Challenge

Frustrated with an outdated and rigid reporting system, a major CPG supplier reached out to mOOkstr to develop a streamlined, flexible solution to process and analyze Walmart international sales and inventory data. A CPG supplier knew it needed to replace its current reporting system for Walmart international data given the system’s negative ROI.  In addition to the high cost, the reporting system was inadequate in that most of the functionality provided was obsolete, users had to supplement reports with data collection and analysis processes outside the system, and overhauling the system was not practical.

Constraints

The environment in which the CPG supplier was operating was furthermore evolving rapidly.  Walmart introduced new rules for multi-factor authentication and planned major changes to how international data would be provided.  Sales and marketing staff at the CPG supplier eschewed conventional reports in favor of actionable dashboards and KPIs accessible on mobile devices.  There was an increasing need for a modern solution that kept up with the changes Walmart imposed and gave users more control over their data.

Solution

Taking advantage of recent technical innovations incorporated in Azure Databricks and PowerBI, mOOkstr built a solution that allows the CPG supplier to access data at multiple levels:

• The company’s IT department accesses the data directly from Databricks views.
• Technically inclined analysts use mOOkstr’s Power BI data model to create custom dashboards.
• End users access pre-built Power BI dashboards with standard KPIs and/or receive emailed updates.

Additionally, mOOkstr streamlined the data collection and aggregation process to accommodate nuances with the Walmart international business:  Country-level permissions, currency conversions, Unicode (non-alphabetic) characters, local branding, and variations in data available by country.

Results

By choosing mOOkstr, the CPG supplier significantly lowered its costs to collect and analyze Walmart international data. Furthermore, mOOkstr created a system that automates data collection and aggregation so the CPG supplier can focus on analysis and decision-making, putting the CPG supplier in the driver’s seat.