Client background

The client is a large not-for-profit organization located in the Midwest. They are one of the largest food banks in the region and provide assistance to a growing community network consisting of 800 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs. They strive to put their neighbors first and end hunger by connecting them to healthy food options. The not-for-profit continues to evolve to better serve their community and to tackle the underlying causes of food insecurity and poverty.

The business challenge

The organization was struggling to utilize data across their many internal systems to help them make informed decisions. Challenges included difficulties in accessing and combining data from multiple sources, inefficient and time-consuming report generation and relying on manual processes that took up staff time that could be better spent analyzing data, making decisions and implementing actions based on insights. The client received government funding and their goal was to enhance the efficiencies of the food bank so they could serve more neighbors. As stewards of their community, it was imperative they used the funds responsibly. The not-for-profit engaged Baker Tilly to assist with building out their data warehouse so they could improve visibility into their supply chain, distribution channels, food donations, grants and impact on the surrounding community.

Strategy and solution

To address the challenges faced by the organization, Baker Tilly worked closely with organizational leaders to understand the business needs of the platform. The project aim was to develop a first-class solution that was also useful and maintainable to the organization. Through a multi-phased engagement, they implemented a comprehensive data warehouse solution using Microsoft Azure tools, including Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Databases, Azure Data Factory and Power BI.

The solution was designed specifically for the not-for-profit's needs and capabilities, including:

• A scalable solution to accommodate an array of data sources by leveraging Azure Data Lakes and Data Vault modeling methodology, keeping the platform future-proofed to system changes
• A star schema dimensional data mart for ease of reporting and seamless integration with business intelligence (BI) tools
• An extract, transform, load (ETL) logging framework and automated data quality tests for data integrity and monitoring, ensuring data was reliable and trustworthy
• Power BI reports, workspaces and applications data access by users across the organization
• Development using an Agile project management approach for increased efficiency and flexibility
• Automated aggregation and distribution of partner agency financial reports, cutting a quarterly multi-week process down to just a few hours
• Tracking dashboards were developed for operations teams, allowing warehouse staff the ability to track daily goals around shipments and logistics in real-time

The implementation of the data analytics platform has expanded the impact the organization can make in its community by enabling and empowering organizational leaders to make data informed decisions. The new data warehouse resource is being leveraged by additional teams in the organization for other reporting use cases and workflows. Automated processes are being implemented to combine and present data of the organization’s operations.

This foundational data solution has enabled the organization to leverage comprehensive reporting tools for operational decision making, saving time and resources previously used on manual processes. Overall, the data warehouse has provided the organization with the insights and tools necessary to make informed decisions and take impactful actions to combat food insecurity in their community. The client is continuing to embark on additional data warehouse development phases with the Baker Tilly digital team, while growing their internal team, allowing them to take ownership in the future.