Our client is one of the UK’s leading transport organisations. Facing increasing business challenges, it needed to take full control of its data.
The Challenge
The client’s data estate had grown organically over time. Legacy systems and manual processes made business reporting difficult to scale, govern, or trust.
At the same time, the organisation was navigating complex changes. Systems, processes, and data needed to be untangled and rebuilt in a new, independent environment that meets ongoing operational and regulatory demands.
This challenge was not just technical. With dozens of data sources spanning ticketing, revenue, timetabling, and operations, they needed a way to bring structure to complexity – fast and future-proof.
In short, they needed strong data foundations built for what was to come.
The Solution
To deliver this, the client needed a partner who could combine strategy, engineering, and analytics and work as an extension of their team.
Oakland was selected for its specialist data expertise, its Everything Data approach, and over 40 years of experience in data and process excellence.
The focus? Creating a platform that would improve how the organisation operated, not just how it reported.
What was the starting point? The discovery phase, working across the business to understand requirements, prioritise use cases, and define a clear path forward. Working as a natural extension of the client’s team to make sure the solution reflected the real operational needs.
Once Oakland had this knowledge, the next step was to produce a future state architecture and roadmap, which brought clarity and a solution to a complex landscape of more than 20 data sources.
The Partnership
This engagement marked one of the first major collaborations between Oakland and Softcat.
Softcat brought a strong relationship with the client along with expertise in cloud infrastructure and vendor ecosystems. Oakland brought specialist expertise across data strategy, engineering, governance, and analytics.
Together, this created an end-to-end capability from infrastructure through to insight.
The teams worked as one, alongside the client. There were no silos or handoffs. There was shared ownership of both the problem and the outcome.
This is a clear example of Oakland’s Everything Data approach in practice. Focused expertise, delivered in partnership with Softcat, with a clear emphasis on business value.
The Results
The client now has a growing, modern, scalable data platform that is changing how it uses data.
Reporting is now increasingly centralised, automated, and governed. Teams can access consistent and timely insight across revenue, passenger demand, and operational performance, supporting faster and confident decision-making.
The platform has brought structure to a complex data landscape with modern architecture. Multiple datasets have already been integrated, with more being onboarded in a controlled, prioritised way. Data quality and consistency have improved, increasing trust in the data. Moving away from legacy systems and manual processes has also delivered efficiency gains and cost savings.
Looking Ahead
With the foundations in place, the client continues to build on the platform.
New data sources are being onboarded, reporting is expanding, and the organisation is beginning to explore more advanced analytics and AI use cases.
What started as a complex replatforming challenge is now a platform for long term innovation and a step change in how data supports the business. The Fabric data platform has become a foundation for long-term innovation and a step change in how data supports the business.
“The Oakland did well to apply their knowledge of data warehousing to that of our business, helping build a modern, scalable data platform in Fabric.”
Client Programme Lead
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