ENGIE Cofely, subsidiary to the ENGIE Group, is committed to achieving certain goals for one of their customers. These measurable goals or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are documented in a Service Level Agreement (SLA). And to monitor them accurately, ENGIE Cofely needed a detailed and correct reporting solution. To set this up, the company called in a Xylos Power BI consultant.

“Our goal is to achieve a certain level of quality. At ENGIE Cofely, we take great pride in the quality of our services”, Verhaegen continues. “To ensure that we keep up this level of quality, our customer defined a set of KPIs. There’s also a third party who delivers part of the data independently.” As per their new long-term agreement, ENGIE Cofely uses this third party’s data for reporting. To achieve their goal, they needed to create an automatic periodic report with all available data. The report should be easy to read, with the possibility to highlight and provide detailed explanations for certain points.

Advice from the ENGIE Cofely training centre

At first, Daniël Verhaegen wanted to attend a Power BI training to learn how he could use Power BI for reporting. When he asked ENGIE Cofely’s training centre for advice, they suggested bringing in Xylos as a training expert. The company is a loyal Xylos customer and they’re delighted with Xylos’ services.

After the Power BI course, Verhaegen decided to ask Xylos to provide further Power BI consultancy. “As a first step, the entire management team followed a Power BI training to learn the basics”, says Verhaegen. “But calculating KPIs is a complex job, and Xylos knows what they’re talking about. We didn’t have to think twice about continuing to work with them.”

Xylos: a professional approach

“We were on the same wavelength from the very start”, says Verhaegen. “Johan, our Power BI consultant, works very professionally and knows the tool inside and out. And he’s incredibly fast.” He worked faster than the data could be delivered. Later on, the company planned a new Power BI session. “You then have to wait for a little while until it’s your turn. That’s the only downside I can think of concerning our collaboration – but then again, it’s to be expected when you’re working with in-demand profiles.”

Apart from a few small flaws that need to be straightened out, the reporting is nearly finished. The end customer is highly satisfied, and so is Verhaegen. “Reporting is a contractual obligation, but we’re also benefiting from this in our day-to-day operational procedures. We now periodically create our own reports with shorter intervals, which allows us to adjust our course when needed.” Briefly put, everybody wins: the end customer is satisfied because their infrastructure is running flawlessly, and ENGIE Cofely is satisfied because they’re able to monitor their KPIs down to the tiniest details.

Flexible attitude

“Something that stood out to me in particular is Xylos’ flexibility”, Verhaegen adds. “Everyone was always willing to help us think of a solution. Whenever we asked Johan something, he immediately started coming up with ideas. He approaches every issue with a positive attitude. Sometimes, he suggests things we had never even thought of, and he was often one step ahead in the database. That really inspired us.”

“Xylos’ planning is highly flexible as well. If there’s a problem, they’ll always look for a solution. They’re very transparent, too. As a customer, it’s great to have a good relationship with a supplier, and that’s exactly what we’ve got with Xylos.”