Traced the root cause of a data discrepancy between Operations and Collection on direct debit activity, then built a daily report as a single source of truth for all stakeholders.

Problem

  • A discrepancy was discovered between the data the Operations team and the Collection team each held for direct debit activity — the two teams reported different numbers for what should have been the same underlying activity
  • Left unresolved, this mismatch created real risk of potential financial loss, since decisions and reconciliations relying on either team's numbers could no longer be trusted
  • Stakeholders across both teams had no single source they could rely on, which slowed decision-making and created friction whenever the two data sets were compared
  • Approach

  • Assigned to investigate the root cause of the discrepancy rather than simply patching the numbers to match
  • Worked closely with the Operations team to trace the issue to two underlying causes: differences in reporting logic between the teams, and a process gap in how direct debit activity was recorded and handed off
  • Aligned both teams on a single, shared reporting logic and closed the process gap, then built a daily monitoring report both teams — and other stakeholders — could rely on as the single source of truth
  • Tools

    SQL

    Result

  • The data discrepancy between the two teams was fully eliminated, with both sides now working from the same numbers
  • Reporting became more efficient, since stakeholders no longer needed to reconcile two conflicting data sets before making decisions
  • The risk of potential financial loss tied to inconsistent data was significantly reduced, since the same daily report used for monitoring also caught anomalies going forward
  • ← Previous projectAutomated Scheduling for Agent Certification TrainingNext project →Automating Monthly Tasks to Free Up Time for Ad-Hoc Work