Medicines San Frontiers
Helping one of the worlds largest charities with their data visualisation
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international humanitarian organisation providing medical assistance in crisis zones worldwide, knew their vast troves of analytical data held untapped potential. However, they lacked the internal resources and expertise to transform this data into actionable insights. With thousands of healthcare professionals and support staff spread across global operations, MSF needed a way to make their complex data accessible and meaningful to employees at all levels. MSF turned to Browser London to examine, overhaul, and ultimately reinvigorate their approach to data management and visualisation. The goal was ambitious: widen operational bottlenecks with readable data.
The Brief
MSF approached Browser London with a challenge related to their vast amounts of analytical data. They needed:
- Data visualisation solution
- Improved data management
- An internal tool to help employees act more quickly
The organisation had large volumes of data related to the usage of their website and digital products. However, this data was presented in a format that was difficult for most employees to understand and utilise effectively.
Discovery
Browser London conducted a comprehensive assessment of MSF’s data landscape. They examined the existing spreadsheet-based datasets, identifying the challenges employees faced in interpreting and utilising the information effectively. The Browser London team analysed how to transform this raw data into meaningful insights and explored ways to make it more readable
A thorough review ensured the data was suitable for dashboard integration, with a focus on standardisation across categories, eliminating redundancies, and consolidating similar data points.
Browser London selected Microsoft Power BI as the platform for creating interactive dashboards, planning the data integration process to leverage its visualisation capabilities. Throughout this process, the team positioned itself as a seamless extension of MSF’s organisation, aiming to create a user-friendly solution that would empower employees to access and understand data quickly, without relying on specialised data scientists.
Outcome
The implementation of the Microsoft Power BI dashboard significantly enhanced the employee experience at MSF, improving how staff interacted with complex data. Previously, employees had to wait weeks for specialised data scientists to analyse and interpret information. Now, the user-friendly interface allows average employees to easily understand and utilise data, dramatically reducing wait times to near-instant access for many queries. This improved accessibility has fostered more efficient decision-making across teams, enabling staff to act quickly and effectively based on readily available insights.
The scalable solution not only addressed immediate needs but also provided a framework for future data management, ensuring MSF can adapt to evolving data requirements. Ultimately, Browser London’s role as an agile extension of MSF’s team transformed the organisation’s approach to data, cultivating a more data-driven culture that enhances overall operational efficiency in their vital humanitarian work.