Codiance became an extension of the Charity Commission’s in-house team, providing comprehensive data engineering support across four key areas.

Our proactive support focused on monitoring performance, forecasting storage and cloud costs, peer reviewing code, and identifying optimisation opportunities before they became issues.

When problems did arise, our reactive support involved investigating pipeline failures, resolving performance bottlenecks, addressing data quality challenges, and implementing preventative controls to stop recurrence.

As the platform evolved, our change support ensured that updates to Synapse Link pipelines, enhancements to views and stored procedures, and optimisations to semantic layers for reporting were delivered smoothly.

Throughout the engagement, our advisory support strengthened governance frameworks, improved cross-system data alignment between Dynamics 365 and the data warehouse, and identified architectural improvements aligned to the Commission’s strategic objectives.

A Practical Example: Restoring Pipeline Stability

When recurring ETL failures disrupted critical reporting, we worked collaboratively with the in-house team to diagnose and resolve the root cause.

We conducted a full analysis across both ingestion and transformation layers, uncovering schema drift in the Synapse Link configuration and permissions inconsistencies in Azure SQL that were causing intermittent failures.

Rather than applying a quick fix, we resolved the underlying issues and introduced validation checkpoints at key stages of the data pipeline to prevent recurrence.

We then documented the solution and transferred knowledge to the internal team, ensuring they were equipped to handle similar challenges independently.

The result was restored stability, improved resilience, and significantly reduced operational risk. More importantly, the team gained confidence in its ability to maintain and evolve the platform.

The Outcomes

Our partnership with the Charity Commission delivered measurable improvements across the data platform.

Pipeline performance and reliability increased, with incident recurrence reduced through improved validation and monitoring. Azure spend and storage growth became more predictable through enhanced forecasting, enabling better budget planning.

Governance and documentation standards were strengthened, creating a more maintainable and auditable platform.

Most significantly, confidence in regulatory reporting improved, and the data warehouse moved closer to becoming the Commission’s trusted, enterprise-wide source of intelligence.

Why This Matters for the Charity Sector

For regulators and public sector organisations, data is not just about reporting. It underpins public confidence, enables evidence-based decision-making, optimises resource allocation, and ensures transparency and accountability.

Supporting CCEW meant enabling smarter regulation, earlier risk detection, and better service to the charity sector.

When regulators have reliable, timely intelligence, charities benefit from more proportionate oversight, clearer guidance, and a stronger foundation of public trust.