Microsoft Business Intelligence

The monitoring system and business analysts providing data collection from different sources, visualization of a system of key business indicators, formation of analytical reports on each indicator, filtering on time frames is developed and implemented.

Situation

For the last five years the electrotechnical holding Elektrokomplektservice Ltd developed extremely dynamically, its turnover annually increased by 50%, new marketplaces opened. Against the background of so rapid growth of business there was a need for increase in efficiency of sales for the purpose of additional generation of profit. Along with it the problem and cost optimizations by cost reduction on the maintenance of the available outlets and opening of new was solved. The solution of this task became the main motive for implementation in the retail chain stores Planet of ELECTRICIAN of a monitoring system and the analytical reporting belonging to holding.

Before project implementation in the company the monitoring system of the main business indicators which was developed by own forces of the company was already used. A former system used the storage of documents constructed based on the Microsoft SQL Server having simple structure. Reporting forms, rather visual, but without the due detail level, were executed in own internal format. Nevertheless, data arrived insufficiently quickly because of what reaction to change of a situation in the market and in the company was late, and decisions were made insufficiently quickly.

Solution

Elektrokomplektservice addressed to Technologika company together with which booked audit of the available system of the business reporting and analytics in retail chain stores Planet of ELECTRICIAN. By its results the decision on implementation of a new monitoring system and analytics based on the corresponding modules of the localized version of the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 system (Russian Edition) was made. This application performs on a monitoring panel information display for which the powerful OLAP storage created and functioning based on the Microsoft SQL Server of 2005 Enterprise Editions is a source. Documents come to storage from different sources (1C, Manhattan, Excel).

At the first stage of work, in May, 2008, the pilot project of implementation of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 which allowed the customer to get acquainted with opportunities of modules of monitoring and analytics of this application more deeply started. At this stage for assessment a limited set of key indicators was selected.

At the second stage deeper analysis of the available reporting and key indicators was carried out, the model of the enterprise is developed. Together with the customer the new system of key business indicators of KPI (Key Performance Indicator, KPI) was developed.

The monitoring panel providing data collection from different sources, visualization of a system of key business indicators, formation of analytical reports on each indicator, filters on time frames is developed and implemented.

The monitoring system of key business indicators represents an intellectual superstructure over data array, collected from the different accounting systems – accounting, production, schedule systems of resources, etc. On a panel of monitoring a set of the indicators allowing to understand almost in real time what happens to priority business indicators, whether it be increase in turnover, cost reduction, investments into policy of expansion to new regions, etc. is displayed. A system automatically consolidates information, analyzes it and builds different reports which form a basis for decision-making for the purpose of elimination of problems and the solution of strategic and tactical tasks of business.

As a result company executives can quantitatively estimate a condition of priority indicators and control achievement of business objectives. For display of a panel of monitoring on the web portal it is used by software for the organization of joint work Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Interaction of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Microsoft application of the Active Directory allows to configure access rights of users to these or those cuts of information of this portal according to the politicians admitted to the companies as users of a panel of monitoring are not only company executives, but also middle managers on all marketplaces of network.

In addition to low cost in comparison with the competing products the choice of the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 system was dictated also by that circumstance that IT department of the company already had experience with technologies of Microsoft, and the Microsoft Office interface is well familiar to users of a system. Besides, implementation of new products did not represent problems in terms of integration with the applications which are already functioning into the companies at the Microsoft platform and service of the Active Directory directory.

Final testing and system implementation was performed in the normal mode on the central platform of the company and did not lead to breaks in work of users of internal network.

Project implementation took a little more than a month and came to the end at the end of June, 2008.

As the next stage of development of an analytical system the company management planned implementation of the module of budgeting and planning.

Advantages

System implementation allowed to trace Planet of ELECTRICIAN such key indicators of business as charges of outlet and the number of regular customers. The centralized architecture allows to minimize costs for data collection for the analysis from diverse information systems.

Dmitry Kokodeev, project manager of Technologika company: "The monitoring system implemented based on Microsoft Office Performance Point Server 2007 and a business intelligence provides flexible adaptation according to the current business processes, allowing to add new key indicators for obtaining relevant analytical reports".

A system provides efficiency of obtaining information for the analysis of a situation in each marketplace. Thanks to an opportunity to receive thinner cuts of reports on key indicators in a new system carrying out deeper job analysis of the company – on territorial accessory, on groups of goods, etc. became available. On the basis of branched data in uniform storage of documents it is possible to trace internal processes at the bottom levels and to influence an overall picture of functioning of marketplace and retail chain stores in general.

The usual interface of the Microsoft Office environment and convenient tools assistants ("widgets") considerably facilitate application of the developed instructions for filling of a system data.

Implementation of Microsoft Office applications of PerformancePoint Server 2007 based on the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 allowed the management Planet of ELECTRICIAN and to managers of an average managerial link to monitor the current situation in retail network of the company using key indicators (KPI), to obtain detailed information on each indicator for a certain time frame in territorial and nomenclature cuts and to see problem places of the main business processes and internal interrelations. On the basis of this information there was an opportunity to react quickly to change of the market situation or situation in the company. Automatic informing on deviations from the set indicators will become the next step in development of a system of analytics and the reporting.