Reed Business Information, a leading publisher of specialist business-to-business magazines and directories, is using Seagate Software`s Seagate Holos Business Intelligence software for budgeting and forecasting. Seagate Holos is enabling the company to use information in a focused way as a basis for decision-making.
Reed Business Information, based in Sutton, Surrey, is an operating division of the Reed Elsevier group. Its core business is the publication of specialist business publications and directories. The company publishes over 50 market-leading titles, including well-known names such as Computer Weekly, New Scientist and Kelly`s.
Reed Business Information operates in a fiercely competitive environment. To succeed in such an environment today, companies need sophisticated management information tools. In Reed Business Information`s case, these tools are provided by Seagate Holos, which was implemented following a comprehensive review of the company`s financial systems in 1995.
At the time, the company used mainframe-based financial applications, with Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets for budgeting and forecasting. According to financial systems manager Mike Kinnear, this did not provide the information necessary for Reed Business Information to maintain its competitive advantage.
"We could do a certain amount of budgeting and forecasting, but the system was very inflexible. We certainly couldn`t model the whole business in the way we wanted to. For instance, we couldn`t get an overview of the costs and revenues associated with an individual magazine and subsidiary products such as conferences and exhibitions," he said.
To overcome these problems, the company decided first to implement a new financial application, Oracle Financials, on a UNIX-based client/server platform. This system replaced CA Masterpiece and a custom-built sales ledger and booking system, both running on an old ICL 2966 mainframe. The next step was to choose a Business Intelligence tool that would provide managers and accountants with relevant, timely information. From a list of five suppliers who appeared to offer a quality product, Reed Business Information narrowed the field down to two companies: Seagate Software with Seagate Holos, and Oracle with Financial Analyzer.
"In the end we chose Seagate Holos, not only because it seemed to offer the most powerful and flexible development environment but also because of Seagate Software`s confidence that we could develop our applications quickly. We were also impressed by the importance given by Seagate Software to skills transfer as an essential component of the implementation process," commented Kinnear.
The new solution was installed in April 1996. Seagate Software provided consultancy services during the early stages of the project. After being shown the key principles at the outset, the Reed Business Information team was then able to perfect its skills under Seagate Software`s guidance.
"The Seagate Software consultants were able to show us how easy it is to extract and manipulate data from Oracle Financials. Starting with their expert help on small prototypes, we were able to build a comprehensive Business Information system on time and under budget," said Kinnear.
The first application to be developed was the budgeting application. It was in production within a month of the start of the project, with the forecasting extension ready after another month. Although users were initially wary of giving up the spreadsheets they were familiar with, they participated eagerly in the project as soon as they realised the benefits that Seagate Holos would bring them.
Reed Business Information has since developed three further Seagate Holos applications: General Ledger reporting and drill-down; ad hoc reporting on various ledger systems; and electronic report delivery. These applications run on the same four-processor HP 9000 Model T500 server as Oracle Financials, with a 10 Gb Oracle 7.3 database. The data used by Seagate Holos comes from the Oracle Financials ledger tables and from custom-built tables. The clients are PCs running Windows 3.11 or Windows 95. Currently, Seagate Holos has around 160 users within Reed Business Information.
According to Kinnear, Seagate Holos has proved to be excellent at extracting and manipulating data from Oracle Financials. He claims that monthly general ledger reporting, delivered electronically through Seagate Holos, is much more effective and efficient than Oracle Financials alone. More generally, Seagate Holos is enabling the company to use information in a much more focused way as a basis for decision-making. For example, there is now a much better understanding of the profitability and impact of activities such as conferences and exhibitions, which can be compared with an accurate budget and forecast.
"Our end-users are very enthusiastic, especially about report delivery, which allows them to see the overall picture and to get into the detail, all from the same starting point. From the business manager`s point of view, a great deal of time is saved through not having to wade through a lot of unnecessary information." said Kinnear.
Further time savings result from the fact that, when users are looking for specific information, they can access the system directly rather than having to request and wait for a printed report. This has eliminated a great deal of the clerical work previously associated with supplying and distributing information. The new, simplified processes are backed up by a robust, reliable platform that is much easier to manage than the fragmented spreadsheets used in the past.
According to Kinnear, most future developments related to Reed Business Information`s financial systems will use the Seagate Holos solution. As people become more aware of the possibilities, they are realising that there is a great deal they can do with the system. Many ideas are currently circulating and Kinnear and his team have plans to develop systems for balance sheet forecasting, cash flow analysis, strategic forecasting and promotional expenditure analysis.
"Seagate Holos is a first-class product. Its OLAP concept is key to our approach to meeting needs for Business Information; it brings the data in ledger systems to life as information, not just as flat reports. We have become more flexible and reactive in terms of controlling information, and have been well placed to maintain our strong market-leading position," concluded Kinnear.
Technical Information
Hardware: HP 9000 Model T500
Database: Gb Oracle 7.3
Business Application: Oracle Financials
Quote
"From the business manager`s point of view, a great deal of time is saved through not having to wade through a lot of unnecessary information."
Mike Kinnear, Financial Systems Manager, Reed Business Information.
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