Client:

United Utilities PLC
(a FTSE 100 company employing over 8000 people) is the largest operator of water and waste water networks in the UK.

Requirements:

Design and build a Management Dashboard which collects data from a variety of sources and presents this data in a format UU can use to drive and sustain performance improvements across Water and Wastewater.

Solution:

MDB consultants worked closely with United Utilities, Vertex, Accenture and Avanade to build a highly optimised Business Intelligence solution based on Microsoft technologies.

An efficient ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) system using Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) collects data from multiple data sources including real time data from treatment works, SAP financial data, OMS regulatory compliance data and sludge management data. This data is processed through a stage area, into a relational data warehouse then loaded into a dimensional data mart; at all stages full lineage and audit data is recorded.

A Microsoft Analysis Services cube built on the data mart provides high speed access to this data as easy to consume key performance indicators. The cube pre-aggregates data through the organisational hierarchy and through time, meaning reporting at directorate level for a full year responds just as quickly as reporting at site level for a single day.

The user interface is built using a combination Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager and Microsoft Reporting Services, all deployed on Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. All dashboards show the data for the time period selected combined with data for the previous period and year to date and provide drill-down to detail functionality.

Testimonials

"Thanks very much for all the support and flexibility which you have given to me and to my United Utilities project. Your staff have been superb and I have no doubt that we could not have achieved what we have without their innovative and excellent work. MDB will be top of my list to assist on all future IT projects."

Roger Gott - Principal Architect, United Utilities