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Making data usable and actionable for a leading UK charity
Client
Be the Business
Client since
2019
Services provided
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.
Characteristics of the project
Inconsistent & poor quality source data
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.
Salesforce integration
It was decided that salesforce would be used. Our system, therefore, needed to integrate seamlessly with Salesforce.
Charitable organisation
Be the Business is a charitable organisation and the objectives and stakeholder needs of the project needed to reflect this.
No existing data model
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.
Solution
Creating a data model
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.
Data input & collection
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.
Making the data usable with actionable reports
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.
The tech
✅ PowerBI
✅ Salesforce integration
✅ Microsoft Power apps
✅ Salesforce integration
✅ Microsoft Power apps
Delivery methodology
✅ Waterfall
Product services
✅ Stakeholder interviews
✅ Workshops
✅ Process mapping
✅ Data analysis
✅ New process design
✅ Tool and solution analysis
✅ Workshops
✅ Process mapping
✅ Data analysis
✅ New process design
✅ Tool and solution analysis
The impact
• 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 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
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