Case study

Supply-chain data, out of many Excel files and into one model

Transport and logistics

A logistics company whose supply-chain data was spread across many Excel files. Shipment tracking and warehouse efficiency now come from one reporting model.

Read the engagement brief(opens in a new tab)
Period
8 months
Tracking
45% more efficient
Manual hours
30% fewer
A schematic: the separate reports this engagement started from, the one consolidated reporting layer that replaced them, and the technologies underneath.

Many Excel files, replaced by one reporting model

Shipment and warehouse data lived in many separate Excel files, and the reporting was assembled from them by hand. We consolidated it into one model, built dashboards for shipment tracking and warehouse efficiency, and trained the users to answer their own questions.

more efficient shipment tracking
45%
fewer manual reporting hours
30%
reporting model for the supply chain
1
months of engagement
8

Anonymised by sector and size, because the confidentiality that protects this client would protect you too. Sector and outcomes are real; identifying detail is not. The two percentages are as recorded at the end of the engagement.

Consolidating the files

Before and after the engagement

Many files

  • Shipment filesExcel, kept separately
  • Warehouse filesExcel, kept separately
  • Other supply-chain filesExcel, kept separately

One model

  • One reporting modelThe supply chain in one place
  • Interactive dashboardsShipment tracking and warehouse efficiency
  • Self-service for the usersFilter, drill and answer routine questions without asking
Supply-chain data fragmented across many Excel files, consolidated into a single reporting model.

The engagement in full

Client
A transport and logistics company of 50 to 250 people.
Situation
The reporting was assembled from many separate Excel files by hand, so shipments and warehouses were read apart from each other rather than together, which is not how a supply chain runs.
Mandate
Consolidate fragmented supply-chain data into a single reporting model and give the business self-service reporting on it.

Handing the reporting to its users

Training turned the dashboards into self-service reporting for routine questions.

  1. One modelSupply-chain data in one place
  2. DashboardsTracking and warehouse efficiency
  3. TrainingPower BI for end users
  4. Self-serviceUsers answer their own questions

The architecture

Sources: Excel files. Warehouse: Snowflake. Model: Reporting model. Dashboards: Shipment tracking and warehouse efficiency
Supply-chain data consolidated in Snowflake and shaped with SQL into one model, read by the two dashboard sets.

Architecture decisions

DecisionRejected alternativeWhy
One reporting modelA dashboard per Excel fileShipments and warehouses are read together, the way the supply chain runs.
Interactive, self-service dashboardsStatic reports sent roundUsers filter, drill and answer routine questions themselves.

What the client has today

  • One reporting model in place of supply-chain data spread across many Excel files.
  • Interactive dashboards for shipment tracking and warehouse efficiency, used self-service by trained end users.
Where it left them
The supply chain is read from one model by the people who run it.
Stack
  • Power BI
  • DAX
  • SQL
  • Snowflake
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