A dashboard that loads 95% faster and is used twice as much.
International pharmaceutical group
The report only queries what it needs right now.
The background, what we built and what it achieved
Tools and platforms used: Tableau, SQL, Data modelling, Dashboard design, Workshops.
Where the customer stood
The dashboard measures the impact of marketing and sales campaigns and is one of the most widely used tools in the group. Over the years it had grown to serve many audiences at once. It took more than two minutes to load. Every view had 18 filters. Tables with thousands of rows could only be explored by scrolling, and there was barely any documentation.
Specifically, it tracked the reach of emails and newsletters and of sales calls. Many groups used it at once, each with their own questions.
What we did
We analysed every calculated field and worked out the business logic behind it. New, simpler formulas now produce the same results. Underneath, we rebuilt the SQL data source, breaking one huge table into 14 lean tables. The report only queries what it needs at any given moment. In workshops with the business teams we redesigned the views, replacing many tables with charts.
We started by looking closely. We asked the product owners what each chart and table was for, and the key question was which of them people still needed. Then we measured load times step by step to find the biggest bottlenecks.
The report only queries the new tables it needs. That step alone cut load time by 95%.
The original plan was to keep the new dashboard to a few views to limit the work for IT. In the end that was not necessary. The bottleneck almost always sat in the data model rather than the interface, so we could offer several views for individual audiences.
What came out of it
A few weeks after launch, twice as many people were using the dashboard every day. Feedback on the new interface was positive across the board.
The company now sees more quickly which campaign is working, which makes campaigns easier to steer.
What proved harder than expected
With no documentation, we had to read the code field by field, which takes Tableau and SQL skills at the same time. Only then was it clear which parts were still needed and which were just slowing things down.
A dashboard is only fast enough when nobody feels the load time. That is when usage really takes off."
Shall we talk about your first process?
In a Short Assessment we sit down with your business team and IT and look at one process together. You leave with a clear target design and an effort estimate we stand behind. Free of charge.
