Innovative data dashboard for amfori’s sustainability platform

Because we had previously worked very closely with amfori for the development of the Sustainability Platform, we knew the business context of amfori and the platform itself in great detail. 

In the first phase, our data expert met with amfori to see which data, dashboards and information are already available in the insights page. Then we started developing our own insights application that offers different dashboards depending on the business model.

We developed a completely new insights application for amfori. This new data architecture was built entirely on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with BigQuery as the data warehouse. After all, the GCP offers many capabilities, both for ACA on the development side and for amfori as the customer. Thanks to its enormous computing power, the GCP works very smoothly, even when lots of data has to be processed. Additionally, GCP is extremely cost-effective to use despite its power.

To make the data available to the end users, we used GoogleLooker as a visualization tool. This tool ensures that we can improve the user experience for its users. Thanks to a Looker extension, users do not see separate dashboards, but all reports are integrated within the existing application.Because it is possible to have this application run on Looker from the backend, this simplifies the setup and maintenance of the application and is done automatically

We initially started by pulling in the data from the Sustainability Platform itself and displaying it in the new dashboard. The project is constantly evolving and the underlying architecture also supports this. After all, new external data sources are constantly being added to the application. This means that we can continue to expand the data we offer and let the dashboards grow with amfori.

Our new insights application offers members of amfori insights into their own supply chain as well as that of all their business partners.

Thanks to the self-service possibilities of our solution, internal users of amfori are able to quickly and easily answer ad-hoc business questions from members by using a drag-and-drop method. For example, a ‘country representative’ member can contact amfori with specific questions about statistics in their country and they can be answered quickly and efficiently. In addition, amfori has set up its own KPI dashboard for internal use, which provides an overview of activities that take place in the platform.

Thanks to self-service BI, employees - who have no affinity with data or don’t have technical knowledge - can get started with certain data themselves and easily set up and consult overviews.

The end result is a clear insights application with extensive reporting options, in which the management and storage of the data is entirely up to amfori itself.