Fall 2006 issue of Horizons

Supporting Business Efficiency with Technology

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Data from one system can be analyzed in conjunction with data from another system. For example, one or more sys- tems can store sales information. Analysis of the sales data is important, but a more significant analysis may be in the number of sales lost. These losses may be due to stock shortages, pricing, credit terms or any other reason. A suc- cessful implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system could provide this data. Knowledge that a sale of an item due to the lack of stock paired with the data on actual sales would help determine the proper inventory to maximize sales. There are many tools on the market that will cleanse and combine multiple data silos into one effective data warehouse. The presentation of data is just as important as the decision to track the data. Making the data easily understood for the decision makers will significantly improve management's decision-making capability. Basic reports, such as those from Crystal Report writer, may be efficient. Importing data into Excel and delivering a spreadsheet may be effective, as many users are comfortable with the Excel interface. The delivery of the data also can be automated, empowering the user access at the data when it is needed, not when it is con- venient for a staff member to run a report. Dashboards are becoming a very popular way to present concise and timely data. Dashboards present a snapshot of data in a visually appealing manner. This snapshot utilizes KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, that are appropriate to the end user's role in the company. An example is that a sales man- ager is shown a stoplight that is green when sales are running above budget but yellow when sales are running at budget. A red light indicates that sales are running below budget. These dashboards can be implemented into a Web-based intranet portal page where important business measures are present. If a user wants to have many possible criteria and quickly see the results, an Excel pivot table or an OLAP cube may be the best possible solution. An OLAP cube contains vast amounts

of data, including the calculation of all possible measures included in the cube. This method allows for instant results when parameters and measures are changed. Granting a decision maker access to an OLAP cube allows the user to drill down into the data without an individual from the IT department involved in the delivery of the data. The sales manager, after seeing the sales KPI moving into the yellow or warning level, can open the pivot table or OLAP cube and see the sales this month versus budget by sales territory. The manager can place a filter on the one territory that is furthest off budget and add the types of customers to the table. This table may show that sales to one customer type are at budg- et, but sales to another class of customer are below budget. By knowing where the problem exists, the sales manager can act to address this issue more quickly than having to wait for multiple versions of reports to be generated and routed. The tools for data analysis are becoming more plentiful and more affordable. You likely will see advertisements from tech- nology companies that promote their products' ability to empower users and deliver the data needed to make an organization more agile. Unleash your data's power and make better-informed decisions more quickly. Questions? Contact Diana Rasmussen-Knapp Partner-in-Charge, RubinBrown Information Technology Group 314-290-3343 diana.knapp@rubinbrown.com or Bill Jones ERP Consultant, RubinBrown Information Technology Group 314-290-3301 bill.jones@rubinbrown.com

23 • summer 2006 issue