Services - Great Lakes Analytics
Services

Your food and beverage operation
doesn't have a data shortage.
It has a decision shortage.

Your teams have reports, yet meetings are postponed while data is manually pulled. No formal ownership of the numbers means no authority to act. This results in increased inventory and rework costs while the budget of the very systems that were supposed to make work easier are cut to save money.

1 DRIVE Index Diagnostic
2 DRIVE Index Audit
3 Data Culture Workshop
4 Monthly Advisory
Step 1 / Start Here

DRIVE Index Diagnostic

One-on-one with Stephen · 60 minutes · Data Trust Report and Roadmap included

Before committing to a full engagement, you need to see exactly where data trust is breaking down in your operation and what it is costing you.

In 60 minutes, Stephen will walk through the five dimensions of the DRIVE Index across your operation, asking direct questions about how decisions are made, who owns which numbers, and where the data and the people doing the work disagree. He brings 8 years of experience doing this from the inside at a Fortune 500 manufacturer.

You leave with a clear picture of your data environment's weak points, an estimated cost impact, and a prioritized roadmap. Whether you engage GLA to fix what we find or not, you will know exactly what is broken and what to fix first.

What's included
  • DRIVE Index Assessment A structured questionnaire sent after booking covering Data Readiness, Reliability, Integrity, Velocity, and Execution across your operation. Completed before the session so we spend our time on the diagnostic, not on context-setting.
  • 60-Minute Diagnostic Session One-on-one with Stephen walking through your scored results, interpreting what the assessment reveals about your operation, and identifying where the highest-cost gaps are.
  • Data Trust Report A scored assessment across all five DRIVE dimensions with trust scores, quadrant placement, gap analysis, and cost-of-inaction summary based on your own responses.
  • Prioritized Roadmap What to fix first, what to fix second, and what to leave alone. Specific to your operation, not generic best practice.
Format One-on-one with Stephen
Duration 60 minutes
Deliverables Data Trust Report and Roadmap
Natural next step: DRIVE Index Audit
The diagnostic uses the same DRIVE Index methodology applied in the full audit, giving you a baseline that carries forward if you engage further. The $1,500 fee is credited toward any full DRIVE Index engagement. Either way, you leave knowing exactly what is broken and what to fix first.
Step 2 / Assess

DRIVE Index Audit

Operating environment or business unit · Cross-functional · 3 to 4 weeks

Your $2M ERP investment isn't failing because of the software. It's failing because your Quality team doesn't trust Operations' numbers. Operations won't act without IT's sign-off. And IT is still pulling manual reports because nobody owns the dashboard.

The result? Decisions get delayed. Rework climbs. Inventory bloats. And the system you bought to fix this becomes another report no one believes.

The DRIVE Index Audit tells you exactly where trust is breaking down, and what to fix first. In 3 to 4 weeks, you'll know which teams are misaligned on decision authority, where data trust fractures are costing you time and margin, and the single highest-impact action to take in the next 90 days.

You'll leave the executive readout with a shared roadmap, not another consultant report gathering dust.

What's included
  • Structured Functional Survey The same DRIVE Index assessment administered across multiple respondents within your function and the teams that interact with it. The cross-functional scoring gaps are where the real findings live.
  • Stakeholder Interviews Targeted conversations to surface what the survey cannot capture
  • Validated DRIVE Score Report Scored across all five dimensions with cross-functional comparison, benchmarks, and root-cause analysis. Replaces the preliminary score from the diagnostic with one your leadership team can act on with confidence.
  • Prioritized Gap Roadmap What to address first, ranked by impact and execution readiness
  • Executive Readout and Alignment Session Findings presented to your leadership team. Priorities surfaced, discussed, and agreed upon before the engagement closes.
Scope One operating environment or business unit
Timeline 3 to 4 weeks
Additional scope Available at reduced rate
Natural next step: Data Culture Workshop. The audit tells you what to fix. The workshop is where your team does the work of fixing it.
Step 3 / Embed

Data Culture Workshop

Scoped to your DRIVE findings · 4 sessions · Up to 15 participants per session · 8 to 10 weeks

You've already spent the money on the technology. Now you need your people to actually use it.

That means answering the questions nobody asked during implementation: Who's allowed to make a decision when the VP isn't in the room? What happens when Quality's dashboard says 2.3% scrap and Operations says 4.1%? How do you stop "let's take this offline" from becoming a 6-week spiral?

The Data Culture Workshop embeds the operating rules your tech investment depends on. Grounded in your DRIVE findings, we work through your hardest examples together and hand your team the playbook to apply the same framework across the rest of the operation.

Your team walks out with a playbook, not a pep talk.

Four-Session Structure
1

KPI Architecture and Ownership. DRIVE findings reviewed with the team. We work through your most contested metrics live: building ownership structures, aligning definitions, and establishing the resolution framework for when metrics conflict.

2

Decision Authority and Escalation Framework. Working session to define which decisions can be made at the operational level, which require leadership, and what the trigger conditions are. Directly reduces the escalation tax identified in your DRIVE assessment.

3

Data Validation and Source-of-Truth Protocol. Working session through your specific systems: where sources disagree, which one governs, and what the validation checkpoints are. Your team leaves with authoritative source rules, not another set of dashboards.

4

Decision Feedback Loop and Sustainability. Final session to close the feedback loop: the mechanism for tracking whether decisions produce results, and the accountability structure that sustains the work after the engagement ends.

What's included
  • DRIVE Findings as Session Foundation No separate pre-work assessment needed. Your DRIVE score, gap analysis, and prioritized roadmap feed directly into session one so the work begins immediately.
  • Four Facilitated Sessions Scoped to the function, leadership level, or operating area identified in your DRIVE findings. Up to 15 participants per session.
  • KPI Ownership Matrix One Responsible, one Accountable, and clear action rules per KPI
  • Decision Cadence Framework Meeting structure, decision authority matrix, and escalation rules that eliminate permission bottlenecks
  • 90-Day Adoption Plan Milestones, communication plan, and progress checkpoints to sustain momentum after the engagement closes
Scope Defined by DRIVE findings
Timeline 8 to 10 weeks
Sessions 4 sessions · up to 15 participants each
Expanded scope Additional functions or company-wide available
Natural next step: Monthly Advisory Retainer
Step 4 / Sustain

Monthly Advisory Retainer

Ongoing strategic access · 6-month minimum · 3 clients maximum

You fixed the immediate fire. Now you need to make sure it stays fixed.

Most culture work dies in month four. Someone gets promoted. Priorities shift. The Playbook becomes another binder on the shelf.

The Monthly Advisory Retainer keeps the compounding going. Quarterly re-audits, strategic decision support, and direct access when something breaks before the next meeting.

This is executive advisory for food and beverage manufacturers who want a thinking partner without the overhead of a full-time analytics hire.

What's included each month
  • Monthly Strategic Session 90 minutes with executive leadership focused on decisions, blockers, and momentum. Not status updates.
  • Quarterly DRIVE Re-Audit Formal reassessment tracking progress against your baseline. You'll see exactly where trust is building and where it's slipping.
  • Async Access for Urgent Decisions When something can't wait for next month's session, you get direct guidance within 48 hours.
  • Priority Access to New Frameworks As playbook modules and tools are released, retainer clients get them first.
Scope Company-wide advisory
Minimum term 6 months
After 6 months Month-to-month
Client limit 3 spots maximum
The retainer is strategic advisory and accountability, not implementation. Additional workshops, team training, or expanded scope engagements are available separately.
Ready to see where your data environment is breaking?

Start with the DRIVE Index DiagnosticA clear picture of what's broken and what to fix first

A 60-minute structured diagnostic session with a Data Trust Report and Roadmap as deliverables. The $1,500 fee applies toward any full DRIVE Index engagement.

Book Your Diagnostic Call
$1,500 · 60 minutes · Data Trust Report included