About the client
Pancreatic Cancer UK supports people affected by pancreatic cancer through direct support services, information materials, webinars and professional training. The charity’s services team includes specialist nurses who provide support by phone and email, alongside wider support resources for patients and healthcare professionals.
Challenge
Service data was captured in the Raiser’s Edge CRM system, but meaningful access and analysis were difficult. Monthly reports were built manually in Excel, often a fortnight into the following month, offering only static financial-year or month-on-month views. Any requests for alternative timescales or data cuts had to go through the data team, taking up valuable time and limiting agility. This made it harder for the services team to review performance, track key metrics or plan strategically.
Our solution
The data was transformed into a bespoke data warehouse using Microsoft Azure Synapse and SQL Server, enabling daily refreshes. This was integrated with Microsoft Power BI to create a real-time, interactive reporting dashboard.
Four main reports were created initially – support line activity, publications, online support and professional events – each giving a granular view of service delivery. Bookmarkable filters and regional breakdowns made it easy to compare performance, track KPIs and access insights without needing to rely on the data team.
Reports are fully interactive, allowing multiple users to comment and collaborate directly within the dashboards. Important strategic metrics – like how quickly people reach out after diagnosis – can now be tracked and visualised, whereas previously this required complex manual analysis.
Results
- Time and resource savings across the services and data teams
- More accessible, on-brand, real-time reports at the touch of a button
- Faster, more informed strategic decisions based on live KPIs
- Improved benchmarking, with a stronger view of regional and service-specific performance
- A platform for more agile analysis in future, including upcoming digital marketing and advertising campaigns
