Streamlining Shipping Operations with an Integrated Data Architecture and Power BI
Coming in on time and under budget, Senturus architected and delivered a data warehouse and Power BI dashboard to help the client better track and manage supply logistics and shipping costs.
Challenge
This provider of healthcare supplies ships products to individuals and companies and maintains sales and distribution centers across the nation. The purchasing team is responsible for managing the company’s considerable shipping costs. Their reporting requirement was to integrate externally enhanced shipment data with the financials residing in their data warehouse. The lack of visibility to shipping costs by customer invoice hamstrung the company’s cost management efforts.
The team wanted a more efficient reporting process. They were looking for a solution that would integrate internal and external data and would provide a way to easily access and visualize shipping cost metrics.
Solution
Senturus worked closely with the client to understand their business requirements and articulate their vision, delivering the project in two phases. The first focused on the data warehouse architecture and data integration. The second was dedicated to the implementation and testing of the Power BI dashboard.
- Enabled automatic monthly updates of third-party carrier cost data.
- Used Figma to streamline the dashboard design and development, facilitating efficient mockup review and layout implementation.
- Linked externally enhanced shipment data to customer invoices, enabling granular cost management for the procurement group.
- Executed a two-tab interactive dashboard with a “big numbers KPI” billboard: provided summary metrics along with interrelated visualizations providing dynamic filtering and slicing capabilities.
- Added historical data and enabled time frames. Client can spot trends, identify most cost-efficient distribution centers for shipping and perform dynamic analysis for periods such as trailing 13 months, YTD and last 3 months.
Benefits
Senturus delivered the solution on time and under budget and allowed the client to optimize their shipping operation.
- Saved a significant amount of time by automating the process to acquire and integrate data.
- Drove down shipping costs.
- Increased visibility and access to shipping KPIs, resulting in better cost management.
- Improved profitability.
Senturus executed a modern data warehouse and Power BI reporting solution that not only met the client’s vision but came in on time and under budget.
About our client
Part of a global healthcare solutions company, the client is a leading domestic distributor of medical supplies sold directly to patients and home health agencies.
