this data.
The goal of the project was to unify all BtB’s data, bring it together and organise it in a single place so that it could be queried and actionable reports created from it.
As with many data projects, there was little consistency in what data was collected, how it was collected and in what format it was stored.
It was decided that salesforce would be used. Our system, therefore, needed to integrate seamlessly with Salesforce.
Be the Business is a charitable organisation and the objectives and stakeholder needs of the project needed to reflect this.
Given the starting point, a primary task was to first understand the organisation’s processes, then create a data model that would support the organisation in achieving its objectives.
Business process design was a key part of this project. The Steer73 team used stakeholder interviews, workshops and a significant amount of research to develop a deep understanding of the data that BtB collect and their current processes.
Each programme manager was managing data in a different way and there was no uniform data. So, first Steer73 developed a data model that staff could follow.
A key part of this data model was tool and solution analysis for the data storage and analysis part of the system. A decision was made to use Salesforce.
As with so many data projects, the human element was a key challenge. With various individuals all inputting data in their own way, it was essential that processes were designed that encouraged adherence to a consistent system. Steer73 set BtB up with the tools they needed for success, including process manuals.
Historical data also needed to be collated and bulk uploaded to Salesforce.
As with so many data projects, the human element was a key challenge. With various individuals all inputting data in their own way, it was essential that processes were designed that encouraged adherence to a consistent system. Steer73 set BtB up with the tools they needed for success, including process manuals.
Historical data also needed to be collated and bulk uploaded to Salesforce.
Once the data was in one location, in a consistent and structured format, there was a database that BtB could run reports from.
PowerBI was chosen as the visualisation software and Steer73 created a set of reports that instantly gave BtB the insights they needed to thrive.
✅ PowerBI
✅ Salesforce integration
✅ Microsoft Power apps
✅ Waterfall
❌Agile
✅ Stakeholder interviews
✅ Workshops
✅ Process mapping
✅ Data analysis
✅ New process design
✅ Tool and solution analysis
✔ BtB can now instantly access the data they need to prove the impact of their programmes and justify their funding
✔ BtB now have a way to understand and structure their data. This forms the foundation of their data approach and can be built on over time.
✔ The project unified BtB’s data collection processes across programme managers and ensures that they have access to data long into the future
✔ BtB are benefiting from improved efficiency
✔ BtB have improved visibility and access to any data that they required
✔ BtB can now instantly access the data they need to prove the impact of their programmes and justify their funding
✔ BtB now have a way to understand and structure their data. This forms the foundation of their data approach and can be built on over time.
✔ The project unified BtB’s data collection processes across programme managers and ensures that they have access to data long into the future
✔ BtB are benefiting from improved efficiency
✔ BtB have improved visibility and access to any data that they required
No matter what stage your project is in, we would love to speak. We offer a free discovery service to help you develop a deeper understanding of your problem, the potential solutions and the costs involved in building a solution.
