Confidential customer
Sector
Activity
Manufacturer of raw materials for the cosmetics and food supplements industries.
A manufacturer wanted to pull together data from over 20 subsidiaries—located on four continents and each using a different ERP system—in a single data warehouse. The aim of the project was to dispense with Excel spreadsheets, optimize operating costs, work more efficiently with international clients, and quicken the decision-making process.
The company called on Hardis Group to help it design, develop, and deploy the IT system, and to set up the databases, workflows, and dashboards.
Hardis Group completed all four components of the project: data collection (via the Talend ETL tool), storage (via raw data logging and calculated indicators), processing (primarily using the Talend ETL tool to calculate key indicators), and distribution (via the Microsoft Power BI dashboard). Now, the standardized technology platform is helping to drive up standards in data quality and, therefore, reporting—and to bring the manufacturer closer to real-time operation.
Project objectives
- Set up a single data warehouse for all countries, as a central point for sales, finance, procurement, and operational data.
- Define common indicators and calculation tools to standardize reporting in all 22 countries—individually and collectively—and to support decision-making.
- Build shared, user-friendly, group-wide dashboards, dynamically updated with real-time data.
Work performed
- Identify requirements: dashboards, necessary data, technical requirements
- Define and help to deploy the system architecture
- Set up three databases for each data level:
- Common Data Model: for raw data
- Unified Data Model: for goldenized data reconciled between all subsidiaries
- Analytic Data Model: for standardized data, calculated and prepared for distribution
- Develop Talend workflows for exporting data from individual subsidiary databases or importing flat files provided by subsidiaries, for transformation and sharing between databases
- Develop dashboards in Microsoft Power BI
- Provide change-management support and help establish a group-wide data-focused structure, as well as data goldenization, quality control, and information management processes
Benefits
- Dramatic increase in data analysis staff efficiency
- Comprehensive overview of activity, group-wide or per subsidiary
- Standardized and improved data quality
- Increased support for local and general decision-making
- Technology platform that can be reused to develop new data-related themes
- Concept could be extended to partners to plan ahead for production work
- Coming soon: ability to share information with clients in real time