South East Water: Tapping a Wellspring of New Business Insight

Transcription

1 South East Water: Tapping a Wellspring of New Business Insight Partner

2 2 South East Water Ltd. Industry Utilities Products and Services Water distribution and engineering services Web Site SAP s SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform Partner Blueprint Management Systems Ltd. How can the merger of two water supply companies bubble new insight and innovation to the surface? South East Water Ltd. migrated users from its original SAP reporting software to the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) platform. With intuitive, expanded access to company data, employees can now spot trends and preemptively address potential problems. This enhanced, consolidated business intelligence helps South East Water produce a steady stream of satisfied customers.

3 3 High pressure for excellent water service South East Water supplies top-quality drinking water to more than 2 million customers in the counties of southeastern England. Drawing from rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers, the company treats and distributes 565 million liters of drinking water each day. The supplier also conducts water efficiency audits for customers and offers an online e-metering application that helps consumers track and view information on their water consumption. The company works diligently to provide responsive service and meet the stringent requirements established by United Kingdom and European legislation and regulatory agencies. Each of these government bodies audits and reports on South East Water s performance annually. In 2007 South East Water merged with Mid Kent Water, unifying the two leading water companies in the region. The 700-employee company is now owned by Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Utilities Trust of Australia (UTA). 14,500 Kilometers of water mains in supply area

4 4 Creating a fountain of clear intelligence After the merger, South East Water found itself with a challenging view of its enterprise operations. Employees from each of the predecessor companies used a different SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence solution to produce reports. Getting a single view of the organization required users to manually combine the data outside of the SAP software. This time-consuming process threatened the company s ability to meet its regulatory deadlines. It also compromised process transparency, because regulators could not easily track the origin of the data. South East Water needed to quickly produce reports that unified all of the data without any manual intervention. Our objective was to create a single data source that employees could use to generate reports and get information, says Andy James, BI analyst for the company. We also wanted software that empowered users to write their own reports. The goal was to create one BI platform that would help the company meet its regulatory requirements on time and deliver cross-enterprise transparency for better business decision making. With this cohesive approach to BI, the supplier also hoped to reduce IT costs and enhance efficiencies. The SAP BusinessObjects BI platform could meet those goals. It was important to deploy a centralized reporting and BI solution that could help our users quickly and easily access the data that would allow them to gain insight. Andy James, BI Analyst, South East Water Ltd.

5 5 Drinking up the value of SAP solutions The two organizations that combined to form South East Water valued the existing SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions in their portfolios. The software helped users produce detailed reports and supported ad hoc queries. Familiar with the intuitive interface, users were already productively using the SAP software. For those reasons, the company never considered switching to products from another software vendor. Decision makers at South East Water were also impressed by the robust functionality including the self-serve reporting features provided in the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform. In the final analysis, the choice was a simple one. The SAP tools supported our vision for consolidated business intelligence, says James. Bringing together our reporting solutions into the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform would let us present unified, transparent information to both our stakeholders and regulators. With the investment we had in the SAP BusinessObjects tools and the knowledge base our users had already developed, it was a foregone conclusion that we would stay with SAP. Andy James, BI Analyst, South East Water Ltd.

6 6 Cleanly executing a software migration project Migration to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform was completed quickly and without difficulty. South East Water worked with SAP trusted partner Blueprint Management Systems Ltd. on the scoping, implementation, knowledge transfer, and software launch. The company also invested in an intensive user training program that helps people generate their own reports. The whole process went very smoothly, reports James. Our SAP partner used a very structured process to support the migration from the older software to the new solution. The software was deployed on time and within the company s budget. We had a very tight schedule, but the project went exactly to plan, says James. How often can you say that? 2 Weeks to migrate to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform

7 7 Refreshing new business intelligence Throughout the enterprise, the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform now helps users generate business intelligence to support decision making. Approximately 100 users in departments ranging from human resources and water quality to operations and the customer service center create reports and explore the data using SAP software. When users spot trends or issues in the data, they can perform further analysis, dig deeper to identify root causes, collect additional details, and begin taking action. In the past, these users had to rely on information services to send them reports, says James. The self-service features give them the ability to get the data they need, realize new insights, and take action faster than ever before. The company uses the report scheduling functionality to distribute reports to key business managers where and when they need the information. Some executives even receive reports on their mobile devices. The success of the first generation of users is beginning to trickle throughout the organization. When one member of a team realizes a new insight for the business, others in the group want to have that type of data access too, says James. Everyone wants to be able to help the business run better. We wanted to ensure that users were able to produce the information they need. With the SAP solutions, people can make sense of their own data. Andy James, BI Analyst, South East Water Ltd.

8 8 Deep pool of value By migrating to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform, South East Water realized several significant benefits. From the IT perspective, the company was able to halve the number of reporting systems it supports. James estimates that this reduction from two solutions to one decreased IT s support requirements by approximately 33%. Although no return on investment figures have been calculated, he expects to realize similar savings on the cost of server support. Although more people are using the reporting solutions than in the past, the self-service features actually decreased the support workload for IT. Our goal was to support the BI technology, not to act as a service bureau for creating reports, says James. Now that IT is not writing so many reports, we can concentrate on performing tasks that add value to the company. On the business side, the company is now able to distribute reports to any member of the staff. The 100 or so users who can write reports are able to share them with employees throughout the organization. The information that business users receive from these reports helps them to do their jobs better, says James. The SAP BusinessObjects BI platform opened up access to a world of new data and increased the value of information within our company. That s an advantage we don t want to do without. Andy James, BI Analyst, South East Water Ltd.

9 9 South East Water Pure advantage With the successful migration to the new SAP solution, South East Water is looking ahead to its next steps. Further consolidation of the water supplier market is a possibility, so all water companies need to be prepared to address new market challenges. To help identify opportunities and proactively solve problems, the supplier will continue looking for new ways to take advantage of its SAP BusinessObjects BI platform. The company plans to increase the number of people who use the software in the departments where it has already been deployed. Expanding data access to more users is likely to drive even more insights that can support innovation. In addition, South East Water is considering adding new tools such as SAP BusinessObjects Live Office software that can help users in the financial department perform enhanced analysis on their data. The SAP solutions helped us increase the power and effectiveness of our reporting initiatives, says James. We re looking forward to discovering new ways to use the tools of the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform, so we can increase our value to the customers of South East Water. CMP15410 (11/12)