Transition to a Data Driven Organisation
Since the integration of the KB, the National Library of the Netherlands, with the Sectorinstituut Openbare Bibliotheken (SIOB) and the Stichting Bibliotheek.nl (BNL) in 2015, the budget of the KB has doubled, and activities and processes have become both larger and more complex.
This led the KB to adjust their organizational processes and invest in a new data warehouse.
“It is our ambition at the KB to be a data-driven organisation, in which we base our actions on business intelligence. The data warehouse is of indispensable value in this, also to keep a tight grip on the used data”, says Jeffrey Kneefel, Product Owner Data Warehouse at the KB.
Solution: New Data Warehouse with Power BI
The KB chose Microsoft Azure and Informatica combined with Power BI for Managed Self-Service BI. The Type2Solutions Data Migration Platform (MPF) and Data Quality Monitor (DQM) were implemented for migrating the old data warehouse and Business Intelligence solution, SAP BO, to the new data warehouse.
The same migration platform was consequently used for continuously filling the data warehouse with data from public libraries and Provinciale Ondersteuning Instellingen (POIs), and monitoring the quality of this data. Two experienced T2S data analysts, Hans Pannekoek and Tim van Tongeren, guided the entire project.
Tools: Data Migration Platform and Data Quality Monitor
The KB proves to be capable of structurally loading datasets from different source systems into the data warehouse with the Data Migration Platform.
This data is automatically validated, after which the Data Quality Monitor (DQM) can display the details about the validated data. Lastly, the KB can use the MPF and DQM software for elaborate data analysis and data exploration.
Experts: Experienced Data Specialists
The T2S data analysts ensure that all libraries are connected to the new data warehouse and that the data from the source system is correctly mapped to the data warehouse.
Tim is now working on connecting other sources, such as the e-book platform.
He has acquired so much knowledge about different source systems that he quickly understands their data structure, and how data can be correctly extracted and mapped to the data warehouse.
He works as a Developer in a Distributed Scrum Team (KB, T2S and Sogeti NL/India) and as a member of the DWH RUN Team.
Result: Fun & Valuable Information
“More and more data will be at our disposal through the data warehouse. By having access to data from different systems we are able to transfer data into valuable information such as reports, dashboards, machine learning and more. This should lead to knowledge that contributes to effective and efficient decision-making.
Increasing data quality, finding ways to expand reporting possibilities, and initiating and contributing to process improvements in order to connect library systems or other source systems to the data warehouse is what makes this job so much fun”, says Jeffrey.
