Helping colleagues help themselves
A typical Techgether article describes the dynamics between business and IT in projects that start at the request of the business colleagues. But this story is more about those business-colleagues helping themselves. It is about Jumbo self-service business intelligence (or SSBI); a comprehensive set of dashboards that give them access to data and reports with which they can optimize the Jumbo formula every day.
To learn more about this project, we talk to Selvaraj Chidambaram, SAP BW4HANA Consultant @ Jumbo Tech Campus and Arne Knippels Optimalization Expert Forecasting & Replenishment @ Jumbo
Taming the data
There are quite a few technical challenges that come with designing a system that provides a lot of users access to a lot of data. One of those is the different types, formats, and sources of the data involved. Selveraj: “We combine data from several data centers and databases. They don’t all use the same formats or structures in their databases, tables, or records. We had to find out exactly what types of data to extract and then translate those into something that can be put into one unified system. And that system must have an interface that makes sense to the end user.
To add an extra layer of difficulty: All data retrieval and analyses are done dynamically and in real-time as much as possible. Because, when making business decisions, you want your data to reflect the current situation. Not that of two days ago.
Selvaraj: “It was quite a challenge, but we enjoy those. Especially when we get it done right.”
Crashing Excel
The system has some powerful features that help business users do and find what they need when they need it, such as dynamic time filtering, which eliminates the need to calculate results by hand over and over. Or the option to filter on almost any criterium they want and generate numerous types of reports.
Selvaraj: “Users can find, cross-reference, and analyze almost any type of data that is relevant to them. And generate reports tailormade to their wishes. All without the assistance of the people on the campus. So now, we have more time to focus on the numerous other projects.”
“SSBI truly is a vast improvement over the way we used to analyze data and gain insight that help us improve continuously.”, Arne explains, “Our supermarkets generate a lot of data. In the past, we would literally see programs like Excel crash because of the sheer amount of data they had to process. SSBI is a much more robust and comprehensive system that lets us integrate and correlate all the data. It is a very useful tool to help make business decisions.”
How data helps keep customers happy
Arne has embraced SSBI as a tool to enhance the way he works. The different metrics and gauges help him detect and even prevent issues: “They give us insights into trends and let us predict them. And it is a great help in keeping all the items our customers want and need, available. SSBI combines data we can act on, like no other system can.”
He strongly encourages his colleagues to use SSBI daily. “With all that data, we can really optimize the shopping experience for our customers and continuously improve our forecasting & replenishment processes at the Jumbo headquarters”. SSBI helps us with the right interpretations and correlations. It also provides better insight for prioritizing actions to improve performance. It really takes out the hassle of connecting the dots across all our systems.”
Updates and flexibility
There will always be new data to integrate and analyze. And with the system behind SSBI, new features and data sources are far more easily accessed and integrated that before. “In the future, we can add any type of source to the SSBI.”, according to Selvaraj. “All we have to do is go through the new data source, find the relevant information and map that into our system.” One of the most defining features of SSBI is that it’s never finished. Selvaraj: “Just like in any other dynamic kind of business, it’s a constant race for new functionalities and features. And that’s fine. It’s even fun.”
The constant improvements are a real benefit, according to Arne: “In the first versions, the response times were very high. I remember waiting more that 1 hour for a report to compile and then it still wouldn’t load. Now, the waiting time is just 2,5 seconds.”
Saying goodbye to corporate culture
Before he joined Jumbo, Selvaraj worked for several companies in several countries, such as in the UK and Switzerland. He likes the Netherlands and the work culture @ Jumbo Tech Campus best: “Of course, we have to deliver, but we get the space and time to do just that. They trust you to do your job.”
His ambitions are aimed towards getting better at what he does: “I don’t aspire to become a manager. I want to grow in my technical abilities and skills. I’m a BW4HANA consultant now and I want to grow into a technical pathfinder. I really like what I do, so I want to keep doing it as long as possible. “
Selvaraj praises the relaxed atmosphere at Jumbo: “I can say what I think about anything anytime. It’s nothing like a corporate culture. People here treat you like a professional, not a machine. They help you with practical issues like work visa and so on. It’s very employer friendly. That’s one of the reasons why I really like working here.”
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