Looking back at the past year, a common request we had from new clients was to perform a healthcheck of their modern data stack and to provide enablement for their data team.

The healthchecks have been for a number of different organisations and had a different choice of data stack components, for example Fivetran or Airbyte for data ingestion, Looker or Metabase for the BI tool or any number of different cloud data warehouse platforms.

One healthcheck was for a data stack where users just didn’t trust the numbers they were seeing in their dashboards, another was for an implementation project where the team didn’t have anyone to lead it with experience in building and leading a data function.

Typically the top ten reasons we see data stack projects going wrong are generally one of:

• Misalignment with business goals, or not actually solving a business problem

• Lack of experience in the tools and techniques required to build a modern data stack

• Lack of trust in the numbers being presented to users

Our Modern Data Stack Healthcheck service gets to the detail of how you’re currently using and building your data stack, and compares it to industry best-practices. Together we’ll evaluate whether or not your investment has delivered the value it should have, create an action plan and work with your team to make your data stack world-class.

Over the course of two weeks, our team will conduct a thorough review of your modern data stack, understanding and reviewing it against the original and current goals for your business and auditing the technology, data, processes, and user experience.

During those two weeks we cover:

1. Business Goals and Objectives: We undertake an end-to-end review of the design, implementation and use of your data stack, and compare the direction of your data team with your organisational goals.

2. Data Audit and Technical Review: We carry out a thorough review of people, processes and technologies (such as Looker, Snowflake, dbt and other products in the modern data stack ecosystem) in your organization, and identify areas of excellence and areas of weakness. Our team are certified dbt, Looker and vendor tool developers, and have worked on significant numbers of successful data stack implementations – and know also where they can go wrong.

3. Recommendations and Delivery Plan: You’ll receive a written report with clearly assessed scoring covering systematic processes, appropriateness of technologies and their alternatives, and independent review of people covering technical, business, people and leadership skills. We support the review with clear actionable steps to help ensure that weaknesses are addressed through training and prioritisation.

… and if you’re coming to the end of your financial year with budget remaining but aren’t yet ready for us to come in? No problem – we can invoice now and schedule for later next year, just let us know when you speak to us.

INTERESTED? FIND OUT MORE

Rittman Analytics is a boutique analytics consultancy that specializes in analytics engineering and the modern data stack. We’ve successfully implemented more than 50 modern data stacks for clients in the UK, USA and Europe, are a dbt Preferred Consulting Partner and blog regularly on modern data stack topics at https://rittmananalytics.com.

You can find-out more about our Modern Data Stack Healthcheck service on our website, download our ebook on 10 Ways your Modern Data Stack Project Can Fail and contact us now to discuss your particular needs and data stack concerns. We’d love to hear from you!