Our work

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Modernising foreign aid data.

Services provided
  • Strategy
  • Technology
  • Data and AI

The ask

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's (FCDO) ambition is to maximise the UK's global impact with the aim of being a force for good in the world. It's also going through a period of transformation. It's adapting to a new finance platform and modernising its data infrastructure.

We have been supporting this transformation. Working in partnership with FCDO teams, we've helped deliver a wide range of key digital and technology services.

What we did

A significant part of the work has been redeveloping the system FCDO use to manage critical foreign aid spend data. We had to update the system to enable it to integrate with a new Oracle finance system, to a fixed deadline. We had to be agile and adaptable to dependencies beyond our control.

We're also helping FCDO modernise its own approach to data management. We're working collaboratively with the department to move them away from a traditional spreadsheet method of analysis and reporting. To support this, we've developed a new Azure-based data warehouse which consolidates data from numerous sources. 

Results

We are now working with FCDO to further build out the Azure-based data warehouse. It will enable much quicker, reliable access to data related to foreign aid spend. As well as allowing for better decision making and reporting.

Our flexibility is highly valued within FCDO. It's something that sets us apart from larger IT consultancies who may operate in a much more fixed way. Our approach is seen by FCDO as a great example of how to work in the digital space.

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