Data Platforms Analytics Case Study
We modernized an organization's fragmented county data ecosystem by unifying siloed systems into a cloud-based analytics platform. With this data in one place, leaders, caseworkers, & citizens were able to access insights quickly and make informed decisions.
The Challenge of Fragmented Data
The county was relying on a mix of legacy databases, spreadsheets, and disconnected vendor systems that had grown over many years. Without a unified platform, departments were operating with different versions, which was delaying collaboration and service delivery. Our data platforms analytics capability helped unify these disconnected systems into a scalable foundation for reporting, analytics, and decision-making.
Disconnected Data Sources
47 systems stored property, finance, health, human services, and public data. They had no common identifier.
Manual Data Preparation
Analysts were spending most of their time in collecting, cleaning, and combining data from different sources.
Outdated Reporting
Leaders were relying on monthly reports that were outdated by the time they reached decision-makers.
Governance Gaps
Different departments applied PII, security, and data retention policies, which increased compliance and operational risks.
Building a Unified Data Platform
We built a modern data platform that ingests, governs, and serves the data every department needs while allowing teams to use the tools and workflows they rely on.
Data Integration
We built automated data pipelines to ingest structured, semi-structured, and legacy records from the county’s 47 source systems. By using deterministic matching, our team created a single record that provides a view of data across departments.
Quality & Trust
Business rules, data quality checks, and PII handling policies were embedded into the platform, ensuring that every report, dashboard, and analytics workflow is built on standardized governance.
Self-Service Analytics
Delivered dashboards, real-time alerts, and a self-service analytics layer that analysts could use to find data, answer new questions, and make informed decisions without waiting for manual reports or filing a ticket.
Built to Scale, Secure, and Stay Useful as the County Grows
Cloud Data Lake
Raw zone, curated zone, and consumption layer running on a FedRAMP aligned cloud tenant.
Modern ELT
Event driven and scheduled pipelines with full lineage, observability, and automatic retry handling.
Master Data Model
Shared entity definitions for residents, properties, cases, and services with golden record resolution.
Data Quality
Built in profiling, rule based checks, and anomaly detection to catch drift before it reaches dashboards.
Security and Privacy
Column and row level access controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and PII redaction by role.
Semantic Layer
Business friendly metrics and dimensions so departments speak the same language across reports.
Self Service BI
Interactive dashboards, natural language query, and embedded analytics for public and internal users.
DataOps
Infrastructure as code, CI/CD for pipelines, and environment promotion aligned with county change control.
Impact of a Unified Platform
92%
Faster reporting helped teams access insights without having to view manual processes.
47
Disconnected data sources were unified into a single analytics platform.
1.2M
Records were consolidated in one governed environment for smooth access and analysis.
99.7%
The platform now delivers reliable performance with continuous monitoring.
83%
Self-service analytics gives teams the data to find answers and reduce operational overhead.
$4.3M
Their annual savings increased through the retirement of duplicative systems, reduced rework, and faster decision-making.
We stopped asking which number was right. For the first time in twenty years, every department is looking at the same picture of the county.County Chief Information Officer
Build a Data Platform that Scales
Whether you are modernizing a countywide ecosystem or building your first cloud data warehouse, Kerndev designs platforms that last.