Case study · Agriculture
Data warehouse + data designBiotrop: trustworthy data and dashboards leaders actually use
How a fast-growing company traded fragmented data and manual spreadsheets for a governed Azure data warehouse — and for BI dashboards its leaders actually work from.
Results at a glance
- Dashboards delivered
- +40
- Dashboards delivered
- Workstreams
- 7
- Workstreams
- Pages of best-practice manual
- +30
- Pages of best-practice manual
- Screens: desktop, TV, mobile
- 3
- Screens: desktop, TV, mobile
The challenge
Fast growth on data that couldn’t keep up
Biotrop, a leader in biological solutions for agriculture, was in a strategic phase of expansion and needed to decide faster and with more confidence. Its data couldn’t keep up: fragmented information, manual extracts, and discrepancies between teams stood in the way of a single view of the business.
The Dynamics ERP data was unreliable. Commercial had no consolidated view of customers, products, and sales; planning and controllership spent days closing spreadsheets and validating entries; and procurement negotiated without integrated numbers. The result was rework, delayed analysis, and little trust in the metrics.
The solution
One governed warehouse, and dashboards people use
OneSolution worked the problem on two fronts: a modern data warehouse on Microsoft Azure that restored trust in the numbers, and a data-design effort that turned BI dashboards into decision tools — not a source to export to Excel.
Azure data warehouse
A modern data warehouse on Azure Data Factory and Azure SQL, centralizing and standardizing the Dynamics ERP into one foundation.
Reliable ERP ingestion
Daily synchronization that retired manual extracts and brittle automations — and the discrepancies between commercial, controllership, and procurement with them.
Validated, governed data
Quality, security, and availability guaranteed for every team, with a single version of customers, products, and sales.
A visual identity for data
A brand study and a distinct identity for reports, reflecting Biotrop’s vision of advanced, sustainable agriculture.
New Power BI themes
High-fidelity prototypes and Light and Dark themes across desktop, TV, and mobile — screens designed for decisions, not for Excel exports.
Capability transfer
A 30-plus-page best-practice manual and a course in Information Design and UX for Data, so Biotrop’s team scales on its own.
How we delivered
The foundation first, then the design
- 01
A trustworthy foundation first
We started with the data warehouse: centralize, standardize, and validate the ERP before any visual layer. No dashboard is convincing on data no one trusts.
- 02
Information design on top
With the data in order, we redesigned the reports — detailed interviews, high-fidelity prototypes, and custom Power BI themes, built with the people who decide.
- 03
Enable, then continue
We trained the data team and left a best-practice manual, staying on for interviews, prototyping, and tracking the results.
The results
From scattered data to strategic assets
Commercial reports that relied on manual extracts now refresh in hours. Controllership and planning work from a trustworthy foundation synchronized daily, and procurement can see consumption and demand to negotiate better with suppliers. The discrepancies and rework are behind them.
On the visual front, the shift was behavioral: managers stopped exporting everything to Excel and started deciding on the right screens. After the training, Biotrop’s own data team delivers more efficient, higher-quality work — scattered data became strategic assets for sustainable growth.
The practices behind this work
Three OneSolution practices carried this engagement — explore what each one could do for you.
Data & Analytics
A trustworthy, governed data foundation on Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or Snowflake — so every dashboard, model, and decision draws from one source of truth.
Business Intelligence
Executive-ready dashboards that people actually use — Power BI, Tableau, or Looker — designed around the decisions your leaders make, not just the data you happen to have.
UX & Product Design
Research-led product and interface design that makes complex enterprise software feel effortless — and turns adoption from a hope into a metric.
Book a Consultation
Your project could be the next case study.
Book a 30-minute consultation. We’ll map your highest-value data and AI opportunities — and show you exactly what the first 90 days could deliver.