Services/Data & analytics

Numbers everyone can agree on.

Bring the data together, define what each measure means, and make it answer the questions decisions actually depend on.

Useful when two people can pull the same report and get two different answers.

Illustrative system example · fictional product and data · not client work

Decision dashboardPRISM · illustrative system, fictional data

You may need this when

Some of this probably sounds familiar.

  • Two departments report the same metric and the numbers do not match.
  • The monthly pack takes days of copying and pasting.
  • Nobody is quite sure how a headline figure is calculated.
  • The information exists somewhere, but not anywhere a decision can use it.
  • Reporting stops entirely when one person is on leave.

What we could build

One place the numbers are produced.

Defined once, calculated the same way every time, and traceable back to the source.

  • Reporting warehouseOne place the numbers are calculated, rather than five spreadsheets.
  • DashboardsThe measures your decisions depend on, not every measure available.
  • Data quality checksProblems surfaced before they reach a board pack.
  • Automated reportingThe recurring pack that builds and distributes itself.
  • Metric definitionsWritten, agreed meanings so a number means one thing.
  • Analysis on a real questionA specific answer, with its working shown.

See an example

The same question, three different periods.

Change the period. The measure updates and so does the evidence behind it — because a number without its source is just an assertion.

Every option is shown below. The selector needs JavaScript, so it is not offered here.

Decision dashboardRevenue by region · last monthSourced from 3 systems
North
£1.42m · +4.1%
Enterprise
£1.06m · +1.8%
Self-serve
£0.81m · −1.2%
Traced to
1,284 invoices

OutcomeA monthly figure you can defend, because every line traces to invoices.

Illustrative interfaces and fictional data. Not client work.

Traceability is the point. Anyone challenging a figure can see which records produced it rather than being asked to trust it.

What you receive

Reporting that runs without you.

  • A working data model and the pipelines that keep it current
  • Dashboards or reports pointed at the decisions you named
  • Written metric definitions agreed with the people who use them
  • Data quality checks that flag problems before a person sees them
  • Agreed source code, data and infrastructure handed over according to the project scope and terms
  • Handover documentation and any agreed support arrangements
Technical depth

Ingestion

Scheduled or event-driven loads from the source systems, with schema checks so a silent format change does not corrupt a report.

Modelling

A warehouse layered from raw through cleaned to reporting models, so a definition changes in one place.

Quality

Row counts, null and range checks, and reconciliation against a trusted source, surfaced as alerts rather than buried.

Lineage

Each reported number traceable to the records and transformations that produced it.

Access

Permissions matched to who should see which figures, rather than one shared login.

Analysis

Statistical methods chosen for the question, with assumptions and limitations stated alongside the result.

Often combined with

What usually sits next to this.

Tell us which number you do not trust.

Naming one disputed figure usually reveals the whole problem.