Start Here • The Data Mavens

If you're evaluating whether I’m the right partner for your organization, this page gives you a clear sense of my approach and the kinds of challenges I solve.

🎶 Let's start at the very beginning...

...a very good place to start. 🎶

(Bonus points if you get the reference.)

I’m Sandra Halling — I work as an Systems & Operations Architect for professional service organizations that are growing fast, reworking operations, or integrating change.

Despite my 20 years of implementation experience, I'm a delight to work with.

‍(And that says everything, really.)

I remove years of operational debt by connecting leadership's needs with on-the-ground workflows, and insert governance that secures real adoption — and I do it in a human-centered way.

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How I'm different and where I start

I begin with decision clarity and responsibilities, not strategy or software.

Strategy and systems work only when decision-making is explicit and responsibilities are owned — not implied.

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Many organizations focus on the system too soon.

My process flips the traditional order.

I put decision clarity before strategy because that’s where the unnamed gaps — and the real risks — live. Starting here stabilizes the entire build by preventing operational debt and improving adoption.

We name things (some may seem obvious, but might only be implied right now):

Who's holding what, and why
How decisions get made, and by whom
What's involved in the flow of work
Where and why things get stuck or dropped
Where and how your values are supporting operations (or not)

These are the details that really matter for adoption.

Not the features. Not tools. Not pretty dashboards. We can do all those things, but they're icing, not the cake.

It's the clarity of structure and decisions — even for smaller, leaner organizations — that lays the foundation for a successful implementation.

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How I do this

I use a mix of top-down and bottom-up planning to make sure we’re capturing the real way your organization operates, not an idealized version that was documented years ago.

There's nothing wrong with idealized workflows. Visioning — or "dreaming and scheming" as I like to call it — is part of leadership.

But systems that stick are those designed to meet you where you are now, while avoiding the operational and technical debt that shows up later if we skip these steps.

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Why it works

My approach puts:

Decision-clarity before strategy — so we have the right direction.
Strategy before building — so we build the right solution.
People before process and tech — because adoption is the strategy (and that starts on Day 1).

Automations, integrations, and even Gen AI come when they truly create more ease and efficiency, rather than simply increasing need for oversight.

I help organizations turn operational complexity into systems that scale.