This series of 12 articles by Allen Messerli describes an enterprise data warehouse and how it can be used to run the business, and quantifies dramatic business improvement potentials for the manufacturing industry. Part 1 begins with an overview of the series and a description and scope of the enterprise data warehouse.
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Characteristics of the manufacturing enterprise continue to change at an ever-increasing pace. Globalization or consolidation of supply chains, outsourcing of manufacturing and distribution operations, emerging markets growth, mergers, acquisitions, Six Sigma quality and lean manufacturing processes, and financial reporting regulatory requirements are all driving the need for more comprehensive and timely enterprise information. Yet these same trends challenge IT organizations’ abilities to deliver the information needed to manage manufacturing enterprises.
Many manufacturing companies are spending hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars or euros on ERP (enterprise resource planning) projects to improve and standardize their operational processes. Many years are required to implement these process changes and systems throughout large manufacturing enterprises. Meanwhile, the ERP systems evolve and change continuously, so multiple systems and versions will continue to exist in most large companies. Acquisitions, mergers, and manufacturing outsourcing almost assure that the enterprise changes faster than processes and systems can be standardized. Thus, few companies are close to attaining the “standardized processes” goal, and even fewer have a single enterprise-wide ERP system.
The primary focus of ERP systems is on operational processes – not on business intelligence. Some standard reporting capabilities may be included, but comprehensive decision making and business intelligence capabilities are not typically available from ERP systems. Thus, even those companies that have attained satisfactory ERP implementation find that they do not have the business intelligence capabilities required for strategic or tactical decision making.
Many manufacturing executives have mandated that they be provided with executive “dashboards” that highlight key performance indicators (KPIs) for their organizations. But, lacking comprehensive, standardized, and integrated information sources, executive dashboards are being assembled via cumbersome processes from many sources of information. They are often updated too infrequently, too late, and provide inadequate detail for decisions or action.
An enterprise data warehouse (EDW) is the best solution for business intelligence. The EDW provides comprehensive and timely information meeting the requirements of all levels of executives, management, and all knowledge workers throughout the organization who use information to make decisions. The EDW has been proven to enable a new and better way of managing a manufacturing enterprise.
Series Overview
Implementing an enterprise data warehouse offers the opportunity to dramatically improve business results. This series of 12 articles describes what exactly an EDW is and how it can be used to run the business, and quantifies dramatic business improvement potentials. Continue reading for a more complete understanding of what it is and what it can do for your enterprise. Many variables affect the specific opportunity for your company, but the impact will be substantial. An EDW represents one of the best investments you can make.
Implementing an enterprise data warehouse offers the opportunity to dramatically improve business results. This series of articles describes the enterprise data warehouse and thirty major business improvement opportunities for manufacturing companies. Their combined scope encompasses the entire enterprise and realistically represents reinventing business.
- Part 1 provides and overview of the series and gives a definition and scope for the EDW
- Parts 2 – 6 describe and quantify 30 major benefit opportunities
- Part 7 contains 10 business analysis examples for enabling benefits
- Part 8 summarizes benefit potentials as a percent of annual revenues
- Part 9 describes 30 best practices to ensure success
- Part 10 briefly describes the governance process
- Part 11 is a recommended organizational structure
- Part 12 summarizes the series
Description and Scope of the Enterprise Data Warehouse
An EDW contains integrated, standardized, detailed, comprehensive, current, and historical data, providing a single source of business intelligence supporting strategic, tactical and operational decision making for an enterprise.
Enterprise means that it includes data from all functional areas and business units, and some external sources. It is designed to be used by all knowledge workers, customers, channel partners (wholesalers, distributors, dealers, and retailers), suppliers, and prospective customers (often the global public). For very large conglomerates, “enterprise” may be defined as a segment or major business unit of the parent company, provided that segment does not share common customers, suppliers, or supply chains with other segments of the business.
Enterprise data warehouse means standardization and integration of current and historical detailed data in one central database.
Achieving the benefits described in this series requires
atomic detail – all available data about each transaction and event, in addition to supplier, channel partner, customer, product, material, bill of material, and hierarchies (“master data”) relevant to business intelligence. This data must be
standardized, requiring transformation of data from inconsistent sources into consistent data formats and content in the EDW.
Normalization is required to avoid data duplication and assure that all data relationships are defined to support “any question, any time.” Historical detail is kept as long as required for the business or industry – often seven to ten years, but in some cases indefinitely.
Achieving all the benefits described in this series also requires that the EDW is current, or
active.
Active is defined to mean that data is loaded
from all source systems at least daily – but more frequently as required. Current information enables timely tactical and operational analytics and decision making.
Active also means that the EDW provides frequent or continuous monitoring of actual business status and results against defined goals, with messaging to responsible people or feedback of data to operational systems.
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