Waypoint is a cloud integrator with operations in three countries. They have a fantastic reputation and are equally fantastic at what they do. Needless to say, we are ecstatic to have them onboard as a client!
The reason Waypoint initially engaged us was to improve their management reporting. Historically, for monthly management reporting, they had their Xero data automatically in their management reports but their non-financial data had to be manually exported from Accelo, calculations done in Excel (for custom metrics) and then uploaded. To replace this we promised;
- An automated reporting process
- To manage a cloud database for them so they can add any data sources they choose over time
- To set them up with powerbi.com
- To match the KPIs on the existing management reports they had
- To train them so they could take on more self-service analytics over time
- Ensure other parts of their business could also benefit from realtime data, reporting & dashboard awesomeness
Table summarising some of the reasons Waypoint went with dataSights
We were also extremely excited to work with an Accelo implementation. Accelo is so hot right now and after speaking to various people at Accelo, they really do love the guys at Waypoint so we knew there was going to be a ton of good data to get hold of.
To deliver this project we broke up the deliverables into the following steps;
Step 1 – Xero Data & Visualisations
Step 2 – Accelo Data & Visualisations
Step 3 – Setup Waypoint with FREE powerbi.com accounts & create dashboards
Step 4 – Ad-hoc training via Slack & Zoom
Step 1 – Xero Data & Visualisations
Now, this is the core of what we as dataSights do; sync all sorts of data very well. But our company did start with Xero data first! We are possibly the only cloud based combined data provider that gives their clients unfettered access to their entire Xero file(s) history as part of our standard service. Synced daily or on-demand to boot. But back to Wapoint 😉 They were after some key metrics namely;
Revenue, GP %, NP %, Current Ratio, Cash on Hand.
So we matched those and raised them with
Avg rev per customer, Rev MTD vs Last Year %, Receivable days AND just for fun with 2 visualisations;
- MoM revenue growth comparison going back to 2013
- Top 10 Clients by Revenue
Why Not.
The Xero specific metrics on Wapoints kpi management dashboard
Step 2 – Accelo Data & Visualisations
Accelo was a new API integration for us and we always attack API integrations with full-on geek abandon. (if you don’t know, API’s are just web URLs that companies like Xero & Accelo expose to share data with either their customers or 3rd party providers on behalf of their customers).
Literally, every API is different, even ones that implement the same API standards. What’s particularly exciting is that each API has it’s own reliability, speed and usage limit aspects so it’s always not boring integrating with new data!
What made Accelo both extremely exciting and challenging is the fact that Accelo as a system does SO very very much!!!
- CRM
- Project Management (the strongest feature IMO)
- Retainers / Contracts (Practice Ignition sans payments in Accounting world)
- Support Tickets
- Reporting
All of this, plus a huge integration eco-system, so if you use Hubspot for example, you don’t have to use Accelo’s CRM and it talks to Xero etc. etc. etc.
Accelo’s support and partner communications were simply amazing. Given they have just raised another $9 million USD, with 35 software developers based in Australia and the majority of the management and support staff in San Francisco, I would definitely say this is a cloud based SMB ERP system to watch.
So back to the data, we ended up syncing;
- Projects
- Prospects (CRM deals)
- Budgets
- Contracts (Retainers)
- Quotes
- Issues
- Activities
- Tasks
A fair amount I am sure you can agree! This data lives right next to their Xero data in their own cloud database that dataSights manages, so we were now in a position to start doing some kickass visualisations and KPIs!
Before showing the full dashboard I just want to highlight how we can automatically visualise the management side of a KPI
KPI Visualisation Breakdown
1. In Fuschia, we have the current value of the KPI. In this case the metrics current value for the current month
2. In Red, we have the value compared to the previous month. We have subsequently changed this so that the value does not go green if it is beating the KPI which is the next point.
3. In Blue, we have the KPI. We set Waypoint up with a table called KPI Measures. They can put their own KPIs as a monthly or forever figure in there. Or they could just use PowerBI to do it, but we like it in a centralised location for use in multiple visualisations!
I won’t go into the individual reports and all the KPIs that Waypoint track, but just an overview of the KPI Management Dashboard which highlights the different business areas covered.
- Blue – CRM KPIs
- Yellow – Support KPIs
- Green – Project KPIs (with custom calculations that Accelo don’t provide through the API)
- Fuschia – Financial (Xero) KPIs
Real-time automated KPI dashboard for current month
As any good software provider should, we delivered on this project as iteratively as possible, with as much feedback from Waypoint as possible. Setting up their FREE powerbi.com account early on so that we had the mechanism to share data and reports collaboratively.
It was a challenging dataset and we had a fair whack of visualisations to get through but Waypoint were fantastic clients and extremely helpful throughout the process.
What we are genuinely excited about is how Waypoint has taken to Self-service analytics with Power BI over the top of our automated dataset. They are already taking on profitability deep dives in the Operations / Retainers / Support ticket side of their business and we are genuinely excited about supporting them through their journey of using combined data reporting for business transparency and efficiency.
If you would like to get in touch with dataSights for a discovery session about your company’s data situation and reporting hopes and dreams, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us
