The BI Group, which has been formed to work with existing SAP clients to help them set up business intelligence strategies and plans, and implement solutions to enhance decision making, will use Cognos` Accelerator for SAP to help users access and interpret their ERP data faster and more easily.
"Our solutions focus means that we will work with all the key BI tools depending on clients` requirements. However, our relationship with Cognos is very important to us as it is a market leader. We are very excited about the capabilities of the Cognos Accelerator for SAP," says Amelia van der Walt, manager of the BI Group.
Cognos Accelerator is a data warehousing and reporting solution for SAP R/3 systems, enabling data extraction, transformation and loading from R/3 into corporate data warehouses, departmental data marts or into OLAP solutions. It takes R/3 data along with non-SAP data and moves it to an open format where it can be easily accessed by Cognos BI tools including Impromptu, PowerPlay, Scenario and 4Thought.
"Companies which effectively integrate their transaction applications strategy with their decision support strategy will maximise the value from each of these investments," says Alan Mosely, Business Partner manager, Cognos South Africa.
"Cognos Accelerator is a unique solution. It is one of the first integrated application suites to address the demanding requirements of building end-user business intelligence applications in a SAP R/3 environment. It provides an accelerated return on investment for business intelligence projects using SAP and gives companies the ability to develop data warehouses that can be leveraged for competitive advantage."
According to Van der Walt, the BI Group`s objective is to allow Enterprise Solutions customers to focus on the benefits contained in the business intelligence stored in their enterprise systems.
"A SAP solution makes a big impact on the transactional operations of an enterprise, but not on management`s decision making processes. It`s hard to get reports out of a SAP environment. But with tools like Cognos`, it becomes a lot easier and quicker to unlock the value that is inherent in the system," she says.
"Simply speaking, end users can expect to view, explore, and analyse information about their area of the business - everyone knows where they stand, what needs improving and what`s working well. Result - better decisions - quicker."
In deploying BI solutions, Van der Walt has identified four key areas that need to be addressed. These are: to overcome SAP`s reporting complexity; the duplication of SAP data in corporate data warehouses; the time spent and cost incurred in preparing a report based on SAP and non-SAP data; and the performance degradation of system performance during report extractions.
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