CASE STUDIES
Over the past decade, we have helped dozens of clients throughout the continental United States solve pressing business problems. Here are just a few stories illustrating the type and scope of the work we have done, and the results achieved for our clients.
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ANADIGICS Sets a Comprehensive Information Technology Strategy
THE CLIENT
ANADIGICS is a supplier of radio frequency/microwave integrated circuit solutions for the communications industry. ANADIGICS combines research and development, innovative design and manufacturing expertise to deliver high performance RF ICs (radio frequency integrated circuits) for high frequency and broadband communications markets. Their ICs can be found all over the globe being used in:
- Cellular and PCS handsets and base stations
- Fiber optic telecom and datacom networks
- Cable TV set top boxes, cable modems, and infrastructure products
THE CHALLENGE
ANADIGICS had grown to 500 employees in 60 different departments. They were aware that to effectively manage their growth it was imperative that they set a comprehensive strategy for their use of information technology.
The Solution
ANADIGICS engaged Praxinet to help them set an information technology strategy that would empower their work force during their continued growth. As a basis for developing the IT Strategic Plan and Architecture, Praxinet worked according to the most basic assumption: that the primary driver for IT is always the enterprise business purpose. The intent of the strategy was to define for everyone in the organization how information technology is to be used. For instance, is technology's goal to reduce costs or to be leveraged for competitive advantage? They would also determine the degree of change required to meet the changing business environment and transition from the current state to a new, revised vision for IT.
The IT Strategic Plan Praxinet developed included a vision of the future of IT at ANADIGICS, as well as the strategy to get there. The strategy was then supported by a series of initiatives that provided the greatest levels of return for the available resources, with an acceptable level of risk.
From a process standpoint, Praxinet’s activities fell into three major steps: Business Needs Analysis, Program Development, and Project Definition.
The Business Needs Analysis step included comprehensive interviews with
ANADIGICS’ internal business units, competitive analysis, and reviews of
best practices. The results of the business unit reviews were analyzed to define
a number of Programs, defined to provide a technology service to the user
community. The results of the business needs analysis fed the IT Architectural
Definition Phase. The net result of these meetings was the articulation of
“needs” that Praxinet found significant. These “needs” became the basis of the
Strategy development.
In the Program Development step, the “needs” were aligned into consistent categories representing the business benefit to be realized. These were referred to as Programs. Three major programs were then defined, representing the three areas of IT needs: Information Management Needs, Collaborative Business Needs, and Business Process Needs. A number of projects were defined within each of these programs and were ranked in importance and aligned to find common solutions.
Praxinet carefully examined the needs in the final Project Definition step and determined that certain tasks would satisfy more than one project requirement. The result (fortunately) was not a one-to-one mapping of need to project. Eleven key projects were defined that would satisfy all of the critical needs that had been defined.
The Technology
The technologies associated with the projects defined in this strategy included:
- Data Warehouse - Microsoft SQL 7.0 on an NT Server. This aligns with initiatives already completed and in process at ANADIGICS.
- On Line Analytical Processing - will provide the foundation for a number of subject-oriented Data Marts. These tools are already in place at ANADIGICS and are used as part of the SABRE application.
- Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Software - will be used in the information infrastructure to provide data movement from one system to any other. It will create for ANADIGICS the benefits and capabilities of a fully integrated ERP system while utilizing their existing applications, thereby minimizing cost and effort. The EAI software will also allow for fully electronic supply-chain integration with suppliers and/or vendors.
The Benefits
The Strategic Plan that Praxinet developed gave ANADIGICS a clear pathway to
meet their IT needs. In addition, the comprehensive nature of the exercise
itself provided ANADIGICS with a unique understanding of the integration of
those needs.
> Read the case study in PDF
ANADIGICS Improves its Budgeting and Forecasting Processes
THE CLIENT
ANADIGICS is a supplier of radio frequency/microwave integrated circuit solutions for the communications industry. ANADIGICS combines research and development, innovative design and manufacturing expertise to deliver high performance RF ICs (radio frequency integrated circuits) for high frequency and broadband communications markets. Their ICs can be found being used in:
- Cellular and PCS handsets and base stations
- Fiber optic telecom and datacom networks
- Cable TV set top boxes, cable modems, and infrastructure products
THE CHALLENGE
ANADIGICS had grown to 500 employees in 60 different departments. Their large IT infrastructure was making it difficult to fulfill basic budgeting and forecasting functions in a timely manner. ANADIGICS had been relying on single-user forecasting systems and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to collect and view its budgeting data. The prior forecasting system was inefficient and not user-friendly. For instance, financial data was unavailable until the end of the forecast process, and it was difficult to run top-down adjustments. Data had to be re-keyed to transfer it between databases.
Adding another layer of complexity, ANADIGICS also had a number of significant business issues to overcome:
- IT had previously experienced failures when attempting to implement Data Warehouse/Data Mart solutions
- Management felt there might be some challenges in changing the mindset of its user community - Any new solution must be easy to use
- ANADIGICS also needed to streamline their processes. At the time, they had four different Budget/Forecast cycles - each with different rules
The Solution
In an effort to identify the best solutions, ANADIGICS engaged Praxinet to assess, recommend, and implement a strategy to improve its Budgeting process. Praxinet worked with select end-users and members of the Finance group to form an implementation team. The team held Joint Requirements Planning sessions (JRPs) with users throughout the company to define the requirements of the new application. Praxinet determined that ANADIGICS needed the ability to forecast Manpower, Capital, and Operating Expenses within a simple, integrated interface. The team recommended that ANADIGICS utilize Hyperion Essbase as the base technology in conjunction with A3’s Vision software for Budgeting.
The SABRE system simplified end-user procedures through both its features and user interface. Certain SABRE features simplify the capital budgeting process. For instance, it ensures the manager applies the correct depreciation basis for each capital class (machinery & equipment, PC's, etc). SABRE provides a more accurate view of actual and forecasted expenses. It promotes better tracking of actual capital purchases in comparison to the budget. ANADIGICS now has an automated process to upload data back into their general ledger system.
The Technology
- Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
- Microsoft Windows NT Server
- Microsoft Visual Basic
- A3 Vision
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Integrated core financial systems:
- Ceridian Payroll Service
- MAPICS
- Harris Asset Management
- Advanced Logic General Ledger
The Benefits
The SABRE system provided ANADIGICS with several benefits including increased budget system flexibility, increased analysis capability, an intuitive end-user interface, and more accurate and comprehensive access to their data. SABRE effectively consolidated all of ANADIGICS’ legacy application data.
The SABRE system simplified end-user procedures through both its features and user interface. Certain SABRE features simplify the capital budgeting process. For instance, it ensures the manager applies the correct depreciation basis for each capital class (machinery & equipment, PC’s, etc). Lastly, SABRE provides a more accurate view of actual and forecasted expenses. It promotes better tracking of actual capital purchases in comparison to the budget. ANADIGICS now has an automated process to upload data back into it general ledger system.
Praxinet developed a flexible yet extensive, multi-tiered allocation process for R&D Expenditures as well as those Operating Expenses or Departments that can be allocated across the business.
SABRE has given ANADIGICS an ad-hoc analysis capability that they never had before. ANADIGICS can now develop ad-hoc reports to view actual, plan, and forecast data. Reporting capabilities include full Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow as well as department-driven Capital Expenditures, Manpower Headcount, Salary and Benefits, and Consolidated Operating Expenses. The SABRE system was designed to seamlessly interface with Excel allowing automated ad-hoc report creation and distribution. The reporting capabilities allow users to view data at the top levels and drill-down to more detail to provide senior management with instant feedback.
ANADIGICS was thrilled with the success of the engagement. “Since we had unsuccessfully attempted similar initiatives in the past, we wanted a partner that could develop a comprehensive plan. We found one in Praxinet,” says Julie Mahoney, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis, ANADIGICS. “They assured us success and then delivered on their promise. By helping us analyze our existing practices and applications, they were able to customize a solution that seamlessly fit and optimized our overall process. SABRE allows us to perform end-to-end budgeting and analysis while integrating with our back-end Accounting and Manufacturing systems. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”
> Read the case study in PDF
A Leading Financial Services Company's Corporate Business Development Improves its View of the Business Landscape
THE CLIENT
Our client is a global, diversified financial services company grouped into six key operating segments comprised of 24 businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary of an international conglomerate, our client provides a variety of consumer services, such as credit cards and life and auto insurance; mid-market financing; specialized financing; specialty insurance; equipment management, and specialized services, to businesses and individuals in 47 countries around the world.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client was determined to improve their deal-making process and knew they needed improved access to their data to do so. Their goal was to improve the management of their Services Business Development (SBD) Merger & Acquisition (M&A) activity as deals progressed through their deal pipeline. They wanted three main questions answered:
- What does the pipeline currently look like?
- What has happened in the past? In other words, how can we improve the process by looking at historical pipeline cycles?
- What is the change in the pipeline over time? What is the cycle time for a deal to move from one stage to another in the approval process?
Our client was aware that in order to answer these questions, they needed a method of accessing their historical data as well as collecting new data on its current business. The majority of our client's historical data was contained in a Lotus Notes - Domino database. In addition, our client needed a series of reports that could provide them with the necessary information.
THE SOLUTION
The client engaged Praxinet to design and develop the Business Development Pipeline Reporting application to allow it to accomplish their goal of improving their M&A deal-making process.
Praxinet developed a data warehousing and reporting application for the Business Development division of our client. The application was unique from other data warehousing efforts in that it married four technologies:
- Lotus Domino
- SQL Server RDBMS database
- Microsoft Analysis Services OLAP database
- Active Server Page web technologies
The process itself started with archiving data from the Domino application. Using Lotus-ODBC connections, this data was migrated to a SQL Server table where it was normalized and optimized for reporting. The archiving process took two forms:
- Nightly download of all pipeline data
- Real time updates of transactions from the Domino server
Praxinet developed a procedure to migrate the deal data from a production Domino database to the SQL Server warehouse in near real time, therefore the warehouse remains as up to date as the source OLTP system. In this fashion, the Business Development Pipeline is maintained with snapshots of the entire pipeline for every day since its inception, allowing for ad-hoc reporting of data available from any of those points in time. All reports allow for a user to specify various parameters, such as a date range, and business unit for which to report.
The reports also synchronize with both the supporting relational data and the Lotus Domino source database. At any point, a user can drill through the multi-dimensional data table into the supporting relational data and then display it in a deal detail report. This report contains both textual and numeric elements to support the aggregations in the parent report, as well as links directly back into the deal documents.
The Technology
- MS SQL Server 2000
- MS OLAP Services 2000
- MS Internet Information Server
- Lotus Notes - Domino database server 5.0
- MS Excel 2000
- Active Server Pages
- HTML
The Benefits
The solution that Praxinet designed and implemented for our client leveraged existing databases to report statistics describing the Business Mergers and Acquisitions deal pipeline. The Business Development Pipeline application significantly increased efficiency for their Capital Services team. Data and reports that had previously taken several managers days to compile could now be seen in real-time with just a few mouse clicks. By storing historical data and synchronizing real-time data automatically, the application enabled members of the management team to spend less time on manual efforts and more time putting the data and reports to use and conducting real-time analysis.
Praxinet's solution resulted in the client reducing costs as well as converting data into valuable knowledge in a timely manner. The comprehensive reporting capabilities that Praxinet built into the solution have allowed our client to identify and capitalize on market opportunities sooner as well as uncover and address potential market and operations challenges earlier.
> Read the case study in PDF
Bell Helicopter Sets a Comprehensive Business Intelligence Strategy
THE CLIENT
Bell Helicopter is a division of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), a $13 billion, global, multi-industry company with market-leading businesses in Aircraft, Automotive, Industrial Products, Fastening Systems, and Finance. Textron has a workforce of over 70,000 employees and major manufacturing facilities in 30 countries. Textron is among Fortune magazine’s “Global Most Admired Companies” and Industry Week magazine’s “Best Managed Companies.”
Bell Helicopter Textron (BHT) is a $1.4 billion, leading producer of commercial and military helicopters. Globally recognized for customer service, innovation, and superior quality, BHT’s global workforce of over 7,500 employees serves customers flying BHT aircraft in over 120 countries. Additional information is available at www.bellhelicopter.com.
THE CHALLENGE
BHT was engaged in a number of major initiatives to replace existing legacy applications with “best-of-breed” technology as part of its five-year strategic plan. Paralleling this initiative was a Business Intelligence (BI) effort, where BHT wanted to provide sophisticated analysis capabilities to its end-users.
BHT was looking to engage a firm to help define and validate the strategy to successfully design and develop high value BI applications for various user groups within the corporation. This effort required in-depth skills and experience with the design of the enterprise-wide Information Architecture and management of designing and rolling-out an Implementation Plan for that Architecture.
THE SOLUTION
BHT engaged Praxinet to provide a high-level assessment of its enterprise-wide approach to designing and implementing a business intelligence strategy over the next three to five years. Praxinet’s proven strategy methodology included the following:
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High-level business needs analysis focused on Information Management, Collaborative Management, and Business Process Enhancement
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Competitive analysis and survey of best practices
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Technical architecture analysis defined in terms of Foundation Infrastructure, Information Infrastructure, and Knowledge Management and how each fits into an enterprise-wide business intelligence architecture
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Analysis and ranking of targeted BI opportunities based on scope, cost, and resources
Following its methodology, Praxinet recommended a staged rollout of a specific BI architecture. Phase One would include developing the BI Infrastructure by implementing one or more high-value project(s) that offer substantial value to multiple audiences by leveraging synchronized/integrated data in the data warehouse drawn from a few limited legacy systems.
The initial projects recommended include:
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Providing the Marketing Department with a comprehensive view of all customer aircraft holdings and interactions with BHT by consolidating the more than 22 independent customer databases that currently existed
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Developing a data analysis and reporting tool for the Materiel Division to optimize its management of production inputs and achieve its cost management goals
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Providing Program Management with a BI tool to analyze and manage its various P&L responsibilities
Subsequent Phases would include expanding the number of audiences/ data marts by using the data warehouse as a point of leverage, building many high-value data marts using the fewest number of source systems, and deploying sophisticated analytical capabilities using the same BI architecture.
The Technology
The types of technologies associated with the projects defined in this strategy included:
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Data Warehouse
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On Line Analytical Processing
- Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Software
The Benefits
Lacking the required BI expertise in-house, BHT derived significant value from Praxinet’s assessment and recommendations. The strategic assessment and plan that Praxinet developed gave Bell Helicopter Textron a clear pathway to meet their business intelligence needs. As well, the comprehensive nature of the exercise itself provided Bell Helicopter with a unique understanding of the integration of those needs.
Praxinet considered all BHT variables and priorities when designing the plan. Separating the strategic plan into several manageable phases has made choosing the next actions an easier and more painless task for BHT.
> Read the case study in PDF
BMW Group Financial Services Gets an Innovative EIS Tool
THE CLIENT
BMW Group Financial Services (BMW GFS) is an international service provider for individual leasing and finance offerings, plus investment planning for private and business customers. In Scandinavia, Latin America, and around the world, more and more customers are using its attractive financial services.
BMW GFS North America is responsible for financing 75% of the BMWs sold or leased in North America. Over 300 separate product lines have been sold, with more than 600 dealerships continent-wide.
Additional information is available at www.bmw.com.
THE CHALLENGE
BMW GFS needed to improve its methods of viewing vital corporate data such as budgeting, current financing options, dealer floor space availability, call center productivity, and current interest rates. Its sole method of reporting this information was by running queries against existing databases and re-keying information into Excel spreadsheets for presentation and monthly book purposes. Very little, if any, in-depth analysis could be done since most of the analysts’ time was spent collecting information.
THE SOLUTION
BMW engaged Praxinet to develop and implement an Executive Information System (EIS) that could allow it to track data in the following seven areas:
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Financial – Profit & Loss/Balance Sheet, Risk/Return, Budgeting
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Subvention – BMW Corporate-subsidized leasing programs
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New Business/Dealer – applications accepted/ Declined, account delinquency, and financing by region, dealer, or make & model
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Dealer Financing – floor space/financing options to dealers
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Remarketing – all vehicles coming off lease
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Operations – call center productivity
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Interest Rates – daily, weekly, monthly, various terms
The engagement team conducted joint requirements planning meetings (JRPs) to gather BMW’s system requirements. The team determined that the system would require seven data marts that would include data from the above areas.
The engagement team took an iterative cube development approach to build the application. This methodology was based on an evolutionary life cycle, in which the application steadily evolved to produce the final system. The major benefits of this approach were validation of user requirements at an early stage, higher user commitment to the success of the system, and recognition of architectural issues early in the life cycle of the project.
Finally, the engagement team documented procedures and conducted system tests before training BMW GFS analysts, called Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), to have a full understanding of the new application.
The Technology
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Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
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Hyperion Analyzer
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SAP ERP System
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Microsoft SQL Server
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Microsoft Windows NT Server
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Microsoft Visual Basic
- Microsoft Excel
The Benefits
The solution that Praxinet developed and implemented, called DecisionNetz, met all BMW’s needs. The user-interface and corporate data was seamlessly integrated. The data extract, data scrubbing, and data loading routines were completely automated to populate the database. Corporate data was centralized and updated in real-time. Rather than spending valuable time compiling data from disparate systems, BMW GFS’s analysts could leverage the data to make better mission-critical decisions.
The new system supported all the reporting and analysis needs of BMW GFS. Praxinet designed a dual-purpose, graphically based user-interface for use by both Executives and SMEs alike. Calculation scripts were constructed to allow for a variety of analysis using sophisticated modeling techniques. As well, DecisionNetz provided a facility for rapid ad-hoc report generation and distribution. In DecisionNetz, both executives and SMEs had the ability to quickly uncover financial, market, and operational trends—allowing BMW to more effectively leverage opportunities and reduce risks.
> Read the case study in PDF
Comstellar Technologies Improves its Budgeting and Reporting Process
THE CLIENT
Comstellar Technologies, Inc. (www.comstellar.com) is the premier organization for architecting innovative companies that will develop core disruptive technologies to dramatically improve the capabilities of the communications network and drive the next generation of communications. Its founders have a proven record of leadership and expertise in the communications industry at companies such as Telcordia, IBM, Sun, StratumOne, Cerent and Siara. Comstellar, with headquarters in Los Altos, CA and Florham Park, NJ, has raised about $150 million in investment capital, led by Accel Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Other investors include Clarity Partners, First Analysis Venture Capital, Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Ventures, Lehman Brothers, Mayfield Fund, Oak Investment Partners, and Soros Private Equity Partners.
THE CHALLENGE
Comstellar needed the ability to view its organization in an easier and more flexible method than their current methods allowed. Comstellar used Microsoft Excel to collect and report its budgeting information. It did not report on its “actuals” at the time since it was a relatively new company. Comstellar needed a way to collect its budget data in one central place instead of on numerous Excel spreadsheets.
Comstellar also wanted a corporate budgeting application that could not only handle its eight companies, but could grow with it.
THE SOLUTION
Comstellar engaged Praxinet to develop and implement Comstellar’s Application for Reporting & Budgeting (CARB). To design CARB, Praxinet collaborated with Comstellar to develop the specific requirements around the budgeting and reporting application. Praxinet also provided Comstellar with valuable business process consulting to optimize its approach to budgeting.
Using the defined requirements and process improvements that resulted from joint requirement planning meetings (JRPs), Praxinet developed the end-user Excel-based budgeting templates and created a multidimensional data warehouse (Essbase cube) to house the budgeting data. The engagement team successfully loaded budgeting and actual data to the Essbase cube. Praxinet’s final development was an interactive, Excel-based reporting application to display budgeting results and rollups.
Praxinet implemented the final application and provided end-user training to complete the engagement.
The Technology
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Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
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Hyperion Enterprise
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Microsoft Windows NT Server
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Microsoft Visual Basic
- Microsoft Excel
The Benefits
The solution that Praxinet developed gave Comstellar a corporate budgeting application that met its current and future needs. The Hyperion Essbase platform provided them with the flexibility and scalability that Comstellar needed as a growing company. CARB served as the first step in a complete budgeting and reporting application that included both client/server and Internet technologies.
The corporate budgeting process was significantly improved. The efficiency of the application shortened the process timeline by weeks, thus lowering operating costs. End-users were now confident that they were working from the same version of data, updated to the second. CARB was designed to receive actual data from Hyperion Enterprise and collect budget data through Excel-based Budgeting Templates, giving Comstellar a comprehensive view of its finances and more accurate prediction and analysis capabilities.
The database and reports that Praxinet developed by leveraging the Business Intelligence (BI) tools included in the Hyperion Essbase platform provided end-users with the ability to conduct thorough analysis and thus make more knowledgeable business decisions.
> Read the case study in PDF
Con Edison Gains a Valuable Analysis Tool to Prepare for Deregulation
THE CLIENT
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $10 billion in annual revenues and $16 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. For additional financial, operations and customer service information, visit Con Edison's web site at www.conedison.com.
Consolidated Edison, Inc. provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its two regulated subsidiaries: Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. and Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc., and its four unregulated businesses; Con Edison Solutions, Con Edison Energy, Con Edison Development, and Con Edison Communications.
THE CHALLENGE
With the era of exclusive utility service territories coming to an end, Con Ed was changing to prepare for the new age of customer choice. Con Ed felt it needed significant information systems improvements to meet customer needs, gain better insights into their Customer Operations, and therefore, enable Con Ed to gain competitive advantage in the wake of deregulation. Under their current systems, data was 8 - 10 days old and did not meet the needs of their ever-increasing speed of business. Con Ed needed an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) tool that would provide it with quick turnaround and empower its decision-making abilities.
THE SOLUTION
Con Ed engaged Praxinet to develop and implement an Essbase solution, allowing it to analyze key performance measures. Con Ed believed that Praxinet possessed the resources to assist in the development and delivery of Customer Assistance Key Indicators using Essbase (JARRS) and had a deep understanding of customer care and operations and the Utilities industry.
The Praxinet engagement team conducted joint requirements planning meetings (JRPs) to define the requirements of the new Con Ed system. The team separated the engagement into several phases, each taking into account future developments and expansion of the solution. The engagement team began with designing and constructing the Essbase cube, which initially contained nine dimensions of data. Once data extract and loading routines were automated, Praxinet created an Adjustment template that allowed end-users with specified access to modify data. The engagement team then created reports that would be available over Con Ed's intranet based on needs determined in the earlier JRPs.
Once the initial data mart and reports were complete, Praxinet collaborated with Con Ed to determine subsequent phases in the development of its IT needs. They determined that Con Ed needed an additional Essbase cube for four additional performance measures. The additional cube would completely integrate with the first phase.
Finally, the engagement team created the necessary documentation and conducted end-user training. It led Con Ed through production roll-out to complete the engagement.
The Technology
- Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
- Wired for OLAP (for EIS)
- Microsoft Windows NT Server
- IRED Application Server
The Benefits
The solution that Praxinet developed and implemented made a significant improvement to the quality of Con Ed's data. Con Ed's analysts went from utilizing data that was 8-10 days old to a process that kept them updated on a daily basis with an added ability for analytical analysis. The analysis focused on cash flow planning, allowing them to perform trend analysis on a daily, monthly, and past year basis. Additionally, collections performance, alternate payment method, on-time payment of bills and deregulation analysis were also catered to.
During this engagement, Praxinet also implemented high-level access to analyze the Essbase data using Wired for OLAP and viewed over the company intranet.
Lastly, the system Praxinet designed was scalable to meet Con Ed's future needs brought on by either growth or changes in strategic focus.
> Read the case study in PDF
Praxinet Provides a Valuable Procurement and Expense Report Tool to a Growing Solutions Provider
THE CLIENT
Praxinet's client, a wholly owned subsidiary of a public telecommunications company, is a worldwide leading provider of e-business integration solutions for companies of all sizes. The company specializes in creating, powering and managing secure e-marketplaces where multiple buyers and sellers can exchange goods and services, collaborate on business opportunities, and share information faster and at lower costs.
THE CHALLENGE
The solutions provider was using a Lotus Notes-based application for its purchase order processes. It had become apparent that it needed a more flexible, user-oriented purchase order system that would allow its personnel to "work smarter." Given the growth of the company and the relative youth of "off-the-shelf" applications, it wanted a solution that would be customizable and scalable. Other segments of the company might be candidates for this system as well, so it was important that the solution could be easily expanded as needed.
Since the company had been working off a Lotus Notes database, the new solution would need to be compatible to minimize the need for re-keying. As well, the company was considering the implementation of PeopleSoft, and the timeline was uncertain. The new solution would need to work both independently or with PeopleSoft.
THE SOLUTION
The company engaged Praxinet to design and implement a system that would improve the efficiency of its procurement and expense reporting processes. To provide both scalability and additional security measures, Praxinet designed a solution that leveraged its client's existing intranet.
Praxinet worked with select end-users and members of its client's finance group to form an implementation team. The team worked with users throughout the company in Joint Requirements Planning (JRP) sessions to define the requirements of the new application. Praxinet determined that the company needed the ability to automate the purchase order approval process, forecast expenses, and track timesheets within a simple, integrated interface. Praxinet also provided its client with valuable business process consulting on how to approach these tasks.
Praxinet separated the engagement into multiple phases:
- Design, implementation, and creation of the databases
- Creation of expense report, purchase order, and timesheet templates
- Creation of automated data extraction and data loading routines
- Creation of an Intranet interface
- Creation of analytical and standardized financial reports
Praxinet implemented the final application, conducted comprehensive user analysis and testing, and provided end-user training to complete the engagement..
The Technology
- Microsoft Internet Information Server
- Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
- Active Server Pages
- Microsoft Excel
- HTML
- C++
The Benefits
Praxinet delivered to its client an intranet solution with exceptional speed and is confident that the solution, called ERPOT, will achieve all the client's goals. It will prove to be a cost-effective replacement for their Lotus Notes-based system and allow the client to avoid the high implementation costs of an "off-the-shelf," third-party packaged solution. As well, the ERPOT system can be easily scaled for additional users or other departments without requiring the additional purchase of potentially expensive seats. Praxinet's solution provides what existing packaged solutions could not: purchase order capability customized and built off the same technology and architecture.
Having been designed to the client's specific needs, ERPOT is intuitive to the end users and requires little training. Having designed ERPOT to work independently, Praxinet effectively eliminated the requirement to train users on the use of the PeopleSoft application.
The web interface allows timely delivery of valuable information as well as reduced paperwork and processing costs. By publishing information on a secure, external platform, Praxinet provided its client with increased security of its accounting system while reducing the bandwidth load on the network.
Praxinet provided its client with a solution that will be flexible and scalable over the long term at a manageable cost. Praxinet's solution will allow its client to "work smarter" using a tool that did not require it to change
> Read the case study in PDF
Praxinet Provides a Valuable Budgeting & Reporting Tool to a Growing Solutions Provider
THE CLIENT
Praxinet's client, a wholly owned subsidiary of a public telecommunications company, is a worldwide leading provider of e-business integration solutions for companies of all sizes. The company specializes in creating, powering and managing secure e-marketplaces where multiple buyers and sellers can exchange goods and services, collaborate on business opportunities, and share information faster and at lower costs.
Our client's Communication Software Group (CSG) is based on the premise that in order to transact business electronically throughout the supply chain you need reliable and secure communications software. Upon this foundation, they provide solutions for message management, data translation, managed services and automated payment integration.
THE CHALLENGE
CSG was faced with a typical problem of growing businesses-they had a budgeting process that grew from spreadsheets. As its business developed into a worldwide software force, CSG realized that spreadsheets could no longer handle the volume nor give them the flexibility of reporting they needed to take their business even further.
Typical complaints included the difficulty sending and retrieving information, difficulty of consolidation, and the user's ability to manipulate the templates, taking away their uniformity. Due to the complexity of collecting the information, very little time was available to spend on analysis.
THE SOLUTION
CSG engaged Praxinet to design and implement a new system to improve their budgeting process. During the investigation, the engagement team determined that the system developed meet several requirements.
The requirements gathering study uncovered several specific yet common system requirements, which included having multi-currency capabilities, customized spreadsheet templates for allocating expenses to product lines, calculations of over 120 derived financial indicators, and flexibility to reflect changes in corporate structure through the acquisition or deletion of divisions or product lines.
The project was separated into overlapping phases designated as follows:
- Creation of data extraction, data scrubbing, and data loading routines
- Design and implementation of the database
- Creation of standardized financial reports
- Creation of budgeting templates
- Creation of ad-hoc reporting capability
The Technology
- Hyperion Solutions' Essbase
- Hyperion Essbase API
- Microsoft's Visual Basic for Application (VBA)
- Microsoft Windows NT Server
- Citrix server
- JD Edwards
- AS400
The Benefits
Praxinet developed and implemented EssBud, an Essbase-based Budgeting and Reporting Application, for CSG. It significantly reduced the budget processing time and did not rely on e-mailing large spreadsheets back and forth. Praxinet automated the data extraction, data scrubbing, and loading routines to migrate from the existing general ledger system. CSG was able to avoid re-keying and diminish manual data entry. By reducing processing time and manual effort, Praxinet helped CSG reduce its costs and increase the amount of time that could be spent on high-value analysis and forecasting.
EssBud provided a full financial reporting capability including Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements. It also allowed for manpower reporting and sophisticated calculations with multi-tiered allocations. Upon its completion, CSG rolled EssBud out to over 20 different countries with both foreign and local currency capabilities. It interfaced seamlessly in both pull and push directions with CSG's JD Edwards back-end General Ledger system. EssBud was also used to help identify how new acquisitions would work within CSG's existing organizational structure, turning around in hours results that took days of tremendous manual effort prior to EssBud.
CSG was so pleased with EssBud that they engaged Praxinet to continue enhancing the system to make it even more comprehensive, which included integrating revenue data to allow for full Product Line P&L's, creating an Excel-based forecasting template, and further customizing the user interface. EssBud is used not only for CSG's annual budgeting process, but also in their monthly "Blue Book" management reporting, monthly forecast process, and one-off special forecasts.
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Exp@nets Empowers its Decision-Making Process by Implementing a BI Solution
THE CLIENT
Exp@nets provides complete networked communication solutions and services to businesses across the United States. Specializing in the integration of voice, data, video, messaging, and web-enabled solutions, Exp@nets provides clients with a single point of contact for all communications and networking needs.
Serving more than 750,000 clients today, Exp@nets is the leading network communications provider for businesses that have between 20 and 500 employees. While national in scope, Exp@nets provides local service and solutions through more than 200 local offices and a team of 4,000 associates including data and voice engineers and technicians, sales consultants and client care representatives.
THE CHALLENGE
Exp@nets had been using a budgeting and reporting application called FINPAK, which was maintained in Microsoft Excel. FINPAK was comprised of numerous linked Excel spreadsheets that were sent throughout Exp@nets' organization to collect actual, budget, and forecast information via e-mail, the LAN, or WAN. Once the input data was collected, the Excel spreadsheets were used to consolidate the financial information and produce various reports.
The limitations of FINPAK included the following:
- Lack of data integrity
- Inflexible budgeting and reporting environment
- Inability to provide multi-dimensional analysis
- Lack of a central storage facility
- Inability to provide Ad-Hoc reports
- Enormous size of Excel spreadsheets
- Timeliness of data gathering and reporting
- Excessive manual effort in maintaining FINPAK
Exp@nets needed an easier, more flexible method of viewing its organization than Excel spreadsheets could provide. It needed a system platform from which to build a corporate consolidation application, handling their 20+ companies. The new system would have to be flexible so as Exp@nets continued to grow by adding companies to its portfolio, it would capture this information and include it in corporate roll-ups.
THE SOLUTION
Exp@nets engaged Praxinet to design and implement a system that would consolidate its corporate data and provide a useful tool that would replace FINPAK and enable its personnel to make more educated business decisions. The system would eventually be called the Corporate Analysis & Reporting Database (CARD).
Praxinet stepped Exp@nets through a requirements definition process to determine the data to be included in an Essbase database and the specifications of CARD's output. They created the Essbase cube from various data sources, such as the Lawson General Ledger and existing FINPAK spreadsheets. Once the OLAP database was created, the engagement team developed reports based on existing FINPAK spreadsheets. Praxinet developed an Essbase Security Model granting users specific access to the Excel templates and reports.
Lastly, the engagement team led Exp@nets through the rollout phase, which included user acceptance testing, end-user training, loading client software onto end-user desktops, and the creation of a Help Desk Support process.
The Technology
- Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
- Hyperion Essbase API
- Oracle RDBMS
- Oracle Financials
- Lawson General Ledger
- Microsoft Windows NT Server
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Microsoft Visual Basic
- Microsoft Excel
The Benefits
The CARD system, a Business Intelligence (BI) solution, has had an immediate impact. CARD has increased the integration of corporate data and the efficiency of data acquisition and loading. It has increased productivity by improving the timeliness and decreasing the manual effort in producing FINPAK reports. It provides the ability to easily add new companies as Exp@nets continues its growth strategy.
Exp@nets is more confident in the integrity of its financial information and its current level of security. All end-users are now confident that they are each working with consistent data. They have one version of the truth.
CARD provides Exp@nets with a central storage and multi-user facility for financial data in order to support management decision-making. Due to the BI tools CARD was built upon, end users have increased ad-hoc data analysis capability that leverages a multi-dimensional database. They enjoy quicker ad-hoc report generation and distribution, while still utilizing Excel as a familiar user interface. Exp@nets' management can now rely on robust multi-dimensional analysis, which provides quick and consistent answers to their everyday business issues.
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General Investment & Development Improves its Budgeting & Reporting Processes
THE CLIENT
General Investment & Development Co. (GID) is a Boston-based privately held, diversified investment firm. This vertically integrated company has substantial interests in multifamily residential and commercial real estate throughout the United States. Since its formation in 1960, GID has developed, acquired, managed, and sold properties in the residential and commercial real estate sectors. In the residential sector, its product types include rental apartment, condominiums, and cooperatives. In the commercial sector, its projects range from office, research & development, light industrial products to historic restorations. For more information, visit www.generalinvestment.com.
THE CHALLENGE
GID needed a major process improvement in their budgeting and reporting processes for both income and expenses. They had been relying on homegrown Access databases and Excel spreadsheets to manage, store, and report on the current budgeting process. Needing to consolidate the income and expenses for over 41 properties located in 17 states and 1.1 million square feet of industrial/flex office space in two states, the process had become unwieldy, prone to error, and painstakingly long. Also, they wanted more visibility throughout the process, not just at the end when everything had been submitted.
GID also needed the ability to view their organization in easier and more flexible ways than its existing process could provide. Due to the complexity of entering, approving, and consolidating the information, very little time was available to spend on analysis and strategic planning.
THE SOLUTION
GID engaged Praxinet and OutlookSoft to develop and implement new budgeting, reporting, and planning applications. In particular, Praxinet and OutlookSoft collaborated to provide a solution for budgeting and planning and a second for the property inventories. The engagement would provide GID with:
- A centralized, multidimensional database to capture and measure Actual, Budget, and Projected data
- A "bottoms up" business planning model for property managers to control their budgets in a centralized, streamlined fashion
- The ability to manage multiple budget and forecast models through strategic plans and estimates
- The ability to predict future performance based on historical trends
- Budgeting Excel input templates that are intuitive to users and provide adequate information to input plans
- The ability to track and monitor the status of planning cycles
- Standard and ad-hoc reporting for multi-dimensional analysis, available on a real-time basis
In addition, the Praxinet team provided training for GID end-users.
The Technology
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft IIS 5.0
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- Microsoft Analysis Services
- OutlookSoft Enterprise Analytics Portal (EAP)
- J.D. Edwards General Ledger
- Microsoft Excel 2000
The Benefits
The new system that Praxinet developed for GID leveraged the strengths of OutlookSoft's EAP solution. By providing a central storage area for Actual, Budget and Forecast information and reports, the solution effectively eliminated long reporting cycles and complex processes. GID was able to avoid re-keying and diminish manual data entry.
It also provided the ability to feed data from multiple sources, such as the underlying JD Edwards general ledger system, a Rental Roll system that tracked rates, and other sources. By reducing processing time and manual effort, Praxinet helped GID reduce its costs and increase the amount of time that could be spent on high-value analysis and forecasting.
The solution leveraged the existing Excel skills in the Finance Department. Using Analysis and Collection, the solution provided GID with easy-to-use, centralized, dynamic, budgeting templates connected to the database for both input and querying. By providing a process for rapid ad-hoc report generation and distribution, Praxinet significantly increased GID's data analysis capabilities. Thus, Praxinet increased GID's business agility by providing the ability to respond to new opportunities with unprecedented speed.
Lastly, since the solution was built using the intuitive OutlookSoft portal interface, the solution allows scalability for the easy addition and/or deletion of companies, properties, and other cost and profit centers. Praxinet designed the solution to fit GID's immediate needs while providing needed flexibility for the long-term.
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Petroleum Heat & Power Corporation Automates its Hedging Management & Reporting
THE CLIENT
Petroleum Heat & Power Corporation (PETRO) is a subsidiary of Star-Gas Partners, L.P., one of the Nation’s leading distributors of propane gas and heating oil. Star Gas Partners, L.P., is a leading distributor of home heating oil, propane and deregulated natural gas and electricity. The Partnership is the nation’s largest retail distributor of home heating oil and the nation’s seventh largest retail propane distributor. Star, through its wholly owned subsidiary Total Gas & Electric, also sells natural gas and electricity in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Florida.
THE CHALLENGE
Starting in June 2000, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, in its Rule 133 (“Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities”), began requiring increased disclosure of a company’s derivative instruments. What’s more, SFAS 133 broadened the definition of a derivative and ended its traditional off-balance-sheet treatment. Derivative gains or losses would have to be recognized in reported earnings. The fair value (marked to market) of derivatives or hedged positions, even those embedded in contracts, must be shown on the balance sheet and hedging efficiencies must be accounted for.
Until SFAS 133, PETRO had been relying heavily on spreadsheets and manual processes to manage its derivatives, hedging, deal process and accounting. Through six types of Excel spreadsheets, PETRO tracked its oil, propane, and natural gas hedging activities. PETRO felt that the process of managing the spreadsheets was becoming increasingly inefficient given their rapid growth and increased trade volume.
PETRO, faced with SFAS 133 compliance, looked at it as an opportunity to provide its staff with a solution that could not only meet the financial reporting and audit trail requirements, but vastly improve their hedging decision-making. Specifically, PETRO hoped to gain a means of more pro-actively reviewing and approving transactions as well as validating transactions within the bounds of their annual purchase budget and the requirements outlined in SFAS 133.
THE SOLUTION
PETRO engaged Praxinet to design, develop, and implement a new hedging activity reporting application that would enable its compliance with SFAS 133. After gathering PETRO’s business requirements, Praxinet compared the features and functions of available packaged solutions to PETRO’s stated requirements and performed a make vs. buy analysis. Ultimately, PETRO decided that a custom-developed, browser-based system would best meet the unique needs specific to its oil, propane, and natural gas hedging activities.
To break out the phases of development, Praxinet divided the application and its development into six major components that included:
- Budgeting – seasonal budgets for validation of hedging activities
- Hedging Activity – capture point for all hedging related data
- GAAP Reporting – reporting required by SFAS 133
- Sensitivity Analysis – see the “what-if” impact of price movements
- Internal Reporting – management reporting
- Administration – file maintenance and system administration
The Technology
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- Microsoft Windows 2000
- Active Server Pages, Javascript, and HTML
- Windows Scripting Host
- ActiveX Objects
- Microsoft Excel Object
The Benefits
The system Praxinet developed for PETRO supported all its financial reporting needs as required by SFAS 133. More importantly to PETRO, it provided its staff with the ability to analyze its hedging activity data with a broader scope and easy-to-use, centralized, dynamic, analysis capabilities connected to one database. By providing a process for rapid ad-hoc report generation and distribution, Praxinet significantly increased PETRO’s analysis capabilities.
Praxinet effectively increased PETRO’s business agility by providing information and reports with a single mouse click that had previously taken days to compile. PETRO now has the ability to respond to changes in the oil, propane, and natural gas commodity markets with unprecedented speed. As a result, the Finance and Purchasing departments felt better aligned through the new system. Now each could access the same information through the new system, which has led to better communication between the two.
Praxinet designed the solution to fit PETRO’s immediate needs while providing needed flexibility for the long-term. “Automating the SFAS 133 requirements was an undertaking that we thought would be extremely difficult and cost prohibitive,” said Jay Palma, PETRO’s Assistant Controller. “However, the team at Praxinet provided a seamless product that not only met the technical SFAS 133 requirements, but also our own internal needs as a business. Our experience with Praxinet was a pleasure and has led us to use them on a number of other projects.”
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Pitney Bowes Takes the Lead with an Innovative Commercial E-Commerce Payment Solution
THE CLIENT
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) is a $4 billion global provider of integrated mail, messaging, and document management solutions headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
The company serves over 2 million businesses of all sizes through dealer and direct operations. Additional information is available at www.pitneybowes.com.
THE CHALLENGE
Pitney Bowes determined that there is a significant opportunity to develop a comprehensive suite of financial products that extend their current brick and mortar financing capabilities to commercial Web sites and their buyers. Its goal was to develop an Internet-based, trusted commerce intermediary capability that they could market to any company needing financial e-commerce capabilities on its web site. However, Pitney Bowes was unfamiliar with the business and technical implications of designing and building a high-performance, Internet-based financial system of this scale. Pitney Bowes knew it needed specialized expertise to both define the scope of the undertaking and develop the solution that would enable a successful strategy for its offering.
THE SOLUTION
Pitney Bowes initially engaged Praxinet to conduct a Project Scoping (Phase 0) study to validate the solution strategy and define the high-level project parameters for the planned offering. The Phase 0 study resulted in Praxinet confirming that Pitney Bowes should develop an escrow-based product called PitneyEscrow as its first offering in the suite of payment instruments. Praxinet used a multi-phase methodology that defined specific activities and the resulting deliverables, in well-defined "logical steps". The key outcome of this approach was a plan that defined costs, resources, and timelines that properly aligned with the project's business and technical requirements. It also lent itself to tight management control and the incorporation of client resources into the "process."
During the Phase 0 study, Praxinet worked with Pitney Bowes to:
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ascertain the overall scope of the project
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clearly articulate high-level business needs
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assess various alternative risk management business models
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support the selection of a business model that meets Pitney's needs
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identify candidate commerce Web sites/ business partner
- construct a high-level plan for the development and implementation of the appropriate technical infrastructure
Based on the results of Phase 0, Pitney Bowes enlisted Praxinet to a multi-phase project to design, develop, and implement Pitney Escrow. It was introduced to the market as a commercial service supporting commerce from a payment perspective. PitneyEscrow leveraged the existing Credit Card, ACH, and wire transfer systems and was designed to tightly integrate with commercial web sites where a commerce transaction is facilitated by an escrow or trusted third-party intermediary. Pitney Bowes continues to engage Praxinet to evolve PitneyEscrow and expand its payment capabilities under the re-branded name of PitneyPay.
The Technology
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webMethods B2B Server
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XML messaging
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Apache Server
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Oracle 8i
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HTML
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Java Server Pages
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Java
- C++ for email API
The Benefits
The solution that Praxinet implemented for Pitney Bowes has provided several benefits. Having experienced Praxinet’s methodology, Pitney Bowes now has a basis for understanding and evaluating its future development approach. PitneyPay (formerly PitneyEscrow) was developed using Pitney Bowes-defined technology and architecture standards. Therefore, its open architecture has provided Pitney Bowes with scalability and a platform for easy enhancements.
PitneyPay has added immediate value by providing Pitney Bowes with a marketable solution to offer companies wishing to conduct business-to-business transactions. It provides high value on-line transaction sites with escrow management, funds management, secure communications, and logistics services. In addition, it provides increased control for both the B2B buyer and seller by securely holding funds until all terms of the purchase are complete.
Pitney Bowes selected Praxinet based on their experience developing Internet applications for the financial industry. “PitneyPay will manage millions of dollars worth of on-line transactions on a daily basis,” says Mike Ryan, Vice President, Pitney Bowes. “Because of this, we wanted a partner who could demonstrate their success creating Internet-based infrastructures that are the foundation of on-line financial services businesses.”
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Real Estate Capital Provider Gets a Better View of the Market
THE CLIENT
Our client is one of the industry's leading global sources for commercial real estate capital through structured finance, equity, and capital markets products with a portfolio of more than $19 billion. The client, with assets of more than US $370 billion, is a global, diversified financial services company with over 20 specialized businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary, our client provides a variety of consumer services, such as credit cards and life and auto insurance; mid-market financing; specialized financing; specialty insurance; equipment management, and specialized services, to businesses and individuals in 47 countries around the world.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client needed an internal solution that could provide its originators and underwriters with a web-based tool for assessing potential real estate deals. Its current process was laborious and time-consuming. Ultimately, our client wanted a system that would allow its users access to the most current market overviews and comparative property data to enable better decision-making during the deal process. In addition, the system would have to allow sales comparables and market data to be added or modified in real-time.
THE SOLUTION
Praxinet had already begun assisting the client in its digitization efforts to sharply focus its global businesses and drive efficiencies in its highly competitive market environment. The major task of that engagement was to consolidate our client's many independent data sources into a data warehouse to provide enterprise-wide reporting with an overall view of company assets, the market, and the customers they serve.
Our client engaged Praxinet to design and implement a web-enabled system that leveraged their previous work. They would call the solution the "Market @ a Glance" website. To support this new application, Praxinet created a new Data Mart to pull all relevant market information together from the data warehouse, third-party data vendors, and an internal deal pipeline system as well as to store user security information and allow for application specific user input.
Utilizing the latest features of Microsoft's 2000 series products, the new web application is able to take advantage of the reporting capabilities of Excel to provide seamless transfer of online reports to local spreadsheet files on the client machine. Praxinet used MapInfo's suite of geographic information systems (GIS) products to geocode all of our client's property data by latitude and longitude, to generate maps, and to perform distance queries against property data in the our client data warehouse.
The Technology
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MapInfo GIS software:
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MapMarker Plus
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MapXtreme
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Spatialware for SQL Server
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MapMarker Plus
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Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Internet Information Server
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Microsoft Excel Active Server Pages
- HTML
The Benefits
The solution Praxinet built for its client integrated all internal market data across the business with data from third party vendors, permitting a single view of the market for any property being considered. In doing so, Praxinet enabled our client to conduct their research in a fraction of the time usually required for gathering such information, thus providing users 'up to the moment' feedback for evaluating the current deal.
With the success of the previous data-warehousing project, the Market Research application was able to leverage the newly consolidated internal data, combined with available third-party data and ongoing user updates and refinements to deliver the most accurate and extensive view of the market in which any given deal was taking place. The ability of our client's originations and underwriting teams to have fast and reliable market data enabled better informed decision-making, and more effective risk evaluation, saving both time and money for the client and its customers.
Once Praxinet assembled the Data Mart, users had a window into the company's on-book assets, pipeline assets, sales comps, rent comps, and a wealth of detailed market demographics available at the click of a mouse in a web browser on the client's corporate intranet.
The result was the creation of multiple online reports that provide business users easy and fast access to the information they need to make the decisions that impact the bottom line. Users can quickly learn the answers to questions that are key indicators about the market in which the property is located: At what point are we in the market cycle? What are the demographics surrounding this property, i.e. top five employers, population rates, employment rates, tenant info, company financial data?
Users can quickly attain a guideline for evaluating a property by analyzing comparative sales and rental data such as tenant name, size, occupancy, anchor tenant, rental rate, and lease type. Users also have the ability to match the current deal to similar deals conducted over the past year.
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UBS | PaineWebber Gains an Enhanced Tool for its Product Managers
THE CLIENT
UBS PaineWebber serves the wealth management needs of more than 2 million clients and employs more than 21,000 in the U.S. UBS PaineWebber is a business unit of UBS Warburg - a subsidiary of UBS AG (NYSE:UBS), headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Additional information can be found on the World Wide Web at www.ubspainewebber.com.
THE CHALLENGE
UBS PaineWebber (UPW) was looking for a major process improvement that would allow its Market Planning and Research Department to analyze its retail commission data. UPW has over 300 branches with over 6,000 brokers. It had been working off a mainframe system with a limited number of static reports and very little analytical capability. Any additional reports had to be requested separately and could take anywhere between a couple hours to several days to get the required data to the managers.
Typical complaints from managers were the long duration needed to get the data and the quality of its integrity once obtained. Typical complaints from analysts were data cleanliness and the amount of time needed to write and execute programs. PW is looking to introduce new technology that will give information to their Product Managers in a much quicker and more informative way.
THE SOLUTION
UBS PaineWebber engaged Praxinet to develop and implement an Essbase Product Manager Application (EPMA). The engagement team conducted initial joint requirements planning meetings (JRPs) to determine UPW's needs. As a result of the requirements gathering study, they separated the engagement into initial steps. The initial phase of the engagement was spent developing Essbase cubes, which called for the creation of a data mart to store adjusted monthly data and another to store unadjusted daily data. The data load processes and calculations were automated and a front-end application was created in Hyperion Analyzer. The engagement team wrapped up the initial project by conducting end-user training.
As part of the initial project, Praxinet collaborated with UPW to determine enhancements and continual development that was in the best interest of UPW's long-term business intelligence needs and architecture. As a result, UPW engaged Praxinet to continue its work with added enhancements that would allow UPW to incorporate external data, and have access to an intranet and Executive Information System (EIS).
Praxinet began the enhancements by updating and optimizing the existing Essbase Multidimensional database. Praxinet then designed the EIS by building upon a form UPW had already developed. The engagement team developed a user-interface that was made available over the company intranet.
The enhancements also required that UPW replace its DB2 mainframe database and incorporate that data into the EPMA database. Praxinet managed the process for UPW to insure data integrity and determine back-up and recovery strategies.
Lastly, the Praxinet engagement team provided UPW with the necessary documentation, formal testing, and end-user training.
The Technology
- Hyperion Essbase Multidimensional database
- Hyperion Analyzer
- WIRED for OLAP
- HP-UX Server
- Microsoft Visual Basic
- Microsoft Excel
The Benefits
The system Praxinet developed for UBS PaineWebber met the needs of their Market Planning and Research Department. EPMA was designed to be easily adopted and changed to reflect the changes in corporate structure through the addition/deletion of branches or products.
EPMA gave UPW the ability to analyze its data with a broad scope (i.e. Branches and Brokers). Since it supports multiple sources for data feeds such as its underlying mainframe system and excel spreadsheets, UPW's IPMs are now confident that they have robust and clean information. UPW now has an easy-to-use, centralized, dynamic, secured front-end application for reporting that supports the needs of its managers with complete flexibility.
EPMA has provided UPW with extremely fast turnaround of product reporting using existing (e.g. Microsoft Excel) and new (Wired for OLAP) client tools. It also gave UPW inter/intranet deployment capabilities. Additionally, EPMA has provided UPW an environment that facilitates rapid and diverse data delivery and manipulation. "On the fly" numeric and graphical representation of data has empowered Product managers/Upper managers with greater insight into trends that are developing in the company and/or marketplace.
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