4 minute read
Transforming legacy recruitment reporting into a near real-time enterprise analytics platform.
Morson Edge partnered with i-Decisions to replace a legacy Microsoft Access reporting solution with a modern enterprise data warehouse, providing timely, reliable operational and financial insight across the business.
First deployed in 2012 for recruitment reporting, the platform has continually evolved to support recruitment, client performance and finance, adapting alongside the changing needs of the business.
The Challenge
In 2012, Morson Edge's Analytics Manager recognised that the existing Microsoft Access reporting solution could no longer support the scale, complexity and reporting demands of a growing business.
Reporting relied on linked tables connected directly to the operational recruitment system. As data volumes increased, reports became slower to produce, increasingly difficult to maintain and increasingly limited the insight available to the business. Managers lacked timely visibility into consultant performance, client activity and recruitment trends, making informed operational decision-making more difficult.
The business needed a scalable enterprise analytics platform that could separate reporting from operational systems, deliver trusted, timely insight and provide a foundation for future growth.
The Transformation
Before
After
The Solution
i-Decisions designed and implemented a modern enterprise data warehouse that replaced the legacy Microsoft Access reporting solution with a scalable, governed analytics platform, combining data engineering and business intelligence expertise.
Automated data pipelines refresh the warehouse every ten minutes, keeping reporting current throughout the day without impacting the performance of the operational recruitment system.
Built on a layered architecture, the platform uses subject-specific data marts to simplify reporting and provide consistent business definitions across key operational areas, including jobs, candidates, shortlists, bookings & timesheets, consultants and clients.
As the organisation expanded, the platform evolved alongside it. What began as a recruitment reporting solution has expanded expanded to include finance, payroll and financial reporting by nominal code and cost centre, giving leadership a unified view of operational and financial performance from a single trusted source.
Key Capabilities
Business Intelligence
Data Platform
Business Outcomes
Operational Excellence
The initial implementation marked the beginning of a long-term partnership. Since 2012, i-Decisions has continued to support, maintain and enhance the platform, ensuring it evolves alongside the changing needs of the business.
Reliability is treated as a core deliverable, not an afterthought. Automated data pipelines keep reporting current throughout the working day, backed by proactive monitoring rather than reactive firefighting.
To support a growing analytics estate, i-Decisions developed a bespoke Azure-hosted data platform management application that provides live visibility into data pipeline execution, refresh cycles and the health of multiple enterprise data warehouses.
In addition to operational monitoring, the application provides an interface for managing business-owned reference data that does not originate from operational systems, including organisational hierarchies, reporting structures, exchange rates and other business reference data. This enables the business to maintain consistent governance, respond quickly to organisational change and enrich the analytics platform without requiring changes to core operational systems.
Platform Evolution
2012
Replaced the legacy Microsoft Access solution with an enterprise data warehouse, establishing a scalable, single source of the truth for recruitment analytics.
2014–2016
Expanded reporting across jobs, candidates, bookings & timesheets, consultants and clients with subject-specific data marts.
2017–2019
Integrated finance and nominal ledger data to support payroll processing and deliver unified operational and financial reporting.
2020–2022
As Morson Group expanded through acquisition, the platform evolved to support multiple recruitment businesses with dedicated data warehouses and consistent group-wide reporting.
2023–2025
Developed a bespoke monitoring platform providing real-time visibility into data pipelines, refresh cycles and platform health across multiple enterprise data warehouses.
Today
More than 800,000 automated pipeline executions delivered, ensuring reliable, near real-time operational and financial reporting across multiple recruitment businesses.
Business Impact
Replacing Microsoft Access with a modern enterprise data platform transformed how Morson Edge measures and manages business performance.
Managers now have near real-time visibility of consultant productivity, client performance, recruitment activity and financial results, enabling faster, more informed decision-making across the organisation.
Over the past thirteen years, the platform has continued to evolve. New data marts, additional business system integrations, finance reporting and bespoke operational monitoring have ensured the solution keeps pace with the organisation's growth while maintaining a single, trusted source of business information.
Project Snapshot
What started as a replacement for Microsoft Access has evolved into a trusted business-critical analytics platform supporting recruitment and finance for more than thirteen years.
Technology Stack
Built on Microsoft technologies and enhanced by a bespoke data platform management application, the solution delivers a secure, scalable analytics environment that has supported the business's growth and evolving reporting needs for more than 13 years.
Automated data pipelines
Enterprise data warehouse, transformation & business logic
Data Platform Management
Interactive analytics & dashboards
Whether you're replacing legacy reporting, modernising an ageing data platform or building an enterprise analytics solution from the ground up, we'll help you create trusted data that drives confident decisions.
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