Supporting Swim England’s website transition with robust data reporting
Background
Swim England, the national governing body for swimming in England, has worked with Sequoia on a variety of projects. With an ongoing need for strong business intelligence (BI) and reliable reporting, Swim England continues to call on Sequoia for expert support. Beyond delivering technical solutions, Sequoia has also run mentoring schemes to help build Swim England’s internal capabilities, enabling their in-house team to create and manage their own reports more effectively.
Challenge
When Swim England embarked on a major website redesign they knew it was essential to ensure that all existing reports, which were vital to business operations, continued running seamlessly.
The key challenge was to adapt the data structure so that reports built on the current website backend could migrate smoothly to the redesigned system. Since Swim England’s reports are heavily used across the organisation, any disruption would have significant business impact.
Objectives
The project aimed to:
- Build a new Power BI semantic model using the redesigned website’s data structure.
- Ensure continuity of all existing reports with minimal disruption.
- Enable future-proofing by simplifying the data architecture for faster ingestion and easier maintenance.
- Introduce new reporting capabilities, including the integration of voucher data to track buying and usage patterns.
Approach
Sequoia began by carrying out a detailed review of Swim England’s existing reporting landscape. Understanding how the current Power BI dataset integrated with downstream reports was essential to minimise disruption, so the team worked to map out dependencies and highlight potential risks early on.
From there, the focus shifted to data connections. By examining the SQL instance that supported the old dataset, Sequoia was able to uncover the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes underpinning the reports. This investigation not only clarified how the data had historically been structured, but also laid the foundation for assessing how the redesigned backend could be harnessed.
At this stage, it became clear that further exploration was needed, as the new website was built using a low-code website builder Bubble.io so solutions for accessing the data ensuring a balance of stability, performance and long-term flexibility was required.
With this groundwork complete, the team turned to the development of a new Power BI semantic model. This was not a simple lift-and-shift exercise; it required a careful reconfiguration to account for deprecations, adjustments, and opportunities for streamlining. Wherever possible, Sequoia wrote SQL views and queries to simplify the architecture, ensuring that data ingestion would be faster and future changes easier to manage.
The project also provided an opportunity to add value through new features. One notable enhancement was the integration of voucher data, which allowed Swim England to analyse how operators purchased and distributed vouchers to their staff. This gave the organisation a new layer of insight into customer behaviour and buying patterns.
Finally, Sequoia guided the process through testing and deployment. Rigorous UAT was carried out to validate that outputs aligned with existing reporting, and the team was on hand to resolve any downstream issues that arose. Once satisfied that the new system was robust, Sequoia supported the smooth transition into production, ensuring Swim England could launch their new website confident that reporting continuity was fully preserved.
Results
- Seamless Continuity: All existing reports were successfully transitioned to the new website backend with minimal disruption.
- Improved Data Architecture: The new model simplified future changes and allowed faster data refresh cycles.
- Enhanced Capabilities: Integration of the voucher component gave Swim England new insight into operator buying patterns and course booking behaviours.
- Strengthened Partnership: The project reinforced Swim England’s trust in Sequoia, highlighting not only technical expertise but also the mentoring and support that empowers their in-house BI team.
Summary
By ensuring critical reporting continuity during a significant website transition, Sequoia enabled Swim England to launch its new platform without operational setbacks. The project not only safeguarded business intelligence but also enhanced Swim England’s data-driven decision-making with future-ready reporting capabilities.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Tim on several projects, and my experience has always been outstanding. This project was one of the most challenging we’ve faced. Working with a new database, with no live data, it was especially difficult to match fields with the previous dataset.
Tim approached this project with his usual balance of professionalism and personal approach, making collaboration effortless and enjoyable. His dedication was evident in every stage. He is responsive, proactive and committed to delivering excellence.
Tim’s knowledge and insight help to shape solutions that are technically robust and user-friendly.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Tim (or Sequoia) to anyone looking for a dynamic, talented and reliable Power BI expert.”
Hayley Beynon, Business Performance Manager