CASE STUDY
Starting an Analytics Journey for the Utility
This utility client of Xtensible is a public utility in the United States with 100,000 customers delivering:
- Electric distribution
- Gas distribution
Partnering with Xtensible for consulting services:
- Business Intelligence & Data Analytics
- Strategy & Architecture
- Training
OPPORTUNITY
Starting an analytics journey is both promising and challenging. It can lead to transformative results by better utilization of existing and future data. Already initial analytics capabilities were implemented in different departments at this utility, but were not coordinated across departments, resulting in inefficiencies and lack of awareness. The utility saw a need to develop a data analytics plan with objectives, initial use cases, organizational responsibilities, and tool requirements to establish a foundation for their future data analytics capabilities. They also wanted to ensure that all involved stakeholders are aligned when it came to their analytics journey. The plan needed to align with business objectives, their technology roadmap, and needed to build on the creativity the staff were already expressing.
WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING
Xtensible developed a sequence of training sessions and workshops to cover key steps and considerations involved when starting an analytics initiative.
- The Data – We explored data types, how data is cataloged, governed, processed, stored, and distributed as the foundation for all driving decision-making.
- The Analytics – We assessed different forms of analytics methods, from simple prescriptive to complex cognitive analytics and how it best applies to different use cases.
- The Technology – We discussed different considerations for analytics deployment from an architecture and technology perspective considering existing technology roadmap.
- The Use Cases – We pondered different use cases, elaborated on needs and objectives, and how to measure success.
- The Analytic Roadmap – Guidelines for the analytics roadmap were discussed, the content, efficient execution and understanding that analytics is continued work in process as the business environment changes.
It is important to set clear goals and timelines, select the right technologies, build a capable analytics team, and promote a data-driven mindset.
PARTICIPATION
In the requested spirit of engaging different stakeholder categories Xtensible conducted an initial survey reaching out to the executive team, managers, analysts and even a newly hired data scientist. The feedback from the survey served as valuable input and insights, such as understanding the different levels of maturity related to data management.
RESULTS
The purpose of the training and workshop series was to provide participants with information and knowledge about analytics while at the same time allow for learning from each other and gaining a better understanding of other roles, processes, and responsibilities beyond their own core group.
“We are looking to make better decisions based on data.”
Participants discussed different topics in smaller groups resulting in consistent and sometimes different perspectives shared with the overall group.
- How do you prioritize the long list of potential use cases?
- How do you measure if a use case is successful?
- How do you measure if the analytics program overall is successful?
The utility gained knowledge and made initial decisions on how to proceed with their analytics journey and what analytics maturity level they want to achieve. It encouraged them to reflect on their technology roadmap and pointed to items for consideration.
WHAT IS HAPPENING NEXT?
The utility decided that the best way to move forward was to balance foundational data and analytics work while also bringing business value. Xtensible will be developing their data governance framework and the analytics roadmap. Available data and in-house technologies will be used for initial proof-of-value, applying practices learnt from the workshop series.
| Business Unit Involvement |
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