Data foundation for retail
Purchasing, sales and finance talk about the same number. How it works at a retailer with 14 source systems.
The target values we set for this process during the assessment and track in the monthly report:
Where it gets stuck, what we build and what usually gets in the way
Tools and platforms: Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Direct Lake, Power BI, Microsoft Purview, SAP S/4HANA Retail.
Where it gets stuck
At month-end, three departments sit round the table with three different figures for gross margin. Purchasing works from its supplier terms, sales from the shop export and finance from the ERP. It takes five days before everyone agrees. An agent for supplier invoices is planned, but it lacks a source of supplier terms that all three trust.
How we build it
We build a Fabric Lakehouse on OneLake that brings together the ERP, the shop, the PIM and the supplier terms. Every metric is defined exactly once, in a semantic model, and made available in Power BI through Direct Lake without copying any data. Purview catalogues the tables, shows how data flows between the Fabric items and records how each is classified. The supplier invoice agent then works on that same model. It is the reason the foundation is being built.
What usually gets in the way
Getting everyone to agree on one definition of gross margin usually takes several workshops. That is the real bottleneck, long before any technical question, which is why we hold those conversations right at the start.
We've already had two data warehouse projects that fizzled out. Why should this time be any different?"
Because we start with the one number you argue about, and the technology comes after that. We only build once purchasing, sales and finance have signed off a single definition of gross margin. The model then shows exactly that number, and no second version anywhere.
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.
