About Client
Our client is a public E-commerce company headquartered in New York, USA that sells Clothing, household items, fashion, health and beauty items. Known for its commercial and financial success in North America and EMEA
Problem Statement
The Client’s data architecture uses an on-premise SQL Server data warehouse to store customer data and write SQL queries for business functions like analyzing supply chain, logistics, sales, customer, suppliers and marketing data. The business uses various BI tools like Power BI, Looker and Excel to access and visualize the data warehouse. As part of their business digital transformation strategy, the client decided to migrate their SQL Server data warehouse to Azure Data Warehouse to improve data security, data migration to the cloud, scalability and enhance performance
Project Challenges
- The SQL Server data warehouse was a massive and intricate system, encompassing over 5,000 tables, 3,000 views, 700 stored procedures, and housing 20 terabytes of data with several partitioning, indexing and encryption
- The SQL server data warehouse had many dependencies and integrations with other legacy and web systems, including ERP, CRM, web and third party services
- The SQL Server data warehouse had to be migrated in a short time frame with minimal downtime and impact on business users and processes
- The SQL Server data warehouse had to be migrated with high data quality and accuracy to comply with regulatory and security standards
Versich Approach and Solution
- Cloud Migration Assessment: Our Data Consultants setup workshops to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the on-premise data warehouse to determine its readiness for migration to the cloud. Identified dependencies, data interdependencies, and potential compatibility issues with Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
- Data Preparation: Data sources were thoroughly validated and cleansed to ensure accuracy and consistency. The data warehouse schemas and objects were streamlined and standardized using Azure Data Studio. The refined schemas and objects were then deployed to Azure SQL Data Warehouse, with data efficiently loaded through Azure Data Factory and Azure Blob Storage, enabling a seamless migration process.
- Report Development: BI tools were configured and integrated with Azure SQL Data Warehouse using Azure Active Directory and Azure Analysis Services. Reports and dashboards were modified and optimized for compatibility with Azure Data Warehouse, leveraging Power BI Desktop and Excel to enhance data visualization and performance.
- Report Deployment: Optimized reports and dashboards were published and shared with business users via Power BI Service, Tableau Server, and SharePoint. Robust security and access controls were implemented using Azure Active Directory and role-based permissions in Azure Data Warehouse to ensure data integrity and user-specific access.
Positive Business Impacts
- Global Accessibility: Leveraging Azure's extensive global data center network, the client achieved seamless access to data across geographic regions, fostering enhanced collaboration and operational efficiency.
- Minimal Downtime: A meticulously executed migration strategy ensured minimal downtime, allowing uninterrupted business operations throughout the transition.
- Scalability: Azure SQL Data Warehouse's flexible scalability empowered the client to easily accommodate evolving data volumes and analytic demands, ensuring long-term adaptability and performance.
- Improved Performance: Migrating to Azure SQL Data Warehouse dramatically enhanced query performance, enabling faster and more efficient analytics and reporting capabilities.
- Cost Savings: The transition eliminated the need for costly on-premises hardware upgrades and ongoing maintenance, resulting in substantial cost savings for the client.
