Enhancing Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement in a High-Compliance Data Environment Using Dataiku

In an era where data-driven decision-making is increasingly shaping government operations, transparency is more than just a buzzword—it's a necessity. This became particularly evident in a recent project by adesso with a Dutch government department, where we transformed a complex, opaque data processing system into a transparent, maintainable solution using Dataiku.

The Challenge: Balancing Transparency with Complexity

In the Netherlands, citizens have the right to request information about government decision-making through Woo (Wet open overheid, meaning: Dutch Open Government Act) requests. While this transparency is crucial for democratic accountability, it presents unique challenges for government data teams implementing data science and machine learning solutions.

When adesso joined the project, we encountered a classic case of technical debt:

• Multiple layers of complex SQL statements
• Scattered SSIS procedures
• Disconnected Python code snippets
• A 30-page manual that failed to clarify the system's operations

Despite extensive documentation, stakeholders struggled to understand the data transformation processes. It became evident that traditional documentation and clean code alone wouldn't be enough - we needed a more holistic approach to transparency.

The Solution: Rebuilding with Dataiku

Instead of untangling the existing complexity, we took a strategic approach:

1. We meticulously extracted the essential business logic from the existing codebase, documentation, and stakeholder interviews.

2. Then, we rebuilt the system from the ground up using Dataiku, prioritizing on simplicity and transparency.

Choosing Dataiku as our primary tool proved to be a game-changer. Its visual interface and powerful features allowed us to create a solution that was both sophisticated and transparent.

Key Achievements

Maintaining Data Security While Improving Accessibility

adesso implemented a solution where data remained secure within the database while a Dataiku layer handled processing and visualization. This approach balanced security requirements with accessibility needs.

Enhanced Transparency Through Visual Flows

Dataiku's flow view became our key to transparency. Every data transformation, processing step, and decision point was made visible and traceable. We further enhanced transparency by leveraging Dataiku's unique ability to integrate Python recipes in both notebook and script formats. Extensive documentation and data frame previews within Jupyter notebooks placed explanations exactly where needed. This dual-mode functionality proved invaluable—data scientists could develop and document in the interactive notebook environment and seamlessly switch to script mode for deployment, ensuring both accessibility and production readiness.

Eliminating Technical Debt

One of our most significant achievements was making the solution understandable to the organization's data professionals. This wasn't just about building a working system—it was about ensuring the internal team could maintain and evolve it independently.

Improved Stakeholder Engagement

A transformative aspect of our approach was how Dataiku democratized access to data processes. Stakeholders with little to no coding experience could now:

• Log into Dataiku
• Navigate through the visual flow
• Understand data transformations at each step
• Follow the decision-making logic

This engagement helped bridge the gap between technical and non-technical users, fostering better collaboration.

Future-Proofing the System

The modular nature of our solution, combined with Dataiku's user-friendly interface, made it easy to:

• Add new features
• Implement additional models
• Expand data flows
• Adapt to evolving requirements

Conclusion

This project demonstrated that transparency in government data operations isn't just about making information visuable—it's about making it accessible and understandable to all stakeholders. By leveraging Dataiku's capabilities, we transformed a complex, difficult-to-maintain system into a clear, user-friendly solution that serves both technical and non-technical users.

The increased transparency has had a direct positive impact on the organization's ability to handle Woo requests efficiently. With clear data lineage and intuitive decision-making processes, the department can now respond to citizen information requests faster and more accurately, meeting its democratic obligations while maintaining operational efficiency.

If your organization struggles with complex data workflows, lacks transparency, or faces regulatory challenges, adesso can help streamline processes and enhance stakeholder engagement through innovative data solutions like Dataiku.

Get in touch with us to explore how we can bring clarity to your data operations.