Understanding Through Data
We understand how to translate plain language questions into analytics that can be gathered and put to use in planning where your organization is headed. Our team speaks the language of dozens of customer and financial systems and can assist with making key quantitative business metrics available for decision making. Access the data that you already have and combine it with other available data sources to learn the most about where you stand.
Data Visualization
To create a more compelling message, your data can be presented visually so that it’s understood by audiences ranging from executives to customers to technical staff. Your data can be combined with geographic data to create maps to highlight high or low water consumption; or areas that could benefit from increased outreach on affordability, or places that have long-standing work order requests that are interrupting billing. Beyond mapping, our staff can provide visualizations of customer and financial data to show trends over time to help you project future needs. Visualizations can help you reach a broader audience and enable communication of complex information in a concise medium.
Forensic Data Analysis
We analyze customer, financial, and regulatory systems using forensic data analysis concepts to identify opportunities for data cleansing, process improvements, and system upgrades that can restore confidence in your organization’s information. We have successfully identified system configuration errors that generated millions of dollars in annual losses; we have uncovered behaviors by temporary staff that prevented collections enforcement; and we have identified billable customers that were not receiving bills for service. We work to pair audit findings with recommendations that can be rapidly implemented to prevent further financial losses.
Accurate Reporting
In many cases, doubts relating to information originating from key local government and utility systems are not caused by the source data, but rather by the reporting mechanisms employed to extract the information. We can review reporting logic in a variety of programming languages and systems to ensure that report results are accurate and reflect the needs of your decision makers. We can rewrite reporting logic for metrics as simple as the number of billable accounts, to complex financial reports used to support bond purchases or regulatory requirements. We have also created data warehouses to support performance metrics and reporting needs that are not supported by an organization’s standard information systems. We help restore staff confidence by providing objective analysis of your key reports and information systems.
