From experiment to structured approach

The city of Ostend has been committed to unlocking data for new insights for some time. As early as 2020, the city set up a first Power BI report, in collaboration with Savaco. “We then came into contact with Savaco via a Power BI Fast Track”, says Ellen Debever, data expert at the city. “That was our first introduction to Power BI, and also a positive experience that stuck.”

In the following years, the organization increasingly experimented with data and reporting. At the same time, however, there was a growing awareness that a more structured approach was needed. "A lot was built, but we noticed that we needed more coherence. The need for a data warehouse grew by itself."

Getting a grip on the reporting point

 This need became apparent in the context of the city’s central contact point: O-punt. Via this hotline, citizens can report, ask questions, give suggestions or give a compliment to the city services. Via a web form, but also via mail or telephone, these notifications reach a team of hotline managers, which distributes them manually to the right city services. 

The reports received at O-punt cover almost all topics that citizens are concerned with. Think of questions about nuisance, such as litter or – typical for the coast – seagulls, road signs that have been damaged, speed enforcement in traffic, parking policy and much more. Every year, around 14000 notifications arrive at the O-point: a considerable amount of data.

"Those notifications actually affect all services," says Ellen. "It is therefore logical that there was a demand to get a better insight into this: which themes are most common, how do notifications evolve, where do they geographically locate themselves in the city…" The existing reporting in our management tool for the notifications fell short. In addition, there was a lot of manual work in collecting and processing figures.

Path to a solid data foundation

At the City of Ostend, the guideline is to work as much as possible in Power BI and preferably as automatically as possible, without intermediate steps and without different interpretations of figures. That is why the City of Ostend chose to build a data warehouse together with Savaco as the foundation for these and future data requests.

The process started with a joint kick-off to focus the case, followed by a broader session with the colleagues of the city’s working group data. "There, together with Savaco, we framed what a data warehouse is, what benefits it would bring and why exactly we chose Microsoft Fabric," says Ellen. Ellen also made that choice for Fabric in consultation with Savaco. "We already suspected that Fabric would be the right solution for us," says Ellen. "It’s nice to have an IT partner who follows that technology closely and can confirm that."

Then the real work started. Modeling of data, the design of the platform and the elaboration of the first reporting in Power BI, built on the new data warehouse. "That was also internally searching for us," adds Ellen. "A lot of coordination was needed with the infrastructure team, among other things to create Azure resources, and this was new for them as well. We found it a great added value that Savaco could make the bridge there and support our infra-team."

Read more about Fabric

More than a technical solution

What stood out to the City of Ostend is that the cooperation went beyond pure technology. "You would think we were looking for a technical partner to set up a data warehouse," Ellen continues. "But Savaco is much more than that. They also help people get involved in the story. In addition to technical expertise, experts such as Jasper also have the communication and strategic skills to clearly explain what we are doing and why that is important. That is really necessary to take steps towards a data-driven operation. Technology alone cannot do it." 

That attention to the users and the broader organization made the difference. Today, more and more employees are thinking in the right direction: away from Excel chaos, towards a single source of truth.

"What we also really like is how we do co-creation with Savaco," adds Ellen. "We get the necessary explanation of why something is done technically in a certain way. Savaco also thinks along about the management and maintenance afterwards. We are also learning a lot technically."

Savaco experts such as Jasper have the technical expertise, as well as the communication and strategic skills to clearly explain what we are doing and why that is important. That is really necessary to take steps towards a data-driven operation. Technology alone cannot do it.

Ellen Debever is data-expert bij Stad Oostende
Ellen Debever
Data Expert, City of Ostend

From insight to concrete added value

Today, the O-punt team has automated reporting around the hotline. "The colleagues of the hotline can now follow up their figures on a daily basis," says Ellen. "Even their annual report now makes them autonomous – in the past that question came to me and I had to export the necessary data." Now the city can: 

  • Detect trends about litter, mobility or work
  • Geographical analysis of where problems occur
  • Compare reports from citizens with effective findings, such as GAS fines

"The latter gives a much more complete picture," Ellen explains. "You see what lives in the citizen, but also what is effectively established on the ground."

In addition, it will be possible to develop new insights, such as lead times of reports or the satisfaction of citizens with the handling.

Governance also in order

In addition to the case around the hotline, a second question was also included in the process: how do you keep an overview of all those Power BI reports and who gets access to which data? "In recent years, various services have started working with Power BI themselves. This resulted in valuable initiatives, but made it difficult to keep an overview. So we wanted to know more about what exists and who has access to which reports," says Ellen. Thanks to the data warehouse and with a smart design of security groups in Entra ID and Power BI, this is now more manageable. "We now have a report that gives an overview of what exists – this way we avoid the same report being built twice – and who has access. Each service can now build reports within our rules of the game, with clear roles and a central monitoring of access to them."

Growth story

The data warehouse around the hotline is a first, but important step for the city of Ostend. "It’s really a growth story," Ellen predicts. "We are cautious about this, but the intention is to expand further: for example to financial or personnel data." The direction is clear: one central place where data comes together, and from where the city can make informed decisions.

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