Entremont
The Problem: Limited Reporting Abilities
Four years ago, reporting at Entremont was limited to the Excel files produced by the management controller.
To meet the new needs of the expanding company, Entremont chose SAP BW and Business Explorer Analyzer (BEx), the CadExpert integrator, and brought in Keyrus as a consultant. Although BEx was a very good tool for exploring management control data, it did not cross-reference different information in the same table or dynamically distribute information using a graphical user interface.
From Sales Management to CRM and Logistics
Entremont chose query and analysis solutions from Business Objects to display information and make it accessible in a portal, combining metrics by business unit and integrating external data.
A road map was drafted according to specifications from senior management. The first problem was to help sales management define monthly sales budgets and track volumes, revenue, and prices. The management controller and technical project manager handled product management on the functional side.
In the first quarter of 2004, the contributory margin (sales plus costs) was introduced and has been in production since July 2004, along with CRM metrics (number of visits, numerical distribution, sales operation figures), to calculate the impact of pricing on the sales force. In second quarter 2004, the use of Business Objects solutions was extended to include analysis of supply chain metrics (rate of service, truck filling). Entremont now has a total of 100 BusinessObjects users in France.
A Unifying Management Tool
The new business intelligence (BI) solution is a unifying management tool that globally reduces billing times and allows Entremont to explain and analyze all data. Every month, senior management has immediate access to monthly sales figures that used to take four days to compile. The accelerated BI process now equals a workload savings equivalent to 50% of one person's time.
At the information systems level, users have more independence for report production and can respond quicker.
According to Entremont, the project was successful because:
- It was initiated and supported by senior management and then managed as a number of smaller projects
- Information quality was high
- The change process was well managed
- There was a willingness within the company to question certain business processes
Quick Facts
Challenge
- Implement a single information management tool
Solution
- SAP BW to supply the data mart, BusinessObjects to access and analyze data
Benefits
- One single view of information across all departments
- Faster decision-making processes