Global Specialty Retailer: Centralized Reporting System

When a client in the retail industry needed a single version of the truth, Accenture helped set up a combined enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence system.

This US-based global specialty retailer has more than 1,000 stores throughout the world. Like many companies of its size, the client felt the need for a centralized system for reporting and performance management. The system would enable smarter, better-informed business decisions to promote high performance.

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The retailer had grown steadily, along the way building a disparate network of systems and reports. A typical report reflected just one silo of the organization. Different reports containing the same metrics might not agree depending on the data source and calculation definitions. These factors resulted in the performance management process varying greatly across the business.

The client knew it could improve performance by creating a centralized performance management system. This would consist of a business intelligence system combined with an enterprise data warehouse housing a single version of the truth. Such a system promised to make timely and reliable data available to improve decision-making across business units.

With the existing system, business users needed to read through pages of details to identify potential issues. The new system would need to create reports that called out the most critical information first. Highlighting issues and exceptions would allow the retailer to manage performance by exception, quickly focusing the business user's attention where it is needed most.

We targeted the client's merchandising and supply chain organization for the first stage of the solution. Future phases would extend to other business units. Accenture oversaw a competitive vendor selection process, resulting in Teradata providing the back-end data warehouse and Microstrategy supplying the front-end reporting tool. In delivering the solution, we helped resolve internal conflicts between business units and IT.

Accenture helped the client create a business performance management strategy and an associated business rhythm. This process required clear, consistent reports to succeed. We worked with the client to define key performance indicators (KPIs), whittling an initial list of hundreds to the essential 40. From these KPIs, we helped create a set of core merchandising reports with multiple views:

• Varying degrees of detail based on the audience level.
• The ability to isolate the exact information being sought.
• Exception highlighting.
• Drill-down for root cause analysis.

A "merchandise scorecard" summarized the KPIs, highlighted exceptions and allowed the user to drill to the appropriate underlying report for more detail.

The global retailer has taken major steps in transforming its business performance management process and reporting system:

• The merchandising and supply chain organizations are significantly more efficient and better managed.
  
  
• The company now has a well-structured business performance management strategy.
  
  
• A set of core reports provide a single look at the business.
  
  
• The new scorecard makes key metrics clearly available to executives and provides quick access to supporting data.

The retailer has built a foundation for the type of enterprise analytics that support high performance.

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