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    SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort | Best- in-Class Bi serviCe and solution Providers

    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    the world is in the midst o a businessintelligence revolution. BI has beenevolving beyond the domain o analysts who

    construct elaborate queries and reports based

    on weeks-old or even months-old data. Withdynamic dashboards, sizzling perormance,

    and predictive capabilities, BI has been

    spreading outside the realm o power users

    and, with almost viral speed, has been land-

    ing on the desktops o executive manage-

    ment and department heads.

    This is a revolution with its own maniesto,

    based on ve very specic precepts:

    BI must be actionable.

    BI must be intuitive.

    BI must be collaborative.

    BI must be ast.

    BI must be accessible.

    Actionable BI

    Driving Insight into Action

    BI must provide constructive insight based

    on the data collected in your transactional

    system and then turn that insight into action.

    BI should be less about making people more

    ecient in their business processes thats

    or your transactional system. Instead, BI

    should be about making people more eec-

    tive. For example, a transactional system

    records what customers buy and how much

    Sanjay J. PoonenExecutive Vice President

    and General Manager

    Business Analytics,

    Line o Business, Industry

    Solutions and Sales

    SAP

    B ifm

    r

    S-5 Assembling the BI Jigsaw Puzzle

    Infosys Technologies Limited

    S-7 Bring BI to Your Logistics Processes

    Siemens IT Solutions and Services GmbH

    S-9 6 Ways to Add Flexibility to Your

    Planning Eorts

    T-Systems

    S-11 Reports and Analytics: Only as Goodas the Data That Feeds Them

    IBM

    S-13 Better Business Through

    In-Memory Analytics

    IBM Global Business Services

    S-14 Lowered Costs or ImprovedPerormance? Achieve Both

    Dolphin

    S-15 Winning Battles in the BI War Zone

    Every Angle US

    S-16 Better BI Starts with Better

    Data Quality

    Capgemini

    S-17 Insight at the Speed o Thought: Its

    Possible with the Right BI Formula

    Fujitsu

    S-18 BI Can Be a Long Journey So HowDo You Start Delivering ValueNow?

    Deloitte Consulting LLP

    S-19 A Sure Path to Insight Across All o You

    Data Sources Any Time, Any Place

    Atos Origin

    S-20 Not Yet Satisfed with Your

    BI Results?

    HP

    Download this special report at

    sapinsider.wispubs.com

    INSIDE THIS SPECIAL REPORT

    Beginning last all and continuing through 2011, SAP a s pas hav b

    pushg h buas aa busss g (Bi) wh a wav w busss

    aays sus:

    SAP BusinessObjects BI and EIM 4.0, whh bg gh Bi a ps ma

    maagm (eiM) hgy a way ha has v b b

    SAP BusinessObjects Event Insight, a w su h a-m pssg a m-

    g busss vs

    SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications, ug 16 usy-spf sas (wh

    zs m h pp)

    SAP BusinessObjects Mobile, vg busss aays a sgh ay mb

    v, aywh

    SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, a hs Bi su has asy s up, asy

    ga, a asy us

    SAP High-Perormance Analytic Appliance (SAP HAnA) swa, whh maks a-m Bi

    pma a ay

    SAP BusinessObjects enterprise perormance management (EPM) and governance, risk, and

    compliance (GRC) solutions, whh v gazaa agm a uy Grc avs

    ths w pus ps a u vu bgg gh asaa a

    ps aa. thy u hgs a apabs ha w hag h way mpa-

    s hk abu a us Bi suh ha Bi w hag h way hy busss.

    SAPinsiderask SAP exuv V Ps a Ga Maag Sajay J. P

    xpa h mak yams ha a vg hs vu, a whas usms.

    th

    Best-Run Businesses Innovate Better with SAP

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    Best- in-Class Bi serviCe a nd solution Providers | SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort

    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    they pay or it. But a BI system should tell users which

    customers are more protable than others, and then

    provide options or increasing that protability.

    Intuitive BI

    Consumer-Grade Usability

    Because companies have a wide range o skill sets

    among their workorces, BI should also employ

    consumer-grade usability. The average persons rame o

    reerence regarding accessing inormation today is now

    based on the Internet. When we use our browser at

    home, we can easily and instantly access the inor-mation we need.

    So why should it be that, when we get to the oce,

    our abilities to locate inormation arent as ecient or

    as eective as using a search engine? Consumer tools

    SAP BusinessObjects BI and EIM 4.0

    Other name: Aurora (former code name)

    Availability: Released November 2010

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 and

    SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Inormation Manage-

    ment 4.0 bring together SAPs BI and EIM suites in a

    way that has never been done beore: The combinedtechnology makes it easier to access relevant inorma-

    tion, allowing people to know their business, transorm

    their decision making, and ultimately achieve remark-

    able results. The solutions expand SAPs ootprint in

    the emerging business analytics category.

    With the 4.0 releases, SAP continues to deliver on

    its vision o providing user autonomy by exposing

    data rom any source in plain business terms with a

    new and enhanced semantic layer. SAP increases

    users ability to access and analyze data without ITs

    involvement by oering a unied, more productive

    user experience across the entire BI suite. By providing

    both BI and EIM solutions on one scalable, integrated

    platorm, SAP lowers costs and shortens implementa-

    tion times, thereby making trusted inormation a

    reality across all lines o business.

    Learn more about the 4.0 releases at www.sap.

    com/analytics or visit the business analytics blog at

    http://blogs.sap.com/analytics.

    th nw saP Bobjc Bi eiM s

    SAP BusinessObjects Event Insight

    Availability: Released Q4 2010

    SAP BusinessObjects Event Insight is SAPs solution or

    collecting, ltering, managing, aggregating, propa-

    gating, and publishing business events in a consistent,

    contextual way in an open and comprehensive

    ramework across multiple servers, locations, and com-

    panies. The sotware can layer on top o your existing

    landscape to push inormation in real time and auto-

    mate the process to nd relevant data.

    SAP BusinessObjects Analytic Applications

    Availability: 16 industry-specic apps available now

    SAP teamed up with select partners to create 16 end-

    to-end solutions across 10 industries to address

    specic BI-driven business processes, such as trade

    promotion eectiveness analysis within the consumer

    products industry and sales analysis or retail.

    These scenarios are built with an extensible reer-

    ence architecture that essentially allows your SAP

    team to snap them into place, with a typical deploy-

    ment time o eight weeks. Developing these assets

    rom scratch would take most companies more than

    six months and would involve a considerable expense,

    but SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications are less

    expensive, can be deployed aster, and are built on a

    backbone o industry best practices.

    What ollows is a handy reerence guide to some o the new BI and enterprise inormation

    management (EIM) tools and technology available rom SAP. For more inormation about any

    o these products, contact your SAP representative or visit www.sap.com/analytics.

    A

    Re

    aders

    Guid

    e

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    SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort | Best- in-Class Bi serviCe and solution Providers

    S-Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    and processes have become the gold standard. People

    expect a search-based experience like the one Google

    provides. They want the breadth and depth o applica-

    tions that they nd in the Apple App Store. They want itnot just on their computers, but increasingly on mobile

    devices, like iPads or BlackBerry smartphones, and they

    want it now. Users expect that business applications will

    behave just like their consumer-grade applications.

    Collaborative BI

    Collaborative Decisions Within and

    Outside the Firewall

    Given the extended nature o todays business networks,BI should enable collaboration inside and outside o a

    companys rewall and should be agnostic with any

    kind o data. Once again, the consumer world is leading

    the business world here. People are collaborating more

    For more inormation on these analytic

    applications, please see the article

    Purpose-Built, Industry-Specic Insight

    Thats Eective andAgile? by Je Veisin this January-March 2011 issue o

    SAPinsider(sapinsider.wispubs.com ).

    SAP BusinessObjects Mobile

    Availability:

    Now: Support or BlackBerry, Windows

    Mobile, and Symbian devices, as well

    as a prototype or iPad

    Coming soon: Advanced visualization

    with new visual rameworks, smart

    search, enhanced platorm integration,

    and simplied conguration and de-

    ployment

    Later in 2011: Full support or iPad,

    iPhone, and other devices, with aug-

    mented reality and social networking

    prototypes

    PC World has declared SAP Business-

    Objects Explorer one o the top 15

    essential iPad applications or work. As a

    prototype, SAP launched SAP Business-

    Objects Explorer or iPhone and iPad as

    soon as those devices came out. Today,

    the app has been downloaded by hun-

    dreds o thousands o users.

    SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is part o

    SAP BusinessObjects Mobile, which will

    make SAPs BI tools available on all mobile

    devices, not just Apples products.

    SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand

    Availability:

    Since 2006 (today, this is the most pop-

    ular SaaS BI solution)

    SAP has long been a pioneer in BI

    sotware-as-a-service (SaaS), and SAP

    BusinessObjects BI OnDemand is the

    world-leading SaaS BI solution or

    good reason. Its simple to use, requiring

    no training. Its comprehensive, with a

    wide range o tools. Its secure. And its

    priced modestly.

    To learn more, see A New Style o

    Working Generates New Needs and

    New Solutions or Personal Productivity

    by Holly Simmons in the October-

    December 2010 issue o SAPinsider.

    SAP High-Perormance Analytic

    Appliance (SAP HANA)

    Availability:

    Now: SAP HANA 1.0, as a hardware

    appliance rom select partners

    Later in 2011: Version 1.5

    When SAP HANA launched late lastyear, it brought unprecedented real-time

    perormance to business intelligence.

    Developed with SAPs hardware partners,

    this multi-purpose, in-memory appliance

    leverages the SAP in-memory analytic

    engine to process and analyze massive

    quantities o transactional data to provide

    immediate real-time insight into key

    business operations.

    SAP expects SAP HANA to become the

    backbone or many o its analytical appli-

    cations, as well as many o the core

    applications in the SAP Business Suite.This groundbreaking technology will help

    expand the perormance gains o custom-

    ers, allowing them to do real-time BI

    analytical scenarios.

    SAP has tested SAP HANA against

    databases holding up to 460 billion

    records and ound that the appliance

    was able to scan millions o records in

    milliseconds.

    SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise

    Perormance Management (EPM) and

    Governance, Risk, and Compliance

    (GRC) Solutions

    Availability:

    Now: Complete portolio o EPM and

    GRC solutions

    Later in 2011: New EPM and GRC

    solution releases

    EPM solutions can help businesses capi-

    talize on the value o their existing data

    assets to become more agile and gain

    organizational alignment, visibility, and

    condence. GRC solutions can align and

    uniy your governance, risk management,

    and compliance initiatives to help reduce

    risk exposure, make more eective deci-

    sions regarding strategy, and optimize the

    organizations overall perormance.

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    Best- in-Class Bi serviCe a nd solution Providers | SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort

    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    than ever, with social networks and a wide range o

    networked applications. In business, this has become

    critical. Our customers want to analyze their spend

    and collaborate with suppliers in China, manuacturers

    in Eastern Europe, and developers in India. A BI

    system cannot stop at the company rewall when so

    many business decisions need to involve suppliers

    and customers.

    Fast BIReal-Time Insight

    BI should enable analytic decisions in any type o busi-

    ness process, within any industry, and on any device

    all in real time. Even a decade ago, no one imagined that

    the old adage time is money would be measured in

    milliseconds. It is no longer sucient to wait or a busi-ness analyst to run a query and give you an answer

    tomorrow based on last weeks data. Todays companies

    want greater agility so they can make decisions based

    on todays inormation, now. They want to know, in real

    time, i a change in demand or supply could have an

    impact on their inventory levels.

    Accessible BIAny Time, Any Place, to Any Person

    BI should reach all people within the organization to

    inorm, deliver contextual insight, and transorm the

    way that the organization makes decisions, ultimatelydriving remarkable results. Whether the decision is

    tactical, operational, or strategic in nature, business data

    needs to be delivered in a way individuals can

    consume it on their mobile devices, over the web, and

    on their desktop.

    Inormation InnovationBased on these precepts, BI users are demanding the

    business insight they need, in the context they need it,

    via any medium they require, to help make the most

    inormed business decisions possible. And the products

    supporting this revolution will be constantly evolving because, at its heart, the business intelligence revolu-

    tion is all about information innovation.

    BI is not like ERP and business applications, which

    require a state o constancy. ERP and other transaction-

    based systems are, by their very nature, supposed to do

    the same things tomorrow that they do today. But the

    business analytics environment should be constantly

    changing and evolving. I companies are still looking at

    the same report they were looking at two years ago,

    thats a sign that theyre not using their data to its best

    eect to innovate.

    The innovation cycle and the changes to inormation

    environments are typically much aster and more

    exible than in the standard business application.

    Companies cant innovate withoutinormation. At the

    same time, just collecting inormation by itsel is

    meaningless. Businesses must do something with it or

    it to be useul.

    Lead the BI Revolution with the

    Support o SAP and PartnersThe SAP BusinessObjects roadmap puts our products

    and those o our partners squarely in ront o this need

    or inormation innovation, with a product pipeline

    that not only has anticipated this transormation o BI,

    but will, over the coming weeks and months, drive the

    market and the acceptance o this approach. All o thenew, recently-announced products speak to the require-

    ments o the new BI.

    Over the next several pages, you will nd out how our

    partners are lending their talents to this revolution.

    Through collaboration with these partners, our custom-

    ers will have the depth and breadth o BI tools needed

    to drive this revolution:

    Weve relied heavily upon management consultants

    andsystem integrators because BI is no longer about

    implementing technology; its about changing your

    business.Oursoftware partners, with their deep knowledge in

    specic industries, have shared their expertise to

    make our SAP BusinessObjects tools more relevant

    and meaningul.

    And without the support o our hardware partners,

    the ability to manage real-time BI perormance with

    SAP HANA would never have become a reality.

    Only with sotware and hardware working in concert

    could SAP realize the gains in perormance that will

    enable our customers to conduct powerul analysis in

    real time with todays data.To realize this inormation innovation and deliver

    on the ve precepts o the new BI, SAP and its partners

    will continue to release new tools and business

    processes that will provide business intelligence how

    and when you want it. It will be available on-premise,

    on-demand, or on-device. It will be seamless; the same

    product will work whether customers install it them-

    selves, use our on-demand platorm, embed it in another

    application, or access it through a mobile device. And

    it will be agnostic, integrating structured and unstruc-

    tured data rom SAP or non-SAP sources.n

    I companies are

    still looking at the

    same report they

    were looking at

    two years ago,

    thats a sign that

    theyre not using

    their data to its

    best eect

    to innovate.

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    SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort | Best- in-Class Bi serviCe and solution Providers

    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    Assembling the BI Jigsaw Puzzle

    How to Put Together the Strategic Pieces o Your Business Intelligence Initiative

    Rajesh Krishnamurthy

    Vice President and Global

    Head SAP Practice

    Inosys Technologies

    Limited

    What started o as simply a data warehousehas graduated to include terms like reporting,business intelligence (BI), analytics, and enterprise

    perormance management (EPM). The evolution o

    newer technology and inrastructure has also ushered

    in sel-service BI, on-demand BI, on-device BI, and

    various data warehouse appliances to allow in-memory

    computing and true real-time analytics.

    With BI tools and buzzwords evolving at nearly

    the speed o light, where does this leave enterprises

    that are trying to achieve the most value rom their

    BI initiatives? First, organizations need to nd out

    where they stand on the maturity curve or BI-peror-

    mance management (PM), a term that Inosys uses to

    cover everything rom operational intelligence to stra-

    tegic perormance management and measurement.

    Companies should also understand the dierent com-

    ponents o a BI strategy, and how they can assemble those

    pieces eectively using support services like Inosyss

    BI-PM oerings, which support each acet o a BI strategy,

    its implementation, and its continuous evolution.

    Where Are You on the BI-PMMaturity Curve?Figure 1 shows a typical maturity curve or organizations

    implementing BI capabilities. Ideally, organizations should

    start by putting in place BI platorms (such as SAP

    NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW)

    or the SAP BusinessObjects BI platorm) and enabling

    operational reporting, and then move to working withprocess/industry-specic analytics (such as SAP Business-

    Objects analytic applications). Building on this BI ounda-

    tion, companies should then enable analytical reporting

    and strategic dashboards; close the loop between strategy

    and execution by implementing EPM tools, such as SAP

    BusinessObjects EPM solutions; and ensure legal and man-

    agement compliance using tools such as SAP Business-

    Objects governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions.

    For most companies, its likely that these steps will

    not happen in perect synergy and will evolve over time

    with strategy coming rst or some, and execution

    coming rst or others. However, at any point, it is para-

    mount to have a holistic strategy in place and a roadmap

    to keep moving up the maturity curve, increase business

    value, and do more with your BI implementation.

    Putting Together the BI-PM

    Jigsaw PuzzleInosys considers the dierent components o a BI strat-

    egy part o a jigsaw puzzle (see Figure 2 on the next

    page). All o the pieces need to t together to ensure

    complete value, but each can also be looked at indepen-

    dently to build more maturity and, thus, more business

    value. Lets look at the six key pieces o this puzzle.

    1. Business KPI and Analytical Framework

    As the core o a BI solution, your KPI ramework links

    implementation with business strategy. Based on your

    business goals, the right KPIs and their denitions are

    essential i you want to accurately measure your e-

    ciency. The KPI ramework needs to include KPIs at

    dierent levels to ensure that you have an analysis trail

    to drill down into the details that connect your strategic

    KPIs with operational processes. Prebuilt analytical

    solutions also provide or congured, industry-specic,

    Capability

    level

    Time/technology investment

    Focus on operational efficiencythrough process automation

    and improvements

    12

    3

    4

    5

    6

    Comprehensivelyupdate basictransactionprocessingsystems toeliminate legacyproblems

    Link transactionsprocessingsystems withinand across eachbusiness processin the value chain

    Use transactiondata for functionaland operationalreporting

    Create an integrated BIsystem for performanceanalysis acrossfunctions and levels inthe organization

    Expand the scope of BI and EPMsystems to include critical businessinformation beyond transactiondata, and integrate it withfinancial/non-financial information

    Dashboards and scorecards User-friendly, drill-down, synthesis

    capabilities

    Leverage a strategyexecution framework to aidin strategic decision making

    Implement closed-loopstrategy with EPM

    BI infrastructureand applications

    Integrated BI and EPM: KPIdashboards and scorecards

    Figure 1q A typical

    BI-PM maturity curve

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    Best- in-Class Bi serviCe a nd solution Providers | SAP inS ider SPeciAl rePort

    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    analytical scenarios that support aster implementa-

    tions and returns on investment. These can be consid-

    ered when making build versus buy decisions.

    2. Inormation Delivery and Discovery

    Your business users need the ability to view and analyze

    KPIs intuitively and easily, with the right level o inor-

    mation being delivered to the right people in the right

    ormat at the right time. But to determine the appropri-

    ate BI solutions or your users, you need to understand

    how your employees work. For example: What would

    they do with these KPI reports? How requently would

    they access them? How up-to-date would they need the

    data to be?

    3. Inormation Management

    Data ownership and governance is critical to ensuring

    that the business makes decisions that drive growth.

    Enterprise data in most organizations lies in multiple

    systems and across business units, unctions, and geog-

    raphies. You need data rom disparate sources to be

    extracted, cleansed, transormed, and integrated to

    provide a single view across the organization and to

    ensure data consistency and traceability.

    4. Enterprise Perormance Management

    Business agility requires everyone in the organization to

    be able to execute on changing business priorities andstrategies. Companies need to cascade strategies across

    all levels to ensure alignment with execution; they should

    also monitor the progress o these strategies and adjust

    them to arising risks. Similarly, nancial consolidation

    should ensure that their compliance eorts match up

    with changing standards and process controls. Organiza-

    tions should also measure protability across products,

    customers, and geographies, and optimize costs to reduce

    overhead and improve eciency.

    5. Architecture

    I KPI rameworks are core to strategic objectives, BI

    architecture is core to execution; it can make or break

    your chances o success. While aligning with the enter-

    prise architecture, BI architecture needs to provide or

    a global template but also be exible or regional and

    local variations. It should be driven by perormance,

    scalability, and reusability to reduce costs.

    6. Governance Model

    The governance model oten acts as the glue that holds

    all o the pieces together rom the organizational

    structure, to an engagement model, to the development

    process, to quality assurance, to value measurement

    and articulation, to ensuring increasing adoption o

    your BI solution.

    Let the Value o Your BIInvestments Unold

    While there are many buzzwords and best practicesaround BI solutions, its important to always keep

    your objectives and strategy in mind and build a

    roadmap that best meets your

    requirements.

    With over 1,500 consultants or

    SAP NetWeaver Business Ware-

    house (SAP NetWeaver BW) and

    SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions,

    Inosys can help your enterprise

    t together the pieces o the BI

    jigsaw puzzle and achieve an e-

    cient, eective BI landscape thatsustains business agility and con-

    tinuously increases ROI and busi-

    ness value.

    To learn more about our solu-

    tions and services and to read

    blogs written by our industry

    experts, visit www.inosysblogs.

    com/sap/business_intelligence

    and www.inosysblogs.com/

    sap/enterprise_perormance_

    management.n

    Information ManagementMultiple Transactional Systems

    Enterprise PerformanceManagement

    Spend and Supply Performance Management

    Information Delivery and Discovery

    GovernanceModel

    A

    rchitecture

    BI

    Organization

    Engagement

    Process

    Development

    Process

    Value Measurement

    Support

    Model

    Enterprise

    Architecture

    Architectural

    Framework

    Layered Scalable

    Architecture

    Performance

    Optimization

    Reusability

    Profitability and Cost Management

    Financial Consolidation

    Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting

    Strategy Management

    Procure-to-PayProductionPlanning

    Hire-to-RetireInventory

    Management Order-to-Cash

    Spend

    Analysis

    Days of

    Supply

    Order

    Fulfillment

    Accounts

    Receivable

    Yield

    Variability

    Cost per

    Hire

    Days Payable

    Outstanding

    Days Sales

    Outstanding

    Slow

    Movers

    Cost of

    Goods Sold

    Capacity

    Utilization

    Cost of

    Attrition

    High Performance

    Analytics

    Dashboards and Management

    Reporting

    Analytical and Ad Hoc

    Reporting

    Self-Service

    On-Device, On-Premise,

    On-Demand

    Business KPI and Analytical Framework

    Figure 2q The pieceso Inosyss BI-PM

    jigsaw puzzle

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    Bring Business Intelligence to Your

    Logistics ProcessesEnable Company-Wide Transparency, Continuous Improvement, and Reduced TCO

    Carl-Rainer Stetter

    Head o Global

    Competence Center

    Business Intelligence

    Siemens IT Solutions and

    Services GmbHless than 50% o all companies can place a numberon the total cost o their logistics systems.1 This islikely because most organizations havent consolidated

    or harmonized their systems to achieve the enterprise-

    wide perormance monitoring and transparency they

    need to ully understand their TCO.

    A comprehensive business analytics strategy and a

    business intelligence (BI) solution that measures and

    monitors the perormance o an organizations entire

    supply chain is an important element o improving

    production and logistics processes.

    And the cornerstone o BI in the logistics industry is

    manufacturing intelligence. This isnt a new concept,

    but it is a very important one or customers. Lets look

    at the key characteristics o a manuacturing intelli-

    gence strategy, and then dive into the benets o

    implementing one.

    What Is Manuacturing Intelligence?2 Key CharacteristicsManuacturing intelligence is an approach that brings

    the core concepts o BI to a companys operations, oer-

    ing transparency and visibility into its production and

    logistics systems and thereby giving a company the

    inormation it needs to be able to innovate. Two key

    aspects o this manuacturing intelligence concept are:

    Integration. BI, ERP, and production and logistics

    systems are integrated to achieve a continuous inor-

    mation ow rom enterprise management to shop-

    oor execution; companies running SAP systems

    and SAPs BI solutions have an advantage here, since

    SAP solutions are designed and purpose-built or

    this integration.

    Intelligence. Production and logistics metrics are

    visualized, with key nancial gures displayed in

    web-based cockpits according to roles and target

    groups (see Figure 1).

    1 BVL study: Trends and Strategies in Logistics Global Networks

    in an Era o Change (2008).

    1.

    2.

    Achieving Manuacturing Intelligence:Connecting Cost and PerormanceIndicatorsBy integrating their BI, ERP, and production and logistics

    systems, companies can connect cost and perormance

    indicators to provide enterprise-wide perormance

    monitoring, enable continuous improvement, and

    reduce TCO (see sidebar on the next page).

    A manuacturing intelligence solution rom Siemens

    IT Solutions and Services gives companies one way to

    provide those cost and perormance indicators it

    uses a real-time analytics engine to extract, aggregate,

    and transorm data (see Figure 2 on the next page). It

    can also deliver the unied visualization o events,

    alerts, KPIs, and decision support to production, logis-

    tics, and service personnel through role-based dash-

    boards and cockpits to address targeted groups within

    the company. In this way, manuacturing intelligencesupports interaction and business tracking within and

    between dierent plants.

    Figure 1q The

    Siemens Logistics

    Cockpit tailors the

    web-based display

    o key nancial and

    operating gures toparticular roles and

    target groups

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    Benefting rom ManuacturingIntelligenceTo make sure your production processes will lead to

    sustainable prot in your current business environ-ment, the Siemens consulting solution or logistics and

    manuacturing intelligence, as part o our broader ser-

    vice portolio, can help customers tap into the ull

    potential o their processes. Companies will benet

    rom this manuacturing intelligence oering in ourkey ways:

    Transparency. Transparent perormance indicators

    improve the monitoring o the entire value chain

    and saeguard the ability to react despite changing

    market conditions.

    Reliability. An integrated and automated peror-

    mance management system increases the reliability

    o the inormation or decision-making processes and

    reduces the amount o time that is required or inor-

    mation provision.

    Employee involvement. In-house employees are

    assimilated into company activities and can actively

    inuence their measurable success.

    Real-time decisions. Up-to-date inormation rom

    manuacturing and logistics systems supports overall

    company decisions and ensures that employees are

    always in a position to provide inormation at the

    customer interace. It also enables real-time responses

    to incidents.

    Supporting Your Local and

    Global BI CompetenceOur consulting solution or logistics and manuacturing

    intelligence is part o a complete BI portolio rom

    Siemens IT Solutions and Services. Our BI solutions help

    our clients make more eective decisions using innova-

    tive tools or harmonizing data, providing business inor-

    mation, and enabling interactive and predictive analysis

    and user-specic data visualization. Companies can also

    use KPI-based management dashboards.

    Since todays companies operate both locally and

    globally, Siemens IT Solutions and Services supports our

    customers on-site, with local BI experts, through a Global

    Business Intelligence Competence Center. With a global

    network including near-shore and o-shore capabilities,

    this competence center can oer the scale, scope, and

    multidisciplinary capabilities necessary to address the

    most complex business challenges and increase custom-

    ers perormance. Our consultants have experience in

    various business topics and countries, as well as cross-

    cultural competence across all capabilities.

    To learn more, visit www.siemens.com/bi .n

    Why Businesses Need More IntelligentManuacturing ProcessesHigher costs and global market pressures are orcing companies to opti-

    mize their business processes so they can act aster, more directly, and

    more eciently based on real-time inormation than theyve had

    to in the past. Organizations need to increase transparency into their

    processes through a perormance assessment that is based on actual

    perormance data, rather than on subjective estimates. Thereore, they

    need a decision-making support system in near-real time or creating and

    reporting signicant KPIs and reacting on exceptions adequately.

    Companies also need to ensure more consistent improvement in their

    systems. To do this, they should set up a systematic and permanent collec-

    tion o target or actual system discrepancies, and use those discrepancies

    as a basis or a continuous learning and improvement process.

    Finally, companies can tackle and lower TCO by consolidating and harmo-

    nizing their production and logistics IT systems. And by standardizing these

    systems, they can also gain benets, such as reduced maintenance costs.

    Manufacturing Scorecards/Performance Analyses

    Manufacturing Intelligence ModelExtraction Aggregation Transformation

    MESSCADA

    HMIControlSystems

    ERP ...

    Figure 2pManuacturing intelligence combines cost and perormance indicators or

    company-wide perormance measurement

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    6 Ways to Add Flexibility to Your

    Planning EortsNew BPCFrame Tool rom T-Systems Extends the Value o SAP BusinessObjects

    Planning and Consolidation Dr. Walter DrangmeisterSenior IT Architect

    T-Systems

    For many companies, the responsibility or plan-ning and reporting lies rmly in the hands o line-o-business employees, who work primarily with

    standard Microsot Oce tools, such as Excel, Word,

    and PowerPoint. Because its closely integrated with

    the Microsot Oce suite, SAP BusinessObjects Plan-

    ning and Consolidation (version or the Microsot plat-

    orm, and version or the SAP NetWeaver platorm)

    can be put to work quickly to enhance planning, bud-

    geting, consolidation, and reporting activities, with

    very little end-user training required; the tool lever-

    ages the Microsot working environment with which

    users are already comortable. SAP BusinessObjects

    Planning and Consolidation also supports agile, exi-

    ble planning scenarios in which business-side users

    need quick, accurate planning inormation on the y

    to make important business decisions.

    To take these business planning and consolidation(BPC) capabilities to the next level, IT service provider

    T-Systems has developed the BPCFrame tool as an add-

    on to SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

    (see Figure 1). In this article, well explore six key

    areas in which the BPCFrame tool can add value to the

    SAP application.

    1. Customizing Reports and

    Input SchedulesWhile the standard eatures o SAP BusinessObjects

    Planning and Consolidation accomplish the unctionalrequirements o a BPC development project, T-Systems

    BPCFrame extends the application to ulll additional,

    customer-specic requirements. Microsot Visual Basic

    or Applications (VBA) programming unctions play a

    key role here. For example, BPCFrame leverages VBA

    unctions to help users add special layout elements,

    user-dened buttons, entry validation, and more to

    reports and input schedules created through the SAP

    application. BPCFrame also allows dened screen areas

    to be displayed or hidden dynamically, thus accommo-

    dating users who require dierent views o the data.

    2. Centralizing Developmentand MaintenanceSAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation oers

    line-o-business departments a wide range o planning

    scenarios and reports to ulll their particular require-

    ments. BPCFrame expands that scope even more,

    especially in scenarios in which users would like to

    urther customize those plans and reports. When com-

    bined with the SAP planning application, BPCFrame

    enables companies to centralize screen development

    and avoid having to dene source code separately or

    each BPC screen. This centralization cuts the time

    and outlay required or development by up to 40%.

    It also prevents employees rom making their own

    changes to the VBA component, thus ruling out a

    signicant source o errors. BPCFrame also enables

    internationalization and urther adaptations by relocat-

    ing objects to database tables (or example, introducingtext elements that are language dependent) without

    requiring intervention in the scenarios or reports.

    Bernd Stuhlmacher

    Senior Business Consultant

    T-Systems

    BPCFrame consists of a self-deployableExcelAddIn and an ExcelTemplate

    SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation server

    SAP BusinessObjects Planning

    and Consolidation Client/

    Server-Communication

    Self-deployed

    BPCFrame-

    ExcelAddIn

    Centralized Maintenance

    of Conguration/Layout

    MS-Excel

    Report_A.XLS

    InputSchedule_B.XLS

    SAP BusinessObjects Planning

    and Consolidation-ExcelClient

    BPCFrame-ExcelAddIn

    Excel-Workbook

    Report_A.XLS

    InputSchedule_B.XLS

    BPCFrame_ExcelAddIn BPCFrame_Template.XLT

    Figure 1q The

    architecture othe BPCFrame tool

    rom T-Systems

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    3. Encapsulating Microsot Ofce FeaturesThe reports and input schedules developed in SAP

    BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation can be

    processed in two dierent environments: throughMicrosot Oce tools embedded in SAP Business-

    Objects Planning and Consolidation or through stand-

    alone Microsot Oce tools. In the embedded version,

    the event control mechanism behaves somewhat dier-

    ently than it does in the standalone version.

    For example, when using the embedded version, it is

    not always easy or the user to identiy an Excel Active-

    Worksheet component because o the additional

    worksheets that the SAP planning application opens

    concurrently or internal use. To help, BPCFrame

    oers the option o encapsulating the dierences o

    the event control mechanism to provide transparencyinto this process.

    BPCFrame also improves the way in which dierent

    versions o Microsot Oce, such as Microsot Oce

    2003 and 2007, are used in the SAP planning applica-

    tion. In many companies, dierent versions o Micro-

    sot Oce run in tandem with each other, and the

    components o each version behave dierently, a act

    that also aects the Word les and Excel spreadsheets

    created with SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Con-

    solidation. Once again, BPCFrame encapsulates the

    responses to Microsot Oce unctions so that the SAP

    planning application reacts in the same way, regardless

    o the version o Microsot Oce being used.

    BPCFrame also intervenes when competing Excel

    add-ins interere with SAP BusinessObjects Planning

    and Consolidation (that is, when they claim the same

    resources). To prevent Excel rom crashing, BPCFrame

    deactivates and then reactivates these Excel add-ins

    automatically at runtime.

    4. Streamlining Screen DevelopmentDuring SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

    screen development or reports and input schedules, there

    is a possibility that unusable, inaccessible screens will be

    generated unintentionally. This occurs when the program-

    ming activities carried out or VBA unctions corrupt the

    Microsot Oce les containing the screens. BPCFrame

    prevents this generation o unusable screens by separating

    VBA programming activities rom screen development.

    5. Separating Functionality andConfguration DataBPCFrame enables structural separation between unc-

    tionality and conguration data in the SAP planning

    application. By isolating the application and control

    modules within the application architecture, BPCFrame

    prevents empty rows. This is important or ormatting

    purposes because it keeps the rows rom being distrib-

    uted unrecognizably across a worksheet, or example.

    Furthermore, the separation allows or centralized

    maintenance o the conguration data.

    6. Managing Screen VersionsScreens used within SAP BusinessObjects Planning and

    Consolidation are stored as BLOBs in the database. It is

    important to note, though, that several versions o a

    screen will likely exist throughout that screens lie cycle.

    Thus, systemic version management is crucial, espe-

    cially during development or i you want a reliable

    backup system; in those cases, it should be possible

    or the user to restore a screen version i needed. By

    tagging each changed screen automatically, BPCFrame

    supports ull version management or all screens.

    Learn MoreWhen coupled with either version o SAP Business-

    Objects Planning and Consolidation, BPCFrame rom

    T-Systems delivers accurate and reliable planning and

    reporting results or line-o-business departments. By

    adding additional eatures to the application, T-Systems

    BPCFrame can boost perormance, robustness, produc-

    tivity, and maintainability, while enabling changes to

    be implemented quickly, easily, and systematically.

    For more inormation, contact Walter.Drangmeister@

    t-systems.comor visit www.t-systems.com.n

    BPCFrame: Functions and Benefts at a GlanceCuts development time and outlay o SAP BusinessObjects Planning and

    Consolidation screens by up to 40%, leaving employees more time to

    ocus on innovative, value-adding tasks

    Fullls customer-specic planning and reporting requirements

    Optimizes maintenance thanks to centralized VBA code

    Encapsulates responses to dierent event control mechanisms and

    Microsot Oce versions

    Separates VBA programming activities rom screen development

    Isolates the application and control modules rom each other within the

    application architecture

    Supports version management or all reports and orms created

    Improves user-riendliness and productivity through additional control

    unctions and intuitive operation

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    Reports and Analytics: Only as Good

    as the Data That Feeds ThemEnable More Ecient Database Management with DB2 or Linux, Unix, and Windows

    Brigitte Blaeser

    Sotware Developer

    SAP NetWeaver BW on

    IBM DB2 or LUW

    IBM Deutschland Research

    & Development GmbHunderlying all business intelligence (BI) sotwareis the supporting database in which the businesssdata resides. And because that database is brimming

    with bits and bytes o enterprise inormation, the cost

    o managing it (in terms o both money and time)

    could greatly exceed the cost o your business intelli-

    gence sotware investment.

    Thats why SAP and IBM have partnered to bring

    customers a relational database management system

    that has been optimized or SAP applications. The

    latest release o this platorm, called IBM DB2 or

    Linux, UNIX, and Windows (DB2 LUW) version 9.7,

    has built-in autonomic eatures to make managing

    data simpler and more cost-ecient or database users

    and administrators. These capabilities enhance the

    perormance and value that customers derive rom

    SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver

    BW) and the SAP BusinessObjects business intelli-

    gence (SAP BusinessObjects BI) solutions that are

    used to access the inormation. Lets take a detailed

    look at our o these autonomic eatures.

    1. Automatic Statistics Collection andReal-Time StatisticsWhen a query is submitted to the database, IBM DB2

    uses catalog statistics to determine the most ecient

    access plan or that query that is, it evaluates possi-

    ble plans or executing the query and returns what it

    considers the best option. However, out-o-date or

    incomplete table or index statistics can lead to a sub-optimal plan, thereby slowing down query execution.

    And its challenging and time-consuming or database

    users and administrators to determine which statistics

    to collect or a given query workload and keep these

    statistics up-to-date manually.

    Fortunately, with the automatic statistics collection

    unctionality in IBM DB2, the database manager can

    do all that or you. Automatic statistics collection can

    occur synchronously at statement compilation time

    using the real-time statistics (RTS) eature. In addition,

    the RUNSTATS command can be enabled to simply

    run in the background or asynchronous collection.

    The SQL compiler initiates this statistics collection

    and also determines which statistics should be col-

    lected and how.

    In SAP NetWeaver BW, during or ater maintenance

    operations that have changed large amounts o data,

    IBM DB2 executes explicit calls to the RUNSTATS util-

    ity. This provides accurate statistics to the DB2 query

    optimizer or queries that are accessing the new,

    changed data. With real-time statistics available, the

    SAP NetWeaver BW system checks to see whether real-

    time statistics are enabled and, i they are, then the

    RUNSTATS execution stops. Instead o explicitly col-

    lecting statistics, the SAP NetWeaver BW system relies

    on the DB2 engine to abricate or collect statistics dur-

    ing the creation o an access plan whenever needed.

    2. Sel-Tuning Memory Manager(STMM)Historically, database memory conguration and tun-

    ing was one o a database administrators main tasks,

    and it was a tedious and time-consuming one due to

    changing workloads. But the new sel-tuning memory

    manager (STMM), introduced with version 9.1 o IBM

    DB2 or LUW, means that administrators no longer

    need to tackle this task and can instead use the time

    they used to devote to it on other priorities.

    The main idea behind the STMM is that the data-

    bases memory parameters that is, the size o the

    sorting area, buer pools, and the lock list, or exam-ple are automatically adapted to the workload.

    Through simulation calculations, the STMM calculates

    the parameter changes to best t the changing work-

    load demands.

    The STMM can work in one o two modes auto-

    matic or xed value. In SAP systems, we recommend

    that the instance memory be a xed value. Within this

    boundary, the STMM can then automatically control

    and tune the size o each memory consumer. In addi-

    tion to reducing administration eort, the STMM can

    also lead to better-running systems, since a databases

    Note!

    STMM is able to

    tune multiple

    databases and

    instances that

    reside on the

    same server.

    Hans-Juergen Moldowan

    Technology Consultant

    IBM Deutschland Research

    & Development GmbH

    Waldemar Gaida

    SAP-Certifed Technical

    Consultant

    IBM Enterprise Business

    Solutions

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    memory settings have a considerable impact on its

    overall perormance.

    3. Automatic MaintenanceIBM DB2 or LUW also oers a variety o automaticmaintenance unctions that, when initiated, can help

    enable more productive operations (see Figure 1).

    These unctions include automatic backups (see

    sidebar), automatic RUNSTATS, and automatic

    REORGs, to name a ew. To avoid having these jobs

    compete with production or resources, the automatic

    maintenance settings allow users to speciy time

    windows during which automatic utilities and other

    maintenance-related activities are allowed to run

    these are reerred to as maintenance windows.

    The IBM DB2 database lets the user dene both

    online and ofine maintenance windows. That is, itallows them to assign online maintenance activities to

    online maintenance windows, while ofine activities

    can be assigned to ofine windows. Note that ofine

    here does not mean that the database itsel will be

    ofine, but rather that, during these windows, access

    to the database is exclusively reserved or automatic

    maintenance activities. Online maintenance windows,

    on the other hand, allow automatic maintenance

    activities and other applications, utilities, or users to

    concurrently connect to the database.

    Online maintenance activities tend to compete or

    resources with production workload, so it makes the

    most sense to schedule them during times o low

    productivity, such as night hours between 8:00 pm and

    6:00 am, when it is very likely that users will not be

    working with the SAP system. However, i or some

    reason the maintenance activities dont nish during

    the dened window, IBM DB2 also enables the main-

    tenance activities to keep running until they are

    completed, even i they exceed the boundaries o the

    window. This way, you can avoid delays in ullling

    important maintenance needs.

    4. Automatic StorageTable spaces are a critical part o any IBM DB2 data-

    base since they contain the tables and indexes o the

    database. Historically, table space ull situations

    could occur quite easily as a result o incorrect moni-

    toring o ree table space.

    With the automatic storage unctionality in IBM

    DB2, the database manager completely handles the

    administration o table spaces and eliminates the need

    or manual intervention, making administration eas-

    ier and more cost-ecient. To dene a database to use

    this unctionality, the user needs only to dene a stor-

    age pool that is associated with the database.

    Learn MoreIBM DB2 oers the perormance, scalability, and reli-

    ability companies need to get the most out o your BI

    investment, all on your choice o platorm, rom Linux

    to z/OS. Learn more about how customers are trans-

    orming their data center with IBM DB2 by visiting

    ibm.com/db2.n

    Automatic BackupsThe IBM DB2 database sotware includes an automatic backup unctionality

    to ensure that ull database backups are automatically perormed when

    needed. This unctionality can be enabled using the DBA Cockpit to support

    ull online and ofine backups. For online backups, the roll-orward recovery

    unctionality that is, the archiving o log les must be enabled so that

    other applications can work on the database. An ofine backup, on the

    other hand, establishes an exclusive connection to the database, and no

    other applications can access the database concurrently.

    Figure 1q

    Conguring

    the automatic

    maintenance settings

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    data can provide power, but i that data is wrong, ori you dont have an eective way to navigate it, itcan leave you powerless. Even with the explosion o data

    owing into todays companies, business leaders are

    operating with larger blind spots than ever beore.

    According to a recent IBM Global Business Services sur-

    vey o 225 business executives, one in three executives is

    making major decisions with incomplete or untrust-

    worthy inormation.1 IBM has also ound, in working

    with thousands o organizations worldwide, that many

    companies get their data rom disjointed sources and

    lack the right analysis tools to turn all o that data into

    actionable insight.

    There is a major opportunity or businesses to create

    a competitive advantage when business process man-

    agement is coupled with new business intelligence (BI)

    technology and analytics capabilities. The opportunity

    becomes even greater when BI solutions work in real

    time to translate data into actionable insights at the

    pace o your business.

    Thats why IBM has teamed up with SAP to oer

    in-memory computing using SAP High-Perormance

    Analytic Appliance (SAP HANA) sotware to help busi-

    nesses quickly turn their growing data into usable

    insights that enable smart, innovative decisions.

    In-Memory Analytics DriveBusiness TransormationBusiness leaders in the new economic environment ace

    intense pressure to cut costs and optimize resources andcapital productivity on a global basis. In a truly globally

    integrated enterprise, work ows to where it can be

    done best, emphasizing repeatable processes, optimized

    assets, and integrated operations. SAP HANA provides a

    platorm to accelerate the operationalization o this

    globally integrated enterprise through:

    Architecture simplifcation: Since SAP HANA pro-

    vides in-memory business applications, it eliminates

    1 LaValle, Steve. Business Analytics and Optimization or the

    Intelligent Enterprise. IBM Institute or Business Value (2009).

    the need to have a copy o the database or transac-

    tional systems. The sotware, which is groundbreak-

    ing yet non-disruptive to existing landscapes, also

    streamlines the IT landscape and reduces TCO.

    Process integration: SAP HANA supports consolida-

    tion and acceleration o both transactional and multi-

    dimensional in-memory data on one platorm,

    without aecting perormance. This enables mixed

    workloads o analytics, operations, and perormance

    management in a single system. All o this means you

    can achieve greater exibility to deliver innovative,

    real-time analysis and reporting scenarios.

    Data acceleration: SAP HANA provides an environ-

    ment that supports real-time decision making, simu-

    lation, and what-i analysis to enable smarter business

    decisions that are supported by increased visibility

    into large volumes o business inormation. This also

    allows organizations to more nimbly react to business

    events through real-time analysis and reporting o

    operational data.

    Get the Right Technology to SupportIn-Memory ComputingIBM is teaming up with SAP to oer SAP HANA as a

    rapid-deployment solution by leveraging IBM hardware

    and memory technology. SAP HANA can be deployed

    alongside existing SAP transactional systems and SAP

    NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW)

    systems to quickly solve specic business problemsaround data-intensive analysis, easing the burden on

    transactional systems and providing real-time analytics.

    When deploying SAP HANA, IBM provides an architec-

    ture assessment and benchmark, a proo o concept,

    express deployment, and strategic business alignment.

    Combining SAP HANA with IBM System x and

    BladeCenter servers that use eX5 technology enables a

    scalable solution and benets customers with a shared

    vision that delivers a whole new level o unprecedented

    BI perormance, while still remaining cost eective. To

    learn more, visit www.ibm-sap.com/hana.n

    Better Business Through

    In-Memory AnalyticsStrengthen Your Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Inrastructure with SAP and IBM

    Don Mettica

    SAP Business Analytics

    Global Practice Leader

    IBM Global Business

    Services

    IBM and SAP are

    working to helpbusinesses turn their

    data into usable

    insights that enable

    smart, innovative

    decisions.

    http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/
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    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    Lowered Costs or Improved Perormance?

    Achieve Both by Optimizing SAP NetWeaver BW with Nearline Storage andEnhanced Analytics

    Werner Hop

    CEO

    Dolphin

    every company wants to make better business deci-sions. Thats why enterprises are implementing busi-ness intelligence (BI) applications like SAP NetWeaver

    Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) and using

    them to consolidate vast quantities o inormation, acili-

    tate reporting and analytics, and enable smarter decision

    making on the business side. But what about IT?

    IT leaders have to make important decisions, too

    decisions about how to best manage the data within

    the BI environment, or instance. Smart IT decision

    making relies on upront planning and innovative stor-

    age architectures to help manage data storage and

    archiving or optimal perormance and lower costs.

    End the Cost-or-Perormance DilemmaDoes high perormance necessarily mean high cost? Does

    reducing costs require a sacrice in perormance? On one

    hand, demand or ast access to business analytics requireshuge data volumes to be available or on-demand queries.

    On the other hand, replication and aggregation during

    the transormation and loading process creates even

    more data in the BW system. Keeping more data online

    increases costs and slows database perormance. The cost-

    or-perormance dilemma or SAP NetWeaver BW users

    seems stark, but it doesnt have to be.

    Dolphin implements the right balance o perormance

    and cost or its customers, using a data aging strategy

    tailored or the SAP NetWeaver BW environment. The

    strategy involves moving a subset o data to nearline

    storage, which reduces the load on the online system andthus maintains overall perormance. With compression

    ratios typically 15:1 or higher, maintaining inormation

    in the nearline system signicantly lowers total costs.

    Nearline Storage and Column-Based

    AnalyticsA traditional inormation liecycle management strat-

    egy in an ERP environment separates static data rom

    active transactions in the online production database

    and archives it on a less expensive, slower-access storage

    tier. In BW applications, on the other hand, users still

    query a large volume o static data and need ast access

    to inormation over a longer period o time. Incorporat-

    ing column-based storage technology or nearline data

    that is still used in queries delivers both cost and

    perormance advantages needed or optimized SAP

    NetWeaver BW operations.

    The solution requires no archive les, indexes, or

    aggregates and enables quick ad hoc query response

    times. Dolphin delivers column-based analytics and

    nearline storage as part o an SAP-certied nearline

    storage solution, PBS CBW Nearline Storage with opti-

    mized analytics. (Dolphin is a North American reseller

    and integrator o PBS sotware or SAP solutions.) Cou-

    pled with Dolphins proven approach to SAP archiving,

    PBS CBW Nearline Storage:

    Allows archiving rom SAP NetWeaver BW to

    nearline storage

    Provides business users with transparent data accessand improved perormance

    Requires no IT resources or user training, since users

    can access the nearline data the same way they access

    online data

    With PBS CBW Nearline Storages advanced column-

    based database optimized or business analytics, cus-

    tomers can manage rising data volumes and meet the

    demand or higher speed. Compression o read-only

    data is typically 90% or more in the nearline system.

    A Win-Win SituationWhen companies combine column-based database

    archiving with nearline storage, the results include dra-

    matically aster search and query perormance and

    lower operating costs. Moving data into the nearline

    archive can instantly reduce online database strain and

    ease long-term database growth. Business users can per-

    orm queries using nearline, archived data at near-

    online speeds.

    In other words, the cost-or-perormance battle is over;

    everybody wins. And that is a smart IT decision. To

    learn more, visit www.dolphin-corp.com.n

    See Dolphins

    white paper SAP

    NetWeaver BW

    Archiving withNearline Storage

    and Optimized

    Analytics

    at http://pages.

    dolphin-corp.com/

    BWArchivingWP.

    html.

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    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    Winning Battles in the BI War Zone

    Closed-Loop Perormance Management rom Every Angle Is the New Secret Weapon

    Mark Knowles

    Vice President o Sales

    and Marketing

    Every Angle US

    awar rages inside many businesses. The war zone isthe intersection o business intelligence (BI) and oper-ational perormance management. While management

    ghts or improved business perormance using dashboards,

    scorecards, and reports, oot soldiers in the operational

    trenches battle with inadequate inormation derived rom

    static reports, spreadsheets, and complex databases. Hun-

    dreds o business processes, such as cash-to-cash, order ul-

    llment, and order-to-cash, clash in this war zone.

    Lets consider two examples o companies dealing

    with a customer service issue, the rst using BI tools that

    use top-down, aggregated data, and the second using a

    solution that gives it a deeper look at its business opera-

    tions. Both companies have a dened customer service

    KPI o perect order perormance (meaning that orders

    are executed on time, in ull), but they monitor and

    manage this KPI very dierently.

    Example #1: Using Traditional BI ToolsAt Company A, the director o operations looks at her

    dashboard and notices that the overall level o perect

    order perormance is declining. She can drill down and

    see that many o the issues are related to late deliveries

    originating rom a certain production plant. But she

    cant drill down enough to answer, Why did this hap-

    pen? and What actions are we taking to improve and

    prevent this? So she contacts the plant manager, who

    contacts his production managers, shit supervisors, and

    other key stakeholders. They review line and depart-

    ment data, request special reports, and conduct manualinvestigations until the root cause o the declining

    perect order perormance is identied: a consistently

    late supplier o raw materials.

    Company A nds the answer it needs, but only

    ater a lengthy process. This company suers rom a

    common problem many crucial operations questions

    cant be predened, and they can be time-consuming

    to answer. Far too oten, operations data is cobbled

    together in Microsot Excel and Microsot Access

    reports using dozens o data extracts that require the

    IT departments involvement.

    Example #2: Using the Every Angle ClosedLoop Perormance Management SuiteMeanwhile, Company B is alerted to the potential per-

    ormance issue early on and proactively prevents a nega-

    tive trend. With SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse

    (SAP NetWeaver BW) and SAP BusinessObjects BI solu-

    tions, Company Bs users can visualize the impending

    order issue. The Every Angle Dashboard Engine helps by

    providing structured data or each KPI, including hun-

    dreds o Every Angle-derived attributes or supply chain,

    nancials, controlling, and more. Once the order issue is

    recognized, Company Bs users can easily transition rom

    predened, drill-down capabilities into ad hoc interactive

    analysis using the Every Angle console. They can look

    across orders, plants, batches, and materials to identiy

    late purchase and transer orders, production bottlenecks,

    planning and scheduling issues, and inventory shortages

    all beore the customer experiences a problem.Furthermore, creating or modiying a BI report in SAP

    NetWeaver BW or SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions is

    easy or Company Bs users since they can do so in mere

    minutes using Every Angle technologies.

    Win the Business Perormance BattleWhen coupled with SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions or

    SAP NetWeaver BW, Every Angles Closed Loop Peror-

    mance Management Suite enables users to easily identiy

    business problems and drill down into any operational

    metric to identiy root causes and initiate corrective

    actions. Every Angles built-in predictive analytics orsupply chain and operations, combined with nancial

    analytics, provide this closed-loop perormance manage-

    ment unctionality. And it only takes about three days to

    implement the solution, three minutes to build a KPI in

    the Every Angle console, and three seconds to run it.

    Using SAP NetWeaver BW or SAP BusinessObjects

    BI solutions combined with the Every Angle Dashboard

    Engine, you can enhance your BI platorm with closed-

    loop perormance management, the new secret weapon

    to win battles in the BI war zone. To learn more, visit

    www.EveryAngle.com/InsiderBI .n

    Every Angle...helps

    the management o

    the breweries to get

    a better grip on the

    overall perormance

    o the supply chain,

    which will ultimately

    help Heineken

    Netherlands to

    service its domestic

    and international

    customers better

    against lower costs.

    Fred Holvast,

    Logistics Director,

    Heineken Netherlands

    http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/
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    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    Paul Nannetti

    Global Service Line Leader

    Business Inormation

    Management

    Capgemini

    Better Business Intelligence Starts with

    Better Data QualityEnsure Trustworthy Inormation with Scorecards and a Data Quality Firewall rom SAP

    in a recent Capgemini survey o senior leaders atglobal companies across multiple industries, execu-tives said that they could improve business perormance

    by 27% i only they were better able to exploit inorma-

    tion.1 These leaders rightly perceived that access to

    better inormation could enable knowledge workers to

    respond proactively in changing environments, make

    sharper decisions, and create sustainable value. Yet,

    while business intelligence (BI) projects have been on

    CIOs agendas or years, many companies are still thirsty

    or knowledge, even though theyre drowning in data.

    At Capgemini, we believe that a common cause o this

    situation is a lack otrustworthy inormation at workers

    ngertips. Many organizations dont trust their data

    because maintaining its quality is a challenge, leading to

    a general lack o condence in the organizations inor-

    mation assets. While its natural or companies to turn to

    a master data management (MDM) solution to address

    this challenge, they should rst consider a data quality

    management (DQM) approach, which involves solutions

    such as data quality scorecards and rewalls.

    1 Capgemini Intelligent Enterprise survey (2008 ).

    Check the Quality o Your Existing Data

    with a Data Quality ScorecardWhen managing master data, data stewards need to be

    able to check data quality against a set o business rules

    to understand i the quality level meets the organiza-

    tions needs. Data quality technology can capture key

    data quality metrics and present them to data stewards,

    allowing them to analyze and drill down into the data

    in a way that illustrates how data inadequacies result in

    business impacts. This inormation is then typically

    incorporated into data quality scorecards built using

    SAP BusinessObjects Data Quality Management and

    SAP BusinessObjects BI sotware.

    Keep Out the Bad Data with a

    Data Quality FirewallData quality can, andshould, be managed at the point

    o entry. A real-time data quality component, known as

    a data quality rewall (such as the one provided with

    SAP BusinessObjects Data Quality Management) can

    be used to check each entry record in real time as it is

    authored by the end user. The data quality rewall then

    provides real-time response inormation about the

    quality o data entering an application. When errors are

    ound in the ormat or content o the data, the solution

    indicates this deciency to the end users, giving them

    an opportunity to correct the data before saving it.

    Get Started with Reactive and

    Proactive DQMData quality is the oundation o BI. Capgemini has a

    portolio o DQM oerings, as well as data governance

    and MDM services, designed to help with everything

    rom creating a vision to delivering a solution.

    We suggest starting with our Data Quality Assess-

    ment, a diagnostic test to determine your inormation

    opportunities and challenges. To learn more, visit http://

    capgemini.com/services-and-solutions/technology/

    business-intelligence/overview.n

    Justin Norwood

    Principal

    Business Inormation

    Management

    Capgemini

    Getting Started with SAP BusinessObjects Solutions?Take Advantage o Capgeminis Adoption ServicesTo start businesses on the road to more eective BI, Capgemini oers a set

    o SAP BusinessObjects adoption services, designed to help companies morequickly and eectively adopt and innovate with SAP BusinessObjects solutions.

    When a customer engages with Capgemini or these services, we rst

    help them identiy the right SAP BusinessObjects components needed to

    deliver their desired business benets. Then, we ensure that the company

    has the appropriate technology inrastructure in place to support those

    components. Once we dene a clear adoption roadmap, our team o

    experts and our industrialized rightshore capability can help the company

    execute upon that roadmap.

    For more inormation about these services, email [email protected].

    http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/
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    Reproduced rom the Jan n Feb n Mar 2011 issue oSAPinsiderwith permission rom its publisher, WIS Publishing | sapinsider.wispubs.com

    Companies want, and now even expect, casual busi-ness users to be able to gain insight into relevantbusiness data at the speed o thought. But is that even

    possible without assistance rom a business analyst?

    Ater working on more than 7,000 SAP integration and

    implementation projects worldwide, Fujitsu can saely

    say that it is possible. But there is a certain recipe you

    must ollow. You need not only the capabilities o SAPs

    business intelligence (BI) tools, but also a strong ounda-

    tion o technology expertise to leverage those tools.

    First, Get the Right CapabilitiesWith SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, customers get a

    sel-service, search-driven discovery solution or explor-

    ing and analyzing their enterprise data. This oering

    brings the high-perormance, in-memory capabilities o

    SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator

    (SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator) to an intuitive, ront-

    end interace where casual business users can search

    and explore large volumes o enterprise data to quickly

    discover relationships and uncover the root causes

    o issues.

    Also valuable is the SAP NetWeaver Enterprise

    Search application, which provides a simple, web-based

    search interace to help business users navigate critical

    business inormation by enabling seamless, secure

    access to SAP and non-SAP inormation and processes.

    New in 2010, the SAP High-Perormance Analytic

    Appliance (SAP HANA) is an optimized hardware

    and sotware combination that provides a data-source-agnostic, multi-purpose appliance or exploring and

    analyzing transactional and analytical data. Fujitsu is an

    SAP platorm partner ocused on providing comprehen-

    sive SAP HANA inrastructure oerings and services.

    Next, Secure a Foundation or the ToolsWeve established that easy, ast, and reliable access to

    relevant data warehouse inormation requires superior

    BI solutions. But it also needs a comprehensive ounda-

    tion, including an optimized IT inrastructure and

    implementation, integration, and support services.

    Insight at the Speed o Thought:

    Its Possible with the Right BI FormulaAchieve Faster, Easier Access to Business Data with Oerings rom Fujitsu and SAP

    Stean Schubert

    Director

    Product Marketing

    Enterprise Sotware and

    Solution Business

    FujitsuFujitsus solutions and service oerings provide custom-

    ers with this end-to-end project coverage via:

    The pre-installed, SAP-certied Fujitsu Solution Busi-

    ness Warehouse Accelerator Inrastructure V3.0 or

    SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, SAP BusinessObjects

    Explorer, and SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search. This

    uture-proo oering leverages industry-standard

    Fujitsu PRIMERGY blade servers, the Linux operating

    system, and, with an entry package, SAPs innovative

    TREX Persistency Manager (TPM) technology or

    storing SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator and SAP Busi-

    nessObjects Explorer data instead o using an external

    storage subsystem resulting in major cost savings.

    Integration and implementation services specic

    to SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, SAP Business-

    Objects Explorer, and SAP NetWeaver Enterprise

    Search. These services are based on best-practice

    templates and are designed to minimize customers

    integration eorts through standardized peror-

    mance checks and the evaluation and design o com-

    plete architectures and processes. Customers can

    typically start working with their new applications

    within only two to three days o delivery.

    Maintenance services or the Fujitsu Solution Busi-

    ness Warehouse Accelerator Inrastructure V3.0. Our

    SolutionContract or maintenance and support ser-

    vices completes the picture, ensuring optimal sae-

    guarding or your data search and retrieval with a

    single point o contact or all inrastructure-specictopics. Fujitsu oers both reactive and proactive ser-

    vices based on a remote service connection, thus ur-

    ther reducing operating eorts. (Please note that SAP

    will still provide the SAP sotware maintenance.)

    Learn MoreTo ensure that your business intelligence environment

    will give you a competitive advantage, you need the

    proper BI capabilities rom SAP, as well as a strong

    service and inrastructure oundation rom Fujitsu. To

    learn more, visit http://ts.ujitsu.com/bwa.n

    Companies expect

    insight at the

    speed o thought.

    Fujitsu has the

    recipe to make

    this expectation

    a reality.

    http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/
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    Business Intelligence Can Be aLong Journey So How Do You

    Start Delivering Value Now?4 Tips or Seeing Results Early and Oten

    Richard Starnes

    Principal

    Inormation Management

    Deloitte Consulting LLP

    Pop quiz: What are your long-term business intelli-gence (BI) goals? What business problems will yourBI solutions help you solve? Chances are you already

    have good answers to these questions since BI is now a

    leading business and technology issue or many compa-

    nies. Business leaders know the value it can bring or

    supporting decision making, reducing risk, introducing

    cost eciencies, and improving inormation quality.

    But what is your roadmap or reaching those goals?

    For many companies, the picture becomes cloudy here.

    For starters, there are more BI-ocused sotware solu-

    tions available rom SAP now than ever beore. And,

    while its great to have options, it can be hard to know

    which conguration is the smartest choice or your

    business. Plus, many companies dont know where to

    begin since it can be dicult to analyze how well a com-

    panys current BI system works, where it alls short, and

    how much incremental value a transition will deliver.

    For all these reasons, BI is not a quick-hit initiative.

    Its a journey. But businesses can still see results along

    the way i they take the right approach. Here are our

    tips or demonstrating BI results early and regularly.

    1. Take Time to PlanExperienced mountain climbers dont just grab their

    gear and head to the mountain not when theyre try-

    ing to reach an imposing new peak. They careully plan

    out each stage o the climb with their hiking teams. Its

    the same with improving or implementing a BI solution

    you need to take the time to understand the realrequirements, engage with stakeholders, and create a

    vision that will sustain everyone through the long haul.

    2. Identiy