Survey outcome analysis and reporting

Successful companies need to know about and manage not just their business but also their workforce. For one of our clients who undertakes such employee surveys, we developed a powerful analytical and reporting tool to help them and their clients to derive maximum benefit from their data.

Our client carries out surveys, asking employees about various aspects of their work then feeding back findings to help steer the business. They use a web application both to capture survey information and report on the results. New types of report were needed that didn’t fit well with the existing design, together with more flexible options to make the results available for further analysis.

Our eventual solution was to leave the existing application untouched, and build a stand-alone process working from an integrated view of its existing response databases. First the existing data is transformed into a form suited to the sort of analysis required, using OLAP technology. A customised Microsoft Excel spreadsheet then performs the sorts of ad-hoc reporting required using the processed data. Simple but powerful export features were included so that result charts and data could be quickly and easily pasted into a PowerPoint presentation, Word document etc.

This project was rewarding for us, in that it:

• Presented some interesting data integration and calculation challenges, working with the changing information held by the business – using Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services, on this occasion
• Needed careful thought to design an intuitive interface for users
• Rapidly brought about a good outcome for our client
• Preserved their previous investment in the existing web application