Enterprise Decision SupportEnterprise Decision Support- A Commercial Perspective- A Commercial Perspective

Pete Catley

Supervisor, Sales Reporting Systems,

Ford Europe

Thursday 18 November, 1999

SEM304 - Commercial Programming

Agenda:Agenda:

Introduction Enterprise Decision Support Overview Case Study: Smarts

Why Do BusinessesWhy Do BusinessesHave ITHave IT

Departments?Departments?

Only Small BusinessesOnly Small BusinessesCan SurviveCan SurviveWithout ITWithout IT

As Soon As You StartAs Soon As You Startto Scale up As anto Scale up As an

EnterpriseEnterpriseYou Begin to RecogniseYou Begin to Recognise

the Need for anthe Need for anIT DepartmentIT Department

IT Departments HaveIT Departments HaveDeveloped Over the YearsDeveloped Over the Years

Adding Machines

Business Systems Technical Systems

Ope

ratio

nal

Ana

lytic

al

Transaction Processing

Database Applications

Process Control

CAD / CAM / CAE

Reporting Applications

Analytical Applications

Why Do We Analyse?Why Do We Analyse?

Beware:Beware:ParalysisParalysis

ByByAnalysisAnalysis

Business Reality:Business Reality:Difficult to TurnDifficult to Turn

“Data”“Data”IntoInto

“Information”“Information”

Reporting

Decision Support

Actionable Intelligence

Everything That HappenedEverywhereAll The Time

Key Things That HappenedIn Important Locations

At Relevant Times

Some Things You Could DoTo Address The Issues

• Fixed Format• High Redundancy• High Effort To Interpret

• Dynamic Format• Focused Output• Low Effort To Interpret

• High Value Add• Very Rapid Response

Imagine If Your CarImagine If Your CarHad NoHad No

Instrument Panel?Instrument Panel?

Now Imagine You AreNow Imagine You AreA Captain Of IndustryA Captain Of IndustryAt The Helm Of TheAt The Helm Of The

SS “Shareholder Value”SS “Shareholder Value”

So the Vision is:So the Vision is:Wouldn’t It Be NiceWouldn’t It Be NiceIf We Had A SystemIf We Had A System

Which Which Told UsTold UsWhere The Issues Were?Where The Issues Were?

Vision EnablersVision Enablers

Reporting By Exception “Traffic Lighting” OLAP “Slice & Dice” Key Performance Indicators E-mail Notification Of Exceptional Events Use of “Push” Web Technology “What If” Analysis & Modelling Thematic Mapping

What Do You NeedWhat Do You NeedTo Do To GainTo Do To Gain

Actionable Intelligence?Actionable Intelligence?

Operational SystemsCapture

Data Warehouse

Staging AreasCleanse

Meta-Data Layer

Data Marts

Store

Aggregate

Interpret

OLAPDeliver Ad-Hoc Reports Executive Information

NormalisedRelational Model

De-Normalised“Star Schema”

MainframeData Sources

Simple RelationalTables

That Looks Pretty StraightforwardThat Looks Pretty Straightforward

Let’s Do It!Let’s Do It!

Case Study:Case Study:

SALES MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS & REPORTING TOOL SETsmartssmarts

First:First:Sell The VisionSell The Vision

““How Much Is All ThisHow Much Is All ThisGoing To Cost Me?”Going To Cost Me?”

““Ouch!”Ouch!”

Build A Cast-IronBuild A Cast-IronBusiness CaseBusiness Case

Gain A PowerfulGain A PowerfulSponsorSponsor

Who, In Their Right Mind,Who, In Their Right Mind,Would DevelopWould Develop

A Mainframe-basedA Mainframe-basedSpreadsheetSpreadsheetIn-House?In-House?

Nobody -Nobody -They’d Buy Excel!They’d Buy Excel!

Pick AnPick AnArchitectureArchitecture

MOLAPHigh PerformanceNo. DimensionsData Volume

ROLAPNo. DimensionsData VolumePerformance

HOLAPHigh PerformanceNo. DimensionsData VolumeDevt. Complexity

DOLAPCostDevt. ComplexityImplementation Ease

Front-End ArchitectureFront-End Architecture

Buy OLAP Tools– Web-Based Ad-Hoc Query– Reporting– Web Publishing– Personal Web Portal Concept

Back-End Architecture Back-End Architecture

Re-Use Existing Data Extract Build Staging Areas Build Data Transformations Build Data Warehouse Build Data Marts

But:But:Choose The Right ToolsChoose The Right Tools

Pick “Best-In-Class”Pick “Best-In-Class”

(But Teacher Chooses(But Teacher ChoosesWho’s In The Class!)Who’s In The Class!)

Tool SelectionTool Selection

ATAD /FSIC Shortlist “Proof Of Concept” Workshops Tool Selection Matrix FSIC Architecture Review

Pick A Good TeamPick A Good Teamandand

A Strong Project ManagerA Strong Project Manager

MetricsMetrics

7 Months To Gain Funding Approval 6 Months To Deliver Phase 1 Team of 9 120 Gb Database Sun E4500, 10 x 337mhz CPUs, 4Gb $1.4m per annum Cost Saving Launched On Time (to the day!)

But:But:Do The Users Like It?Do The Users Like It?