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    Case Study
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    COMPANY

    JLL

    INDUSTRY

    Real Estate

    JLL Builds a Modern Foundation for Workforce Intelligence with One Model

    “Employee data is the center of our universe, and the foundation for that universe is the data provided by One Model.”


    — Aditya Polumetla, Head of HR Data and Business Intelligence at JLL

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    Faster Dashboard Performance

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    Reduction in Processing Time

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    Faster Data Refresh

    The Challenge

    Manual Workflows and Delayed Workforce Insights

    Following its Workday implementation in 2018–2019, JLL centralized several reporting and analytics functions into a global People Analytics structure. At the time, workforce reporting primarily relied on monthly aggregated data used for quarterly and executive business reviews.

    While this approach initially supported leadership’s reporting needs, it quickly proved insufficient as the pace of business accelerated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they needed the flexibility to make workforce decisions daily rather than waiting for monthly reports. However, the existing data warehouse architecture was built around monthly snapshots, which limited the team’s ability to respond quickly.

    To meet urgent reporting needs, the analytics team reverted to manual processes, extracting reports from Workday, rebuilding datasets in Excel, and creating ad hoc dashboards. This approach quickly became unsustainable as even small structural changes in source data could disrupt reporting pipelines. “If we were relying on Excel files, the next file could have a different structure and the entire dashboard pipeline would collapse,” explained Aditya Polumetla, Head of HR Data and Business Intelligence at JLL.

    These limitations created significant delays in delivering insights. In some cases, business leaders had to wait days or even weeks for updated workforce data, while finance teams were able to produce comparable metrics much faster. This discrepancy created frustration among executive stakeholders and placed significant pressure on the analytics team. At the same time, workforce data existed across multiple systems including HR, finance, and operational databases, which made it difficult to combine and analyze data efficiently. Without a centralized data model, building a cohesive view of the workforce required extensive manual effort and technical workarounds. Recognizing that this approach would not scale, the team began searching for a long-term solution that could support a modern people data strategy.

    The Solution

    A Scalable Data Mesh with One Model

    When evaluating potential solutions, JLL established several key requirements. The team needed a platform that could be deployed quickly, integrate closely with Workday, and preserve existing workforce metrics and definitions. Transparency during the evaluation process was equally important. Rather than relying solely on product demonstrations, the team wanted direct access to the underlying data structures so they could understand how the platform worked and how it would integrate with their internal architecture.

    “One Model was the only company that gave us a test environment where we could explore the data model and run our own SQL queries,” said Polumetla.

    This openness allowed JLL’s data engineering team to evaluate Data Mesh in depth and understand the level of effort required to operationalize it within their environment.

    Implementation moved quickly once the decision was made. By connecting One Model directly to Workday APIs, the team began ingesting core worker data within days. Over the following months, JLL worked closely with One Model’s implementation and development teams to refine the pipelines and address edge cases related to complex global HR processes. This collaborative approach allowed quick issue resolution, with updates and improvements applied in near real time. Within two to three months, JLL had fully implemented the new architecture and began integrating One Model data into its enterprise data warehouse.

    The Impact

    Faster Data, Greater Trust, and Expanded Analytics

    When evaluating potential solutions, JLL established several key requirements. The team needed a platform that could be deployed quickly, integrate closely with Workday, and preserve existing workforce metrics and definitions. Transparency during the evaluation process was equally important. Rather than relying solely on product demonstrations, the team wanted direct access to the underlying data structures so they could understand how the platform worked and how it would integrate with their internal architecture.

    “One Model was the only company that gave us a test environment where we could explore the data model and run our own SQL queries,” said Polumetla.

    This openness allowed JLL’s data engineering team to evaluate Data Mesh in depth and understand the level of effort required to operationalize it within their environment.

    Implementation moved quickly once the decision was made. By connecting One Model directly to Workday APIs, the team began ingesting core worker data within days. Over the following months, JLL worked closely with One Model’s implementation and development teams to refine the pipelines and address edge cases related to complex global HR processes. This collaborative approach allowed quick issue resolution, with updates and improvements applied in near real time. Within two to three months, JLL had fully implemented the new architecture and began integrating One Model data into its enterprise data warehouse.

    The impact of the transformation became clear during the launch of JLL’s new workforce dashboards. When the team demonstrated that the dashboards could deliver the previous month’s data on the second day of the month, stakeholders immediately recognized the difference. During the presentation, reactions poured in across the organization’s collaboration channels, including messages of excitement from leaders who had long struggled with delayed workforce reporting.

    “Someone messaged me privately and said, ‘I’m literally crying right now,’” Polumetla recalled.

    For the analytics team, it was a defining moment that demonstrated how dramatically the new data architecture had improved their ability to deliver timely and reliable insights.

     

    The Future

    Building the Foundation for Future Workforce Intelligence

    Today, JLL’s workforce data ecosystem is built around a strong central foundation. A core employee dataset powered by One Model integrates directly into the company’s enterprise data warehouse, creating a consistent and reliable source of workforce data for dashboards, applications, analytics models, and other business systems across the organization.

    As demand for people analytics continues to grow, the team now has the infrastructure needed to scale its impact and deliver faster insights across the global business. “Employee data is the center of our universe,” Polumetla said. “The foundation for that universe is the data provided by One Model.”

     

    HR-Target-Icon
    Near-Zero Data Errors

    Data quality improved from ~5% error rates to virtually zero, creating a more trusted analytics foundation.

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    Automated Manual Reporting

    JLL Eliminated Excel workflows and legacy pipelines with automated data processes that reduce complexity and ongoing maintenance.

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    Accelerated Insight Delivery

    Moved from delayed reporting to near-immediate access, enabling leaders to make faster, more informed workforce decisions at the start of each month.

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