Customers

Consip

Consip"We have a significant store of information divided between all the stakeholders which helps us make use of synthesis and detailed information from the same source in a simple and fast way."

Patrizia Cannuli
Manager of Data Warehouse Systems, Business Intelligence and CRM
Consip's Purchasing Management

Challenge

Business Intelligence service platform

The information system for network purchases is growing with the Program. Consip has defined architectures to support the monitoring of the various purchasing activities together with the technology platform for the transactions. "The need to separate the operational contexts from decision making and information contexts to guarantee service levels that meet the different needs is very strong," says Patrizia Cannuli.

Once the data warehouse and electronic data marts are implemented, which are the system's "information center", reporting and data analysis are entrusted to BusinessObjects. "The data warehouse system tracks the information, archives it and makes it available to everyone through the business intelligence gateway, which provides support for strategic planning, decisionmaking processes and operational activities."

There is a wide range of different types of users, and profiles are set up so that information which can be used by everyone with the right level of detail is provided. The Purchasing Rationalization Office of MEF's IV Department, the program’s governing body can access the entire store of information. A reporting service is offered to other Administration departments which own the information that affects them. Other authorities or control organizations such as the CNIPA and the Court of Audit may request information that they need. Finally, there are about 180 users within Consip itself.

Approach

Management of information: towards multi channel

The system contains the details of the administration departments and the suppliers that participate in the agreements or tenders, or who can access the Public Administration Electronic Market (MEPA). "This is a considerable amount of data, considering that we have over 50,000 registered users, of whom 32,000 are active customers," says Patrizia Cannuli. "We have information about the 1,000 or more suppliers who are involved in activities, as well as their transactions and types of offer. We are also monitoring transactions made online and by fax both on the agreements and on the MEPA." The system is enriched with data coming from the operational CRM platform. "We are supplying services through the contact center for all our users and for guests wanting information or who need operational support. The platform is closely integrated with the data warehouse and supplies statistics on contacts: type of calls, type of callers etc."

We are evolving towards a more multi channel capability, which permits contact with the client through free phone, fax, email, website. "The intention is have closer integration between the system which manages users' information and knowledge and the operational contact channel with the aim of improving assistance to the users themselves and the provision of better developed services."

Selection of technology supplier

BusinessObjects was chosen after an extensive review of the market taking into consideration such factors as: the vendor’s market share; guarantees they provided; who they were already supplying systems to; the functional coverage of those systems and the number of partner companies able to supply support services.

Patrizia Cannuli recalls "In 2000 we started with the distribution of 'packaged' information through the gateway developed with InfoView and Web Intelligence; clients with greater IT abilities had the Client/Server version. In 2005 we made a leap in quality by purchasing Application Foundation, to improve organization of contents and navigation within the information store, and improve graphic capabilities. We also acquired Set Analyzer for statistical functionalities, and we can divide users with associated behavioral profiles, thus providing marketing support.

At the beginning of 2007 the migration to BusinessObjects XI was approved along with the acquisition of Crystal Reports and Live Office which give us a richer interaction with the system. The migration to BusinessObjects XI is intended to provide us with more flexible security management, more complete web reporting functionalities and system administration benefits."

Results

The line of development: continual evolution

The 2007 Financial Law gives a particular thrust to innovation in public administration. All of the State's peripheral and central administrations (with the exception of universities and schools) are now required to use the online channel to order goods and services. From 1 July 2007, those same administration departments will be required to use MEPA for expenditures under the community threshold. "We are therefore expecting a significant increase in activities and data to manage. The presence of a certified shared information store enables us to manage the program more consciously and effectively: we can confirm that we are achieving the results because we can measure them."

MEF is also entrusted with the task of contributing to analyzing the Public Administration's requirement to support the development of the budget and account headings. "As well as the benefit of working on a common IT system, we are already in a position to have information on the trends in public expenditure for goods and services over the last seven years for many types of goods thanks to the "history" we have in our possession."

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