GDI helped a leading Financial Firm to develop Cognos intelligence-based reporting and analysis applications to improve user productivity and reduce cost of Financial Operations.
The Challenge
Client Background
The client, a Financial Firm, has a presence in Four states. Known for its Financial Operations in Procurement and high added-value services, the company strives to and succeeds at achieving a fair return on the quality and innovation that characterize its offerings.
Project Objective:
This project addressed replacement of Actuate Reporting systems with Cognos reporting, development of Cognos based Analysis for supporting Management Decisions. The client was using Actuate for its reporting along with host of other tools and software. They sought integrated Data warehousing applications with the comprehensive business intelligence (BI) capabilities for reporting and analysis offered by Cognos. The project objective was to increase user productivity and lower the cost of ownership.
The Solution
Technology Employed:
Cognos, a BI and Performance Management tool and Oracle
Project Details:
GDI was selected by the client for its extensive experience in managing delivery of multiple data warehousing solutions across functional areas. The engagement entailed two BI projects using the Cognos Performance Management System: Invoices Reporting and Analysis for Procurement Management.
The Invoices Reporting allowed Management to monitor Invoices going through different stages and to control the cost of Procurement. The Procurement Management enabled users to identify accounts payable.
Key Responsibilities:
The GDI team performed an extensive study and analysis of requirements for both projects.
A GDI consultant served as mentor to the client’s development team, directing project activities, following best practices and providing guidance in implementing improvements that harnessed Cognos capabilities. GDI realized that defining the milestones of each project deliverable would be paramount in achieving client satisfaction in the long run. The GDI team maintained a successful track record of timely deliverables that has spurred the client to extend the project for development and implementation of new functionality. Our team developed a series of Cognos custom Report templates and custom portlets for use by in-house developers for reporting and dash-boarding. GDI consultants developed a Cognos Intelligence Based Reporting and Analysis application to allow accountants to track invoice vs. purchase order discrepancies in real time. GDI consultants developed a Cognos Intelligence Based Procurement Metrics to provide users real-time access to statistical and transactional data in the Cognos.
The Results
GDI earned the distinction of being chosen for further project extensions. The Invoices reporting systems exceeded the client expectations. The client Management can easily trace each invoice throughout the lifecycle of the invoice. Also they can take the management decisions based on the historical data. The analysis for Procurement Management is in production phase with testing. These reports will ensure that all users look at high-quality data, speeding response time and freeing up resources for other projects. The delivered solutions will significantly accelerate management information reporting, bringing important control issues to light.