Packing a Punch

Every successful automotive manufacturing company requires real-time updates
of customers, suppliers and competitive information. According to Umesh Mehta,
vice president, IT, Asia MotorWorks, "Decisions related to sales and quality
management, product development, and production planning and manufacturing are
dependent on timely and accurate information." Recognizing the fact that IT
risks are now business risks, AMWs IT team decided to provide operational BI to
the business users to enable them to create an IT environment that produces
timely and actionable business insights.

A Quick Dossier

AMW used SAP for various business processes like planning, purchase, production,
sales, and finance on Oracle 9i database. However, the SAP standard reports used
were not sufficient, especially for the senior management who required data for
comparing two different horizons on the same data set, for example, warranty
cost of products vis--vis sales, purchasing trends vis--vis sales, sales
vis--vis product costing. This emphasized the need for the availability of user
friendly MIS reports. Even operational users required adhoc analysis capability
with slice and dice, drill-down, drill-through like functionalities.
Furthermore, Mehta opines that insufficient data access slowed down
collaboration and dragged down efficiency in turn making business processes more
expensive. With the recession casting a spell, it led to the adoption of BI at
AMW.

Umesh Mehta, VP, IT, Asia Motor Works

Challenges

Mehta aptly remarks that when cash runs out, thinking starts! So, it was
decided to perform a POC. Different BI tools available in the market were
evaluated and 1KEY was selected. During POC, reports were generated from SAP and
non-SAP data, enabling AMW to understand the data in terms of sales, warranty
trends, spending patterns, production costs, etc. Mehta explains that on being
convinced about the benefits of the project, more value addition was
incorporated through inputs received from internal clients. But, the technical
challenge was to consolidate data to ensure better understanding.

Another key challenge was to define a clear user information needs. The focus
was on the actual needs of the business users who needed up-to-date information.
Standard operating practices were created based on which internal controls and
checks were established.

Three distinct strategic objectives from the mission statement were
identified were to improve business performance through information delivery;
deliver information to the business community reflective of its processes and
their outcomes; and lastly provide appropriate levels of formatting, timeliness,
history, detail and quality as specified in business validated release or
project specifications.

Return on Investment

AMW expects to improve its y-o-y growth by around 10% and also increase its
market share. AMW has noticed significant improvements in the bottom line
including increased productivity, material cost savings, and a more agile
strategy development process with immediate insight into business performance
metrics that will help drive future success. BI has definitely improved the
quality of information as now it is easier to notice clear trends by linking two
data sets. Sophisticated information management of the companys data helps spot
trends more quickly, predict risk more accurately and manage inventory more
efficiently. After the finance function, BI was deployed in sales, marketing,
and field services. With BI, AMW expects 25-30% productivity improvement in a
years time. Approximately, 30% more time was spent on strategic analysis to
improve speed and quality of decision making. In the future, AMW intends to
strengthen its grip over virtualization, security, CRM and dealer management
system, and PLM solutions.

Shilpa Shanbhag

shilpas@cybermedia.co.in