Data Analysis

During his time working as an IT Manager within our global manufacturing business, James played a pivotal role in the development and continuous improvement of our business intelligence and data analytics capabilities.

He demonstrated a rare ability to evolve alongside the organization’s growing data maturity, starting with the delivery of Informix 4GL reporting solutions that provided reliable operational and financial insights directly from core business systems. As our needs expanded, he developed advanced Excel-based data extracts that enabled greater flexibility and accessibility of information for business users across multiple departments.

Over time, James progressed our reporting environment further by implementing and supporting solutions using Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). These tools allowed for more structured, automated, and scalable reporting across key business areas including finance, production, supply chain, and sales, significantly improving data consistency and reducing manual reporting effort.

He also contributed to the implementation of SSIS-based data integration processes, enabling more robust and reliable data flows between disparate systems and supporting a more centralised reporting approach. This was a key step in improving the integrity and availability of business-critical data.

Throughout his time with us, he consistently demonstrated strong technical capability, clear business understanding, and a focus on delivering meaningful, actionable insight from complex data environments. His contribution has had a lasting impact on how we consume and use data to support decision-making across the organization.

While James was already engaged with us on another project, we brought in a business improvement consultant who required detailed sales and production information from our systems. This was data we had previously struggled to extract in a meaningful and timely way from our SysPro environment.

We asked James whether it would be possible to retrieve and structure this information, despite him not having prior exposure to the SysPro database. He quickly demonstrated an impressive ability to understand the underlying data structure, identify where key information was stored, and determine how the various data tables and relationships connected.

Within a short period of time, he was able to deliver the required datasets in a clear and usable format, meeting the consultant’s requirements and enabling the project to progress without delay.

Our preferred method of working was through Excel-based reporting, and it became immediately apparent that James had exceptional Excel and data manipulation skills. He introduced us to parameter-driven data extraction techniques directly from the database into Excel, a capability we had not previously utilized, and which significantly improved our ability to interrogate and analyze business data.

Following the success of this work, James also developed a number of interactive Excel-based tools that allowed users to access and analyse information far more efficiently. These solutions saved the business countless hours of manual reporting and significantly improved access to timely, accurate information.

Overall, his ability to quickly understand complex systems, extract meaningful data, and deliver practical, user-friendly solutions had an immediate and lasting impact on our reporting capabilities.

Our quality system held all the right data, but getting useful information out of it was a constant struggle. James understood the problem straight away. He built a set of reports using DirectQuery that pull live data straight from the system, so the figures are always current and accurate. They’re clearly presented, easy for the whole team to access, and have saved us hours of manual work. We now have the visibility we needed to manage quality properly. I’d happily recommend James to anyone whose systems aren’t giving them the information they need.