Case Study: Helzberg

Helzberg is a U.S. jewelry retailer known for helping customers celebrate life’s most meaningful moments. To better support decision-making across the business and unlock faster, more flexible insights, Helzberg embarked on a transition from its Legacy reporting system to Tableau Cloud. This move was a critical part of its ERP system migration and a key step toward expanding self-service analytics for both retail store teams and corporate analysts.

The Challenge

Helzberg faced several challenges that made the move to Tableau urgent and complex:

• Overwhelming Workload: A large-scale ERP system migration created a significant spike in reporting demands. With a small analytics team, the workload quickly became unmanageable.
• A Hard Deadline: Helzberg was facing a firm cutoff for their legacy system, which meant all critical reporting needed to be rebuilt in Tableau within a very short timeframe.
• Need for Modern Reporting: The legacy reporting system lacked the ad hoc and modern analytic capabilities users needed. Helzberg had already invested in Snowflake and Tableau Cloud, but the organization needed support migrating key reports and enabling employees to use Tableau confidently.
• Resource Gaps: Despite having data expertise, the Helzberg team needed additional hands to execute the migration rapidly while juggling ERP system-related priorities.
• Expanded User Base: With Tableau becoming the new enterprise standard, hundreds of users, including retail store managers, assistant managers, and corporate teams, required training tailored to their comfort level with analytics tools.
  
  

Strategy & Deliverables

To meet Helzberg’s aggressive timeline and support their transition from the legacy reporting system to Tableau, XeoMatrix provided a structured combination of migration planning, development support, and organization-wide training.

Migration Approach:

• Scoped and Prioritized Planning: XeoMatrix partnered with Helzberg to scope every mission-critical report across both the legacy reporting system and ERP system, ensuring that nothing essential was overlooked.

• Structured Migration Plan: The team created a clear, actionable plan to migrate all required reporting ahead of the legacy system’s cutoff and implemented checkpoints throughout the engagement to maintain alignment and momentum.
• Fast, Flexible Execution: XeoMatrix developers worked as extensions of Helzberg’s team, rapidly building reports, adapting to shifting needs, and offering solutions while Helzberg focused on the ERP system implementation.

• Collaborative Problem-Solving: The teams worked together closely to address performance issues, improve dashboard responsiveness, and refine data flows. This tight feedback loop enabled rapid iteration and ensured reports were accurate, optimized, and ready for broad adoption.
  
  

Key Deliverables:

• Full Migration of Critical Reporting: All mission-essential reports were rebuilt in Tableau before the legacy system was retired, ensuring uninterrupted access to the insights Helzberg’s business teams rely on.

• Cohort-Based Tableau Training: XeoMatrix delivered tailored training for Viewers, Explorers, Advanced Explorers, and Creators. Each session was recorded, time-stamped, and supported with documentation—creating reusable learning assets that continue to support onboarding and skill development.

• Ongoing Support & Communication: Consistent check-ins, flexibility, and clear communication ensured Helzberg always felt supported. As the team emphasized, it “never felt like we were alone on an island.”
  
  

Results

Through close partnership and a structured approach, Helzberg achieved significant outcomes—from meeting critical deadlines to accelerating Tableau adoption and strengthening their organization’s analytics foundation.

• Deadline Achieved: Despite internal delays caused by the ERP system implementation in July, all deliverables were completed by the September 1 deadline. This allowed Helzberg to focus on critical day-one reporting needs without disruption.
• High User Adoption: Employees across the business have embraced Tableau. Many now comment on how much they enjoy using it and appreciate the system’s speed, modern design, and ease of use compared to the legacy reporting system.
• Training Becomes an Evergreen Asset: The recorded and indexed training library is now used for new hires and ongoing skill development, helping sustain long-term adoption and consistency.
  
  

By combining fast execution with tailored enablement, Helzberg not only met their immediate reporting needs but also laid the groundwork for a more confident, self-service analytics culture moving forward.