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Umgeni Water achieves optimisation on operations KPIs with QlikView

The self-built BI financial data model lays the basis for future improvement of plant operations performance.


Johannesburg, 18 Oct 2011

Umgeni Water, the KZN water authority, has dramatically improved, hastened and saved on its analysis of resource consumption, and also paved the way for improving operational outputs in the future, with business intelligence (BI) software from QlikView South Africa.

In 2009, the state-owned provider of bulk potable water realised it needed better insight into its use of chemicals, energy and human resources in a drive to better improve operational efficiencies. Ultimately, it realised, this would give greater insight over plant operations and output quality, says Radesh Padayachee, Umgeni Water Business Systems manager.

Build your own

To achieve this, the company requested demos from business intelligence (BI) providers, including Durban-based Insight Consulting. Based on QlikView's features, integration and dashboards, Umgeni went on to request a proof-of-concept (POC) financial data model from the provider, and when that succeeded, signalled that it wanted to embark on development of a full-scale financial data model.

Roy Beni, business analyst at Umgeni, says based on QlikView's reputation for ease of use and development, the authority wanted to build the fleshed-out data model itself, and train its own users, having closely observed the three-day POC. Where needed, Insight Consulting stepped in with guidance, says Upuli de Abrew, Insight Consulting director.

Current and future application

The financial data model remains Umgeni Water's flagship BI application, but the company has extended it to other areas of the business, to enable financial modelling in the areas of lab statistics, telephone cost management and so forth. “Currently we have 18 live data models.”

Umgeni lists its quantifiable savings as paper (reports are no longer printed) and productivity - that is, time spent on analysis. Umgeni's enterprise resource planning system allows it to draw financial data from operational systems, but this could take up to two weeks, says Raj Moodley, Umgeni Water's Financial Controller. “With QlikView, business users have direct access to operational intelligence, without delays.”

“They love it. From plant supervisors tracking electricity use, to engineers measuring wastage, to compliance officials gathering audit stats, users love the point-and-click results, graphical views, quick updates, anytime access and flexible queries. Our entire user base of 54 got to grips with the software in half an hour. As for the financial department, it is the best thing I have had as a business management tool.”

ROI

The abovementioned gains in productivity and paper savings have already translated into impressive return on investment (ROI), Moodley continues.

“We are at financial year-end, and haven't been able to move beyond the financial data models, but in the near future, the software could provide the basis for activity-based costing that will have an impact on plant outputs, which we can then feed into the tariff system to benefit customers.”

The future

What else is in store for Umgeni Water and QlikView's future together?

“We have a best-of-breed enterprise software policy,” says Padayachee. “That is why we have chosen QlikView. The key feature of QlikView is its ability to respond to our information strategy, and there is no doubt that it will play a very strategic role in the delivery of information dashboards/reporting to all levels of the organisation.”

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QlikView South Africa

QlikView South Africa is the local representative and distributor for QlikTech (NASDAQ: QLIK), a leader in business discovery - user-driven business intelligence (BI). QlikTech's powerful, accessible business discovery solution bridges the gap between traditional business intelligence solutions and standalone office productivity applications. Its QlikView Business Discovery platform enables intuitive user-driven analysis that can be implemented in days or weeks, rather than months, years, or not at all. The in-memory associative search technology it pioneered allows users to explore information freely, rather than being confined to a predefined path of questions. QlikView Business Discovery works with existing BI applications, and adds new capabilities: insight for everyone, zero-wait analysis, mobility, an app-like model, remixability and reassembly, and a social and collaborative experience. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, QlikTech has offices around the world serving more than 19 000 customers in over 100 countries.

For more information, please visit http://www.qlikview.co.za.

Insight Consulting

Insight Consulting provides a full range of business intelligence services, specialising in QlikView business intelligence solutions. Consultants help organisations tap their existing data repositories and extract key information elements into QlikView models that are extremely fast, easy to use, and allow for rapid, in-depth analysis of critical business information. Insight Consulting's founding members have worked in the business intelligence industry for several years, and have successfully implemented numerous projects to optimise information delivery across business units. Web: http://www.insightconsulting.co.za.

Editorial contacts

Maria Oosthuizen
DUO Marketing + Communications
(021) 683 8223
maria@duomarketing.co.za