What should an analytics acceleration programme include?

Three phases with named outputs, a fixed scope and price, governance from day one, enablement and a monthly rhythm. What to expect, and what to avoid.

An analytics acceleration programme should include three phases, each with named outputs: Establish, which agrees the priorities, the definitions, the sources and their owners, the architecture and a priced backlog, usually in around four weeks; Build, which delivers working, governed analytics against that plan, from the semantic model and reports to the platform and AI capability; and Continuity, a monthly rhythm that refines, governs and improves the analytics as the business changes. Around those phases it should include a fixed scope and fixed price agreed before you commit, governance and definitions from day one rather than in a later phase, enablement so the capability moves into your team, a named delivery team, and a measure of success based on the decisions the analytics supports. Our own programme is published at indicative prices of £52.7k for organisations of 25 to 100 people, £73.9k for 100 to 500 and £114.5k for 500 or more, over a typical 24-month term. This post sets out what each phase should deliver, what should be in the price, and what to be wary of.

Why a programme rather than a project

Most mid-market analytics work has been bought as projects: a dashboard, a migration, a data warehouse, each with a start, an end and a gap afterwards where the reports drift from the business. A programme buys the same delivery with a defined path from the first conversation to an ongoing rhythm, so the analytics keeps pace with the business rather than being rebuilt every two years. What an ongoing data function looks like makes the case in full.

Establish: what it must deliver

The Establish phase turns ambiguity into a plan. By the end of it you should have the priority decisions and the people who own them, signed definitions for the measures behind them, a register of the source systems and who owns each, an agreed architecture on your platform, the security and access model, and a backlog ordered by value with a price against each item. If a partner cannot tell you what the first phase delivers and when it ends, that is a scoping problem, not a delivery one. Why we deliver in fixed, outcome-based phases explains why the outputs matter more than the weeks.

Build: what it must deliver

The Build phase delivers working analytics against the plan, not a list of tasks. For a reporting programme that means a certified semantic model reconciled to the ledger, the priority reports built with the people who will use them, and the first month end closed on the new pack. For a platform programme it adds the lakehouse, the pipelines with their checks and alerts, and the shared definitions every new source joins. For AI it adds the governed foundation first, then Copilot, data agents or triggers on top. Throughout, it should include source control, deployment pipelines, documentation and training, not leave them for later.

Continuity: what it must deliver

Continuity is a monthly rhythm, not an open support line. Each month the analytics is reviewed against the decisions it serves, definitions are updated as the business changes, the backlog is reprioritised, new sources or reports are added in small pieces, and usage is checked so content nobody opens is retired. It is the part that stops analytics rotting, and the part most projects leave out. Why analytics projects rot describes what happens without it.

What should be in the price

A programme price should cover all three phases, the governance and definitions work, enablement for your analysts and power users, the monthly rhythm after launch, and a named team: a dedicated consultant for a focused reporting scope, a senior consultant and delivery team for a broader one, and a multi-discipline team for a full platform. It should be agreed as a fixed scope and fixed price before you commit, with no timesheets and no surprise invoices. Platform licences, such as Power BI Pro at £10.80 per user per month or a Fabric capacity from £138 a month reserved, are usually separate and should be shown separately so you can see both lines. What does a Power BI consulting engagement cost? breaks the figures down.

What to be wary of

A programme that puts governance in a later phase. A price quoted in days with no defined outputs. A build with no enablement, so the capability leaves when the partner does. Continuity sold as a support contract with response times but no rhythm of improvement. Licences bundled into the price so neither line is visible. And no exit: you should own the model, the code and the documentation from the first day. Scope creep is not bad luck explains how fixed scope protects both sides.

How it compares with hiring

The alternative most businesses weigh is hiring one analytics professional, at around £4.1k to £5.9k a month in employment cost alone. One hire brings one skill set and one point of failure; a programme brings governance, modelling, engineering and design from a team, with continuity built in. Many businesses do both: a programme to build the foundation and a hire to own it, trained during the build.

Where to start

Our Analytics Acceleration Programme page sets out the three tiers and what each includes. The free audit is a 45-minute conversation with a senior consultant that will tell you where reporting costs you time, the two or three changes that would make the most difference, and whether a programme is the right fit.

What should be included in an analytics acceleration programme? Establish, Build and Continuity, and what each must deliver