Data and Analytics
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Owner | CDO (pending Head of Data hire) |
| Date | 14 April 2026 |
| Status | Active |
| Classification | Internal - Restricted |
| Review Cycle | Monthly |
Executive Summary¶
This document sets out the 30/60/90 day plan for the Data and Analytics function at Simpaisa Group. The team is in its formation stage: three data engineers are in place, but the Head of Data role remains open and no dedicated analytics infrastructure exists. The immediate priority is to close that leadership gap, establish a data infrastructure baseline, and deliver the CCQ (Coverage, Cost, Quality) dashboard as the first analytics product - a direct request from the CSNO. Over the following two months, the team will automate reconciliation workflows, introduce structured transaction lifecycle data, and stand up a BI platform. By the end of the 90-day window, a data governance framework will be published and the team will be positioned to support the broader event sourcing migration planned for H2 2026.
Team Overview¶
Current Team¶
| Name | Role | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBH | Head of Data | Vacant - Q2 hire | Urgent open role |
| Osama | Data Engineer | Active | |
| Raqim | Data Engineer | Active | Transferred from Platform Engineering |
| Anas | Data Engineer | Active | From talent pool |
Hire Plan¶
| Role | Priority | Target Start |
|---|---|---|
| Head of Data | Critical | May 2026 |
| Analytics Engineer (BI) | High | Q3 2026 |
| Data Governance Lead | Medium | Q3 2026 |
The Head of Data hire is the single most important dependency in this plan. Shortlisting must begin in week one. Until that role is filled, the CDO will hold functional oversight directly.
30-Day Plan - 14 April to 14 May 2026¶
Theme: Assess, Hire, Baseline
The first 30 days focus on understanding the current data landscape, activating the Head of Data search, and laying the technical groundwork for the CCQ dashboard.
| # | Deliverable | Owner | Success Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Data landscape audit - document all existing data sources, pipelines, storage layers, and integration points across Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, UAE, Canada, Iraq | Osama + Raqim | Audit report published to Confluence; all six markets covered |
| 1.2 | Head of Data recruitment activated - JD finalised, recruiter briefed, shortlist of five candidates in pipeline | CDO | First round interviews scheduled by 30 April |
| 1.3 | CCQ dashboard scoping - define data sources, metrics, dimensions, and refresh frequency with CSNO and ops team | CDO + Anas | Scope document signed off by CSNO Bachir Njeim |
| 1.4 | Reconciliation pain point mapping - document current manual reconciliation steps, volume, error rates, and SLA targets | Raqim | Process map and gap analysis delivered |
| 1.5 | BI platform options shortlist - evaluate three candidate platforms (e.g. Metabase, Redash, Superset) against cost, hosting, DFSA data residency, and team capability | Osama | Platform recommendation memo to CDO by day 30 |
| 1.6 | Transaction lifecycle data assessment - review current state model, identify gaps in structured state history, define target schema | Anas | Gap analysis and target schema draft circulated |
60-Day Plan - 15 May to 13 June 2026¶
Theme: Deliver, Automate, Connect
The 60-day period moves from assessment to delivery. The CCQ dashboard goes live, reconciliation automation begins, and the transaction lifecycle data feed is established.
| # | Deliverable | Owner | Success Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | CCQ dashboard live - Coverage, Cost, Quality metrics available in BI tool, refreshed daily, accessible to CSNO and ops leads | Head of Data (or CDO) + Anas | Dashboard live; CSNO sign-off received |
| 2.2 | Reconciliation automation Phase 1 - automated matching for standard settlement cases, reducing manual reconciliation effort by at least 40% | Raqim + Osama | Automation live; error rate and effort metrics baselined and improving |
| 2.3 | Transaction lifecycle data feed - structured state history table populated from existing event logs; at least five transaction states captured per corridor | Anas | Data feed live; ops team able to query state history |
| 2.4 | BI platform selected and provisioned - platform decision made, infrastructure provisioned, access controls and data residency confirmed | Head of Data | Platform live in staging; data residency documented for DFSA compliance |
| 2.5 | Head of Data onboarded - hire completed, onboarding delivered, 90-day objectives agreed | CDO | Head of Data in role and productive |
| 2.6 | Data team operating rhythm established - weekly sprint cadence, issue tracking via Beads, and team standups running | Head of Data | Two full sprints completed with velocity baseline |
90-Day Plan - 14 June to 13 July 2026¶
Theme: Govern, Scale, Automate Intelligently
The final 30-day window completes the BI platform rollout, launches the ML-assisted reconciliation initiative, and publishes the data governance framework.
| # | Deliverable | Owner | Success Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | BI platform live in production - CCQ dashboard and at least two additional operational dashboards available; stakeholder training delivered | Head of Data + Anas | Platform in production; five or more active users from ops and finance |
| 3.2 | ML reconciliation initiative launched - model design complete, training data pipeline built, first model in evaluation against held-out reconciliation cases | Osama + Raqim | Model achieving at least 85% precision on test set; evaluation report published |
| 3.3 | Settlement exception management workflow - automated exception triage routing edge cases to the correct ops team, with audit trail | Raqim | Exception workflow live; manual triage effort reduced by 60% |
| 3.4 | Data governance framework published - data classification, retention policy, data residency mapping (DFSA UAE, SBP Pakistan), access control standards, and lineage documentation | Head of Data | Framework published to Confluence; approved by CDO and reviewed by Legal |
| 3.5 | Event sourcing readiness assessment - evaluate readiness to consume event streams from engineering's H2 2026 migration; define data team's integration role | Anas + Head of Data | Readiness report delivered to CTO and CDO; integration backlog created in Beads |
| 3.6 | Data team Q3 roadmap published - priorities, headcount plan, and platform investments agreed with CDO for Q3 2026 | Head of Data | Q3 roadmap approved by CDO by 13 July 2026 |
Milestone Gantt¶
gantt
title Data and Analytics Team - 90-Day Plan
dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
axisFormat %d %b
section Hiring
Head of Data - Shortlist and Interviews :active, hire1, 2026-04-14, 2026-04-30
Head of Data - Offer and Onboarding :hire2, 2026-05-01, 2026-05-31
section Assessment
Data Landscape Audit :audit, 2026-04-14, 2026-04-28
Reconciliation Pain Point Mapping :recon_map, 2026-04-14, 2026-04-28
Transaction Lifecycle Gap Analysis :tlc_gap, 2026-04-14, 2026-05-07
BI Platform Shortlist :bi_eval, 2026-04-21, 2026-05-14
section CCQ Dashboard
CCQ Scoping :ccq_scope, 2026-04-14, 2026-04-30
CCQ Build :ccq_build, 2026-05-01, 2026-05-31
CCQ Live :milestone, ccq_live, 2026-06-01, 1d
section Reconciliation
Recon Automation Phase 1 :recon1, 2026-05-01, 2026-06-13
ML Reconciliation Design and Pipeline :recon_ml, 2026-06-14, 2026-07-13
Settlement Exception Workflow :exception, 2026-06-14, 2026-07-13
section Transaction Lifecycle
Lifecycle Data Feed Live :tlc_live, 2026-05-15, 2026-06-13
section BI Platform
Platform Selection :bi_select, 2026-05-01, 2026-05-31
Platform Provisioned - Staging :bi_staging, 2026-06-01, 2026-06-13
Platform Live - Production :milestone, bi_prod, 2026-07-01, 1d
section Governance
Data Governance Framework Draft :gov_draft, 2026-06-14, 2026-07-07
Framework Published :milestone, gov_pub, 2026-07-13, 1d
section Event Sourcing
Readiness Assessment :es_assess, 2026-06-14, 2026-07-13Success Metrics¶
The following metrics define success at the end of the 90-day period.
| Category | Metric | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring | Head of Data in role | By 31 May 2026 |
| Analytics | CCQ dashboard live and used | Live by 1 June 2026; CSNO sign-off |
| Reconciliation | Reduction in manual reconciliation effort | 40% reduction by day 60; 60% exception triage reduction by day 90 |
| Data Quality | Transaction lifecycle state coverage | At least five states captured per corridor by day 60 |
| Platform | BI platform in production | Live by 1 July 2026 with five or more active users |
| ML | Reconciliation model precision on test set | At least 85% by day 90 |
| Governance | Data governance framework published | Published by 13 July 2026 |
| Readiness | Event sourcing integration backlog created | Backlog in Beads by 13 July 2026 |
Dependencies and Risks¶
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head of Data hire delayed beyond June | Medium | High | CDO maintains direct oversight; consider interim contractor if search extends past May |
| No analytics infrastructure - long ramp time | High | Medium | Use managed cloud services initially (e.g. hosted Metabase) to avoid infrastructure bottleneck |
| Reconciliation data quality insufficient for ML | Medium | High | Phase 1 automation generates clean labelled data; ML delayed until data quality confirmed |
| DFSA data residency constraints limit platform choice | Medium | Medium | Confirm UAE hosting options in BI platform evaluation; obtain Legal sign-off before provisioning |
| Event sourcing migration delayed by engineering | Low | Low | Data team readiness assessment is independent; proceeds regardless of engineering timeline |
Linked Documents¶
- CDO 30/60/90 Day Plan
- Transaction Lifecycle Architecture
- DFSA Cat 3D Gap Analysis
- Section 15-19 - Tech, InfoSec, Finance, HR (Data governance obligations)
- SDLC Governance Framework v2.0