# Business Intelligence with Confluence > A BI system for mid-sized companies, built in Confluence: how Fath shows its business data with PocketQuery and its own permissions system where employees actually work. Source: https://www.xalt.de/en/case/fath-business-intelligence-confluence/ A business intelligence system for mid-sized companies: instead of a separate BI tool, Fath shows its business data where employees already work – in Confluence, with PocketQuery and a permissions system that shows everyone only their own data. ### Solution and methodology Using Confluence as a documentation and communication tool, building a permission management system and integrating business intelligence features into Confluence. Together with [Fath24](https://www.fath24.de), all relevant requirements were first agreed on in a workshop, with attention to the specifics of Confluence and [PocketQuery](https://livelyapps.com/apps/) as a BI tool. ### Products used Atlassian Confluence Data Center, Refined for Confluence, PocketQuery, EasyMind, LanguageManager, Translations for Confluence, Advanced Image Gallery, Space Privacy – Extranet for Confluence, Table Filter and Charts for Confluence ## About Fath Fath is a mid-sized corporate group from Spalt in Franconia, with around 350 employees worldwide and its own production, logistics and sales locations in Germany, the USA, China, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and the Netherlands. Fath specializes in the development, manufacturing and distribution of system components. These include components from the fields of mechanical engineering, industrial enclosure construction and equipment manufacturing, as well as the visualization and material flow of intralogistics. ## Using Confluence as a Business Intelligence Tool ### Background of the project Fath's management faced the decision of integrating a new, fully integrated business intelligence (BI) system. Introducing one is often a time and are most of these BI tools often only usable 100% by very large companies, or the cost of such systems is extremely high and not always justifiable for mid-sized companies. Fath's goal was therefore chosen so that the cost-benefit ratio would be balanced, and so that a new BI system could be precisely tailored to Fath's needs. It also had to be ensured that this central tool could be used by all authorized employees without first having to complete lengthy training or being a specialist in the field. Furthermore, all evaluations from the current system also had to be possible with the new tool. Software from Atlassian and LivelyApps – primarily Confluence and PocketQuery – was the logical choice based on these requirements. Combined with Google Sheets, PocketQuery is excellent for graphically and visually mapping large data sets within Confluence and can be heavily customized depending on the use case. ### The most important requirements: - simple use of the system by all employees - mapping of all important company data within Confluence - the option to personalize and easily extend the new BI system - integration of the internal CRM system into the software landscape ## Challenges and Solution The old, existing business intelligence (BI) system was meant to be kept in its original form but mapped in Confluence. It also had to be ensured that all existing functions were carried over into the new system and were easy to use for all authorized users. ### The approach In most production and industrial companies, countless products are made and sold every day, generating a large amount of data that in turn is fed into various systems. Systems like an ERP system or the internal CRM system usually require independent administration and a manual export of data in order to then process it with another tool (BI). ### Providing the data in Confluence To first create the option of using Confluence as a BI tool, all relevant databases first had to be integrated and connected in Confluence together with PocketQuery. The data is then displayed visually on individual Confluence pages using the Google Sheets plugin and made accessible to employees. ### Integrating the CRM system To get a complete picture of all data, an interface to the CRM system was also built. This allows the respective accounts (customers), products or product groups to be linked with the specific data sets. This also makes it possible to get comprehensive reports directly on individual categories. ### User and permission management Due to Fath's international presence, permission management is needed to protect certain company data from unauthorized access. Our solution is a comprehensive user management system that only shows all data to those employees who are authorized for the respective data set. This ultimately removes user management from the old BI system and manages it directly in Confluence instead. You can find out more about [permission management for Jira and Confluence](https://xalt-sanity.vercel.app/jira-confluence-berechtigungsmanagement/) here. ## Results at Fath - Mature user management with access control: user management directly in Confluence instead of in the BI system - Synchronization of Active Directories and databases with Confluence - Combination of a business intelligence tool with a documentation and collaboration tool - Direct description of products, graphics, drawings or data in Confluence - Use of business data (for example revenue, sales, costs) on the respective product pages, to bring all important data together in one place - Visualization of data within Confluence with PocketQuery and Google Sheets ## Want to know more about Confluence and how to use it as a business intelligence tool? [Learn more now](https://www.xalt.de/en/contact/) ## More Success Stories Mechanical engineering ### [Atlassian Cloud Migration of Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket](https://www.xalt.de/en/case/fath-atlassian-cloud-migration/) FATH ran Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket itself – and paid for every outage: troubleshooting, recovery, staff time. All three systems moved to the Atlassian Cloud in one go, without disrupting daily work. Downtime fell from twelve hours a year to almost none, and operating costs dropped by 80 percent. Read case study → Sports association ### [Building a Dynamic Knowledgebase with a Help Center Function Based on Confluence and Scroll Viewport](https://www.xalt.de/en/case/dav-confluence-knowledgebase/) The Deutscher Alpenverein wanted to make its Confluence knowledge as easy to access as a website – without the upkeep of a website. With Confluence and Scroll Viewport, that became DAV360 Wissen: a knowledgebase, a help center and a learning portal with courses and quizzes. Read case study → Energy trading ### [Project Portfolio Management and Resource Planning with Jira](https://www.xalt.de/en/case/eex-project-portfolio-management/) The EEX Group needed to replace its project portfolio tool – and didn't want to maintain the same data twice. Today the portfolio runs in Jira, right where the projects already lived, complete with resource planning and approvals. Project managers now need half the time they used to. Read case study → ## We help your team achieve greatness in every aspect Want more information or a tailor-made solution? We help you get the best out of your company. Feel free to contact us by phone, email, or visit us at our office. [Contact us](https://www.xalt.de/en/contact/) --- *This version is for AI agents. Every page of this site is available as Markdown: append `index.md` to its path. 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