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Crimson Helps Great Places Housing Group Unlock Power of Data Using Microsoft Power BI

Great Places Feature

Industry

Social Housing

Challenge

Great Places Housing Group faced significant obstacles due to fragmented, outdated reporting systems and heavily manual data management processes. Without a unified data source, reports were often inconsistent and unreliable, making it difficult for teams to quickly meet business requirements or effectively track key performance indicators. This lack of operational insight led to delays, reduced confidence in data, and hindered informed decision-making at scale.

Results

Crimson delivered a modern data warehouse on Azure and rolled out a Power BI proof of concept focused on arrears management, providing Great Places Housing Group with reliable, real-time analytics capabilities. As a result, reporting turnaround times were drastically reduced, and staff were equipped to develop and maintain their own interactive dashboards. The organisation now benefits from consistent, daily use of Power BI across business units, supporting data-driven decision-making and ongoing innovation.

Key Product

Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power BI

www.greatplaces.org.uk

We are now in a much greater position to meet the demands of the business when it comes to reporting and leveraging Power BI and its capabilities are enabling us to deliver great insight into the organisation. As a result, we have developed a roadmap for Power BI in areas for the business supported by our data warehouse plan, which gives real-time, dynamic, and interactive reports and dashboards, which we have never had before, and are being used on a daily basis. Over time, the improvements we will make with the use of all of the functionality available in Power BI will be truly transformational.

Barry Shields

Head of Digital and Data @ Great Places Housing Group

Great Places office

About

Great Places Housing Group operates across the North West and Yorkshire, owning 24,000 homes. The organization provides a wide range of services to create sustainable communities and is comprised of Great Places Housing Association, Plumlife, and Cube, employing over 600 staff across multiple offices. As a profit-for-purpose group, it invests back into its customers, communities, and employees.

The Challenge

Great Places Housing Group, which owns and manages 24,000 homes across the North West and Yorkshire with over 600 employees, was reliant on legacy reporting systems and manual data handling. This approach resulted in inconsistent, time-consuming, and error-prone reports, making it challenging for teams to meet the organisation’s evolving needs. The absence of a centralised data repository meant that valuable insights were either delayed or inaccessible, preventing timely, informed decisions and reducing operational efficiency.

The Solution

Great Places Housing Group sought a solution that would bring together disparate data sources and provide flexible, accurate reporting to support its mission of building sustainable communities. After considering various approaches, they selected Crimson to design and implement a scalable data warehouse on Microsoft Azure, along with a Power BI proof of concept tailored to arrears management. The decision was influenced by Crimson’s deep sector knowledge and expertise in Microsoft technologies. Barry Shields, Head of Digital and Data at Great Places Housing Group, reflected on the transformation: “We are now in a much greater position to meet the demands of the business when it comes to reporting and leveraging Power BI and its capabilities are enabling us to deliver great insight into the organisation. As a result we have developed a roadmap for Power BI in areas for the business supported by our data warehouse plan which is given real time dynamic and interactive reports and dashboards which we have never had before, which are being used on a daily basis. Over time, the improvements we will make with the use of all of the functionality available in Power BI will be truly transformational.” Crimson’s approach included knowledge transfer, enabling Great Places’ internal teams to manage and extend the solution independently.

The Results

The implementation of Azure and Power BI has produced measurable benefits for Great Places Housing Group. Reporting turnaround times, previously measured in days or weeks, have been significantly reduced. Multiple dynamic dashboards now support daily operations, and staff across the organisation are empowered to build and adapt reports to changing business needs. The new data warehouse provides a single, authoritative source for business intelligence, supporting proactive decision-making and efficient management of 24,000 homes. With over 600 employees actively engaging with real-time dashboards, Great Places has established a foundation for ongoing innovation and improved service delivery.

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