In this article, we showcase the importance of BI in retail, exploring a groundbreaking Black Friday report crafted by Dufrain’s BI Consultants for one of the UK’s retail giants.
Learn how Dufrain turned raw data into actionable intelligence by providing a dependable tool for our client’s data department to interrogate their system performance, remedy issues, and hail their successes.
The client’s problem
Picture this, you’re one of the UK’s leading retail forces and your busiest period of the year, Black Friday, is only a few weeks away and your data department lacks a solution to monitor critical data platform performance. What would you do?
Well, this is how Dufrain, in partnership with our client, showcased their platform’s live performance for the first time in their history.
Enabling insight: laying the groundwork
Like with all BI projects, your reporting can only ever be as rich or as accurate as the data that feeds it. Our client didn’t have any pre-existing datasets for us to utilise, so we embarked on an exploratory mission within their SQL Server to find pertinent, reliable data. We didn’t want the dataset to be a “one trick pony”; it had to house scalable business logic so that our client could easily reuse it in Black Fridays to come. By creating a user-friendly and readily accessible data model, we empowered both developers and stakeholders of the future to extract lasting value.
Understanding your audience: tailoring insights for impact
I’ve got my dataset and I have an end-goal but don’t have any hard-set requirements, what should I be visualising?
Good question. If you’re a BI Developer, this is probably a scenario you’ve found yourself in before. It’s easy to throw some charts on a page, but taking the time to put yourself in your audience’s shoes can really stand you in good stead. Having crafted an all-encompassing data model, we had the toolset to paint a picture that each member of our audience would find valuable. Our goal was to provide clear headline figures that:
- Showcased success: displayed high-level figures for senior leaders
- Pinpointed failures: by displaying key data failures, we facilitated swift resolutions for support teams
- Tracked performance: which enabled engineers to easily monitor system load.
Insights in action: the dashboard projected for all to see
As Black Friday approached, the excitement and tension continued to rise throughout our client’s teams. The data department, with our new dashboard in hand, was feeling better prepared than ever. Confident in the positive impact the dashboard would have, our client had it displayed on screens throughout HQ!
- The dashboard displayed an hour-by-hour comparison to the previous year’s data, demonstrating the data platform’s resilience despite significant growth
- The insights gleaned from the day’s action were later presented to the board, with the data team being able to confidently convey their overall successes, as well as demonstrating how swiftly they were able to efficiently remediate failures
- The amount of client engagement witnessed in HQ showed the value and power of real time business intelligence and storytelling.
Beyond Black Friday: a long-lasting impact
The success of this project stemmed from meticulously analysing unfamiliar data and crafting it into a user-friendly data model. By investing time to understand our audience’s needs, we were able to deliver tailored insights that empower them to make data-driven business decisions. As a result, our client now possesses an engaging tool with long-lasting value. Witnessing the impact of this project truly demonstrates the immense power of BI!
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Want to know more about what business intelligence can do for your business? Contact us for more information or watch some of our BI shorts.
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