10-09-2024

Case Cogas

Dashboarding at Cogas

Cogas is a regional network company serving much of Twente and the Salland municipality of Hardenberg. They are responsible for the development, installation, maintenance, and management of networks for gas, electricity, (sustainable) heat, and telecommunications. Cogas is continuously working on optimizing processes to deliver the highest quality service to its customers. Accurate insights into project progress are essential for making strategic decisions regarding the continuity and expansion of the company.

The Challenge

Cogas primarily tracked project progress based on financial data. However, while there were reports on quantities, these were not linked to financial data. As a result, there was no comprehensive view of a project's progress, since payments and costs are incurred before tasks are executed. This sometimes gave the impression that a project was further along than it actually was. Cogas's request was for Student Consultant to link financial data to asset data to gain strategic insights into project progress, with a dashboard as the desired outcome.

Our Approach

Our student consultants began by developing a project plan, outlining deliverables, activities, stakeholders, risks, and mitigating measures. To create the dashboard, structured and reliable datasets were required. Student Consultant conducted a data assessment to map and evaluate relevant datasets, ensuring that the data displayed in the dashboard would be accurate. Next, a dummy dashboard was created to define the desired situation. This dummy dashboard helped identify the necessary visualizations. A first version of the functional dashboard was then developed using PowerBI. However, it could not be fully completed due to limitations in available data, which was anticipated by Cogas. For the remaining portion of the dashboard, the goal was to identify obstacles to achieving the ideal situation. We documented the necessary follow-up steps for reaching the desired state in a transfer and advisory report.

Outcome

The core recommendation of this project is to expand the identified follow-up steps related to project and asset planning. Implementing these recommendations will lead to a fully functional dashboard. This advice is based on the dashboard's development, the obstacles encountered, and discussions with various stakeholders within the company. Additionally, the project concluded that further steps are necessary for successful implementation of the dashboard across different levels within the organization.