Connected Reporting Case Study

Project Overview

The Challenge

As the partnership grew from a single storefront into a multi-channel operation - retail locations across the state, mobile gameday shops, and a growing online store - the original measurement setup needed to evolve alongside it. The business needed a platform that could pull retail, gameday, and online data together into one place, hold up under the volume of a full sports calendar, and give athletics department partners, store operations, and the online business each a view they could actually use.

Key challenges included:

• Store, gameday, and online systems that grew independently and needed to be brought into alignment
• Complex, multi-channel data that needed to be consolidated without losing detail
• Reporting volume that scales sharply around gameday, roster changes, and postseason runs
• Stakeholder groups needing different reporting - athletics department, store operations, and the online business each asking different questions
• A need to modernize without disrupting reporting the business already depended on
• A risk of dashboards nobody opens because they weren't built around how people actually work

The Approach

The work connected what already existed rather than starting over, consolidated it into one durable platform, and designed reporting around the questions each stakeholder group actually asks.

Systems Assessment

Reviewed how retail, gameday, and online systems captured and reported data independently, identifying where they diverged and where they could be connected.

Data Consolidation

Brought data from every sales channel into one consistent structure, so numbers could be compared across stores, sports, and seasons.

Scalable Reporting

Built the platform to absorb sharp gameday volume spikes without slowing down or losing accuracy.

Phased Rollout

Modernized the infrastructure in stages so existing reporting stayed dependable throughout the transition.

Dashboard Design

Built views around gameday sell-through, inventory accuracy, and campaign performance rather than a generic set of default charts.

Executive Reporting

Created summary reporting for leadership that surfaces trends and outliers without requiring a deep dive into raw numbers.

The Solution

A connected reporting platform now gives the business one trusted source of truth, with dashboards and reporting built for the people who actually use them.

The Results

With connected systems and reporting built around how stakeholders actually work, store and web performance have improved, gameday traffic has been handled without the site buckling under peak demand, and conversion has trended upward across departments over the course of the partnership.

• A single trusted reporting platform spanning every sales channel
• Dashboards used regularly by athletics, store, and online stakeholders
• Reporting that supports ongoing email campaigns for gameday information, product drops, and student-athlete appearances

Business Impact

Complex, multi-channel data only becomes useful once it lives somewhere stakeholders can trust it. A centralized reporting platform meant retail, gameday, and online performance could be compared side by side, giving the business one dependable answer instead of three conflicting ones.

Through systems integration, consolidated platform architecture, and stakeholder-aligned dashboards, this initiative created a trusted reporting foundation that has supported the partnership with Hawkeye Fan Shop and the University of Iowa Athletics Department since 2016.

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