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At the heart of a successful data transformation are some core principles.

Firstly, Access – A fundamental requirement for success is for correct data to be available to all who need it.

Secondly, Governance – Those using data must be able to have certainty that the data they are using is correct and maintained.

Finally, data must be Democratised, meaning it must be usable by the majority.

Establishing these three elements starts when you recognise the capability brought into your organisation by a “Data Centre of Excellence”.

A Data Centre of Excellence is one of those terms that sounds a lot worse than it is. Its purpose is to combine the knowledge existing in every organisation about the processes and data platforms in use, with the technical skills needed to develop, manage, and maintain a data plane.

Whenever a Data Transformation begins, it starts from the point of already having the Process experts in place. After all, someone is already doing those operations, albeit within a silo. The nature of a Transformation project is that you need to transform or change something; that is where this Data Transformation often fails to deliver.

Technical skills are required to implement the initial stages of a Data Transformation. Still, they must also be embedded within the organisation because the transformation process is just that – a process that is ongoing and continuous.

When you treat the elements of transformation as a project, you are viewing it as something that will be completed. The truth is that data requirements will change as your organisation progresses; new KPIs or regulations will come into effect, and will need to be monitored, tracked, and reported upon. In addition to this, over time, every organisation changes the tools they use, from updated EPOS or ERP system to new HR tools. All these need to be integrated into the Data Plane.

Therefore, the Data Centre of Excellence must be one of the main deliverables for a Data Transformation. This must include developing this capability not just for day one but also a plan for its continued development.

The Data Centre of Excellence is responsible for ensuring that data is moved from the business process, which creates it into a semantic model and then onwards into reports and visualisations to meet the business requirements and objectives. It then continues to monitor the ETL steps and Semantic Models. It is at least informed about business process changes, as these will often affect ETL and the Semantic Model and their dependent Report content. Similarly, when the organisation changes the analytics they require, those must be shepherded from action to report (analytics changes may also require business process changes).

 

The vital nature of the Centre for Excellence and the requirement that it be rooted deep within your organisation means it must have internal ownership. However, we have often found clients like to be able to leverage additional support during the early stages, then decrease as internal teams upskill.

 

Geordie Consulting offers a Centre of Excellence as a Service for just that reason. Our expertise has consistently found that it takes at least two years to get a team to the point where they can fully support a Data Platform. This allows you to ensure you have a deep involvement in your Centre of Excellence with documentation standards and process standards being defined with your teams as they learn and develop to take over the support and running of your Data Platform.

Geordie Consulting, a dedicated consultancy, has partnered with numerous companies to tackle this challenge. We are committed to sharing our expertise and experience with clients by supporting your Centre of Excellence. Our consultants and their knowledge will be available to foster the growth and development of this function within your organisation. Our team will oversee your Power Platform estate, ensuring consistent refresh cycles. Additionally, we will mentor your team or facilitate knowledge-sharing events to promote a new Data Culture within your business. As a Microsoft Partner, we ensure our team stays current with platform updates. We can simplify the upskilling process for your internal team by guiding and supporting their learning and demonstrating solutions implemented during your engagement. To optimise your return on investment, consider enrolling your organisation in our Centre of Excellence as a Service offering.