Download A Data Warehouse Solution for Account Management

A Data Warehouse Solution for Account Management
Elena Battini
Nuova Magrini Galileo - Groupe SCHNEIDER
Abstract
In 1996, the NUOVA MAGRINI GALILEO, a
company belonging to the SCHNEIDER group,
started a review process of its control system.
The need of adopting the DW philosophy for data
processing falls within this context.
The project "DW Controllo Gestione" has seen the
introduction of the SAS System in the context of an
architecture for Information Delivery, which uses a
DW as the basis of the information retrieval process.
The first task to be implemented, chosen by the
sponsor of the pilot business area, the Account
Management, was the production of synthesis
reports concerning the sale values (New Sales,
Turnover) and the Income Statement for the whole
SCHNEIDER group.
The SAS System allowed the implementation of a
Query/Reporting system which queries an Info Mart
level fed by the company warehouse residing on a
mainframe.
A Windows NT/Server platform hosts the
departmental Warehouse and is used as a repository
for the Info Mart and as a compute server for the
Data Mart level which supplies data to the
multidimensional analysis tool (SAS/EIS Motore).
SAS Warehouse Administrator offered a precious
support in implementing the DW and managing the
data generation processes.
These needs led us towards the adoption of a ‘Data
Warehouse’ methodology.
The
Information
Technology policy in the system choice was to
introduce a tool not only targeted to the Account
Managemet but also able to satisfy the existing and
arising needs in all the company business areas
concerning the information management.
Therefore, we identified as ‘necessary’ to build a
complete and integrated system (from gathering data
to final analysis) i.e.
° able to retrieve information from a variety of
DBMSs stored on the central system (MVS-ESA)
and allowing integration with the information
residing on the workstation (Excel or other).
° provided with an integrated database
° offering adequate solutions to provide enabled
support for analyses and consultations (Executive
information
system,
various
queries,
multidimensional analysis, statistics, access to
Internet/Intranet)
° as a portable and hardware-independent solution
° with a centralized management of the entire system
° supported by skill, experience and reliablity of the
system supplier
EIS
Introduction
During 1996, Magrini put into action a development
programme called ‘Cohesion Process’, with the aim
of increasing the sharing level of the company
directions and objectives and of identifying priority
projects for proposal to management.
Among the objectives for improvement, focus was
placed on the need to review the Control System. A
system which, however, should not only have
specific goals concerning the Account Management
but should also meet a variety of needs, by building
a complex set of reports and indicators which:
- are capable of providing valid information support
for management
- improve decision making process at all
organisation levels
- are coherent in the various areas (common
language/rationalization indicators)
- are compliant with the innovation processes
already in action
Metadata
Hierarchical
database
Relational
database,
excel
OLAP
Dati
extraction
and
transformation
data
warehouse
intranet
query
sequential
reporting
datamart
DSS
vsam
After a market research based on demos and
prototype trials, conducted on major DW suppliers,
the InfTech/User group carrying out the research,
chose the SAS System as the solution which mostly
met the company needs.
The Project
ORGANIZATION
Inf.Tech. Project Head
Users Project Head
The project aims to supply the Account
Management with a series of services intended to
improve business, in terms of efficiency and speed,
compared with the traditional data analysis methods
(Excel paper reports).
Architectural Specialist
Host Consultants
Warehouse Administrator
SW Specialists
External Consultants SAS
Key Users
The activities addressed by the project were
identified as:
Users Interface
- definition of reference data (operational and
external) and its meaning.
- production of summary and analytical reports
concerning the Income statement
- production of reports concerning the various
departments
- development of an executive information
application concerning the marketing and sales areas
- implementation of an analytical database for
various queries, available for the Account
Management controllers and product managers.
Information flow
Organization
-
The complexity of the environment and the need for
the user to get the feel for the project from the very
first keystroke led us to adopt a generalized project
methodology. In order to do this, a workgroup
including a user project manager (UPM) and an
information technology project manager (IPM) was
set up.
-
The UPM provides coordination and support for a
key-users group, who identify needs and actively
participate in the implementation stages.
The IPM co-operates with SW specialists, internal
and external consultants (SAS) and an architectural
expert.
Scheduled meetings aim to periodically review the
progress and the aspects of the project for a closer
consideration.
The workgroup is also supported methodologically
by a facilitator and a MC user interface with the task
of rationalizing and integrating all the information
coming from peripheral systems (Excel).
The user interface is involved in the implementation,
too.
Sales Area Reports (Orders Intake/Invoiced)
The basic data resides on a mainframe (MVS – DB2
system). The file is regenerated monthly and, with
the appropriate selections and aggregations,
reloaded on the SAS database residing on the same
mainframe. After the monthly loading, the database
is integrated with the information coming from
Excel spreadsheets.
Two support tables have been set up on the host:
product/client grouping table containing
grouping codes and descriptions
product or customer class codes related to
the grouping
reports table containing
report code and title
product or customer grouping codes (see
previous table) which will represent the detail rows
of the single report
authorization group codes allowing the
access to the report
The two tables allow the addition of new reports or
an easy modification of the contents.
A second processing stage, carried out on the
mainframe following the logic indicated in the two
tables, produces the reports and transfers them on a
server (Windows NT), together with the reports
table.
Public reports are accessible by the client through an
application which allows for the selection and the
local transfer .
The local reports can be modified, printed,
integrated with notes, copied for archives and
exported to Excel.
They can also be converted into a Power-Point
presentation.
If stored locally, the application can work without
any connection to the network.
ARCHITECTURE
Warehouse
Administration
(windows 95)
TCP/IP
Client
(windows 3.1)
SAS Server
(windows NT)
IBM 9672
LAN
TCP/IP
DB2
IMS
VSAM
SEQ
DATA
MART
SAS DW
WEB
Client
EXCEL
Server
Income Statement Reports
In this case, the basic data resides in Excel
spreadsheets.
An appropriate application allows the information to
be monthly transferred directly to the NT server.
On the NT server, a support table indicates the
reports to be produced.
Besides the report code and title, there are some
Excel spreadsheet codes defining the contents and
the groups with authorized access.
The table allows to add or easily modify the
generated reports.
A second processing stage, always carried out by the
server, generates the reports listed in the support
table. The public reports can be accessed by the
client in the same way as for the sales area reports.
Application
End users gain access to the application through a
panel which requires the user indentification and
allows access to the various functions, through a
series of buttons.
Security is based on the concept of authorized
groups.
Each user belongs to a group.
Utilities are accessed through a panel and various
buttons and presently allow for:
- the importation of Excel data for the database
integration on the mainframe in order to produce the
sales area reports
- the importation on the NT server, subject to the
selection of the Excel spreadsheets necessary for the
Income statement reporting.
- the release of the next versions of the application
This button transfers the new version from the
workstation disk to the NT server. Client updating
occurs during the first connection to the SAS
system. This allows for an easy distribution of the
software avoiding any intervention on each
workstation.
Actions in progress
An executive information system for navigation in
the Marketing area is currently being implemented.
The management data resides on the mainframe in
DB2 tables and sequential files.
The multidimensional cube is being constructed on
the NT server. However, the propagation of a
smaller cube for single clients is expected to allow
for a local processing without any connection to the
network.
Initially, the application should allow the access to
‘summary’ information (obtained by calculations on
detail data).
The user is able to analyse the information
according the following dimensions.
°
°
°
°
°
°
°
time
marketing – areas of responsibility
customer segmentation
departments, companies, plants
groupings at different product levels
sales network
geographical area
The objects which allow drill-down operations on
the data are the tradizional EIS objects:
A security management feature and a series of
utilities are also included.
° critical success factors
° tables
° graphics
Active icons are added to these object offering
various functions:
° sorting
° printing
° grouping of values
° data exportation to Excel
In the future, it will possibile to perform a detail data
analysis through a query system on the central Data
Warehouse residing on the mainframe and integrated
in the navigational environment.
SAS Services
The project has been carried out with the support of
a SAS consultant and his skill and co-operation have
been fully appreciated.
Our appraisal of the SAS system and all of the
services offered by SAS Institute is extremely
positive.
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