Every Monday, the same question came back in a different spreadsheet: how are our Energy and Mining investments doing? Three teams, three files, three answers.

The company

Rexel is one of the world’s leading distributors of electrical supplies. Founded in France and headquartered in Paris, it connects manufacturers with electricians, industrial sites and infrastructure projects across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. Behind every cable and switchboard it delivers sits a long chain of investment decisions, from warehouses to energy projects.

Context

The group followed significant investments in two demanding sectors, energy and mining, where projects are long, capital-intensive and sensitive to market swings. Decision-makers needed to see where the money was going and what it was producing.

The challenge

The data existed, but it lived in separate places, built with separate definitions. Before anyone could discuss a decision, they first had to agree on whose numbers were right. Comparing figures took longer than deciding.

What I did

• Gathered the scattered sources into a single data lake, so that every team worked from the same raw material.
• Built a centralised BI portal for decision-makers, with one shared definition for every indicator, written down and agreed before the first chart was drawn.
• Designed the dashboards around the questions leaders actually asked in meetings, not around the tables available in the systems.

What changed

A dashboard is only as good as the agreement behind it. Define the numbers together, then display them.

What I keep