Developing a Financial & Operation Dashboard Strategy

Geoffrey Barneby

Strategy Service Line Principal

Novell, Inc.

Michael Madison

Vice President

Quest Partners Inc.

Overview

Agenda

The importance of strategy

A case study

ABC Grain & Barge Company

An approach to building a dashboard Strategy

1

2

3

Agenda

Dashboard overview

Importance of developing a strategy

Our approach

Assessing the findings

Opportunity Identification & prioritization

Building a road map

Outline an Architecture

Scoping the phases

Realities of implementation

Other recommendations and best practices

Dashboard overview

What is a dashboard?

Framework for aggregating data, analyzing trends, and presenting key performance indicators of the business through a web interface

Multi-dimensional views of financial and operational metrics

Customized information based on user preferences and permissions

Any-time, anywhere access

Does your dashboard look like this

Statement of Operations

Trend Graph

Actual vs. Forecast

Dashboard objectives

Provide executives and managers with timely access to key performance indicators (KPIs) of the business at the enterprise and business unit levels

Build a framework that leverages current IT investments and extends the life of existing data sources

Deliver information in an intuitive and user friendly format

Provide managers with better tools for improving business efficiency

Importance of
developing a strategy

The goal is to create
competitive advantage…

Doing things right won’t help…

when you’re not doing
the right things.

Technology is not
a synonym for strategy

“Do you think car racing is all about having a fast car?”

Ray Everham,

Former Crew Chief for Jeff Gordon

Strategy is all about activity choice

Shall we perform activities similar to those of our rivals?

The same as competitors

Better than competitors

In different ways than competitors

Shall we perform different activities from rivals?

These questions are as relevant to us as they are to our clients

Our approach

Goals of a dashboard strategy

Identify, prioritize and roadmap the key dashboard business initiatives that will provide the most business value to the enterprise

Identify and scope the most logical first phase for an enterprise dashboard solution

Estimate the time and effort to develop these roadmap solutions

“Build and Pray”

Start immediately and build a first version on the currently existing understanding of the market, the competition, potential partners and business systems and the technology.

“Analysis Paralysis”

Develop a well thought through strategy based on significant efforts to understand customers, partners and the market. Don’t start to implement before the strategy is clear.

Do strategy work first to get an initial
understanding of both the business and technical challenges. Start to implement with the target in mind and learn while you go.

Degree of

Implementation

Degree

of

Strategy

Why is direction setting necessary?

Approach

Strategy

Alignment,

Business Benefit,

Technology

Architecture,

Scope, &

Roadmap

Detail

Requirements

Design

Development

Test

Rollout

Empowerment

Change Management / Assimilation

Application Training

FP/FT or T&M

5 Weeks

+ or – 90 Days

People

Process

Organization

Technology

Solutions Life Cycle

UI & Integ.

Design

Plan

Solution

Framework

Direction

Requirements

& business priority

Working

Application

Business Benefit

Realization

Scope

Discovery / Direction Setting

Current state

Challenges

Solutions

Technology

Initiative alignment

Identify initiatives

Prioritization criteria

Prioritize initiatives

Assess technology

Current vs. future state architecture

Detailed Gap analysis

Recommendations

Develop overall recommendations

Solution approach

Technical architecture

Observations

Examine

Assess

Scope

Week 3

Week 1

Architecture

Future state

Dashboard architecture

Road map

Architecture Roadmap

Phase 1 dashboard deployment plan

Phased approach
(time, prioritization, estimated cost &
resource requirements)

Business impact

Business benefits

Next Steps

30/60/90 action plan

Prep

Days 2-10

Capture Data

Interviews/

facilitation

Documentation

Business

Goals

Challenges

Processes

Drill down into specific challenges

Technology

Current usage

Current State Architecture

Drill down into specific technologies

Day 1

Introductions

Kick off meeting

Expectations

Planning

Identify Key Stakeholders

Schedule interviews

Prepare interview templates

Week 2

Week 4

Plan

Functionality scope

Identify Dashboard focus based on recommendations from Discovery phase

Identify specific reporting needs

Identify specific functionality for each reporting need

Create Functionality Matrix recommended dashboard

Clearly define functionality components

Identify data sources

Assess technical complexities

Assess business impact

Prioritize functionality

Phase functionality

Week 5

Approach

Case Study: ABC Grain Company

Background

ABC Enterprise has a diverse infrastructure with a number of disparate/disconnected systems

ABC faces challenges in reporting with long lead-times, redundant and often labor-intensive processes, and inconsistent data

ABC executives and managers need more timely and accurate access to key financial and operational metrics Facts

ABC Grain & Barge overview

World's largest exporter of identity preserved grain

$2 billion in revenues

$10 million in profit

Growth by acquisition of small companies

3 financial systems

Trying to extend the useful life of Agris (operational grain reporting and financial system

Very siloed business

Who we have talked to

Summary of Challenges

Category

Challenge

Examples

1. Data Capture

2. Data aggregation

3. Reporting

4. Forecasting & Analysis

5. Information Dissemination

Very little operational data

Business processes are very siloed

Tracking info in not available

Commodity handling rates need to be more available

Acceptance of toolset (need to change behavior)

No process for implementing organizational change

Many manual and redundant processes (data entry)

Operational and financial data capture is batched,

which leads to delayed report generation

Hard to get accurate and timely info

Data is disparate and siloed

Lack of technology infrastructure to support

collaboration and timely information

Lack of standard reports across business

No access to daily spot versus futures position

Lack of comparative info for use in trending

Long lead-time & multiple people needed to respond

to requests for KPIs

Customer profiling info is not available

Poor commodity profitability info

Hard to differentiate the business services

Only enough data is captured to support an invoice

No direct tie from operational to financial data

Each terminal is run a separate business with different report structures and formats.

This approach may serve the business unit well, but make enterprise-wide

comparative analysis difficult.

There is some tracking done for CTLC, which customers can access, but it is not

enterprise-wide.

See above

Each terminal is run a separate business with different report structures and formats.

This approach may serve the business unit well, but make enterprise-wide

comparative analysis difficult.

Decentralized org structure

Monthly financials are extracted to multiple Excel spreadsheets, which are then

manually extracted to a master sheet for the purposes of reporting

Payroll info is really only captured on a monthly basis

Terminal tickets aggregated on a daily basis

A lot of meaningful accounting data is batched on a monthly basis

Cooper consolidated data is a monthly summary (brief summary)

Reports generated on a montly close basis, but not available for as much as 18 days

after close (Grain 10, CTLC/Marine 8, Accounting 18-21 days)

Data is in 50 locations and 5 regions

No corporate intranet

All collaboration is done manual thru shared document folders

Each terminal is run a separate business with different report structures and formats.

This approach may serve the business unit well, but make enterprise-wide

comparative analysis difficult.

Data is not captured in the same way

Different data sets are difficult to consolidate on a regional/Enterprise-wide level

Trading info is not made available to the managers in a timely manner

Lack of historical data due to storage and migration issues

Non-standard reports (Apples to Oranges)

Too many bottlenecks

Would like to know which customers are more profitable within the bands of 30 miles

from the terminal versus 60 or 90 miles

Need to know which commodities are more profitable and focus on them

Assets (terminals) are an advantage, but anyone with a phone can broker grain

Special grain programs teach farmers to produce higher quality grains

Current Application Architecture

Partner Company

ABC OnLine

Hedgebrook

Agris

Location

Level

Central

Hedgedesk

Application

DTR (Data

Transfer

Process)

Agris

Region

Level

Excel Grain

Financial

Reports

Grain Operations

Marine & CTLC Operations

Corporate and

Consolidated

Harbor

Management

Fleet

Picture

Crystal

Reports

Freight

Barge Booke

Solomon

FRx

External

Financial

ADP

Payroll

Corporate

GL

Corporate

Financial

Reports

Manual input

of Financial

Reports into

Excel

Monthly

Financial

Reporting

Package

Business Activity Model

Buy/Sell

Grain

Receive

Grain at

Terminal

Store

Mix/Blend

Corn, etc.

Load on

Barge

Transport

Grain on

Barge

Unload @

Terminal

(Stevedore)

Store

Mix/Blend

Load on

Vessel

Hedge

Grain

Position

Process

Soy Beans

Purchase

Barge

Freight

A. Grain Operations

Customer Company

E. Diversified Svcs

F. Corporate

B. Marine Operations

C. CTLC Operations

Farmers Harvest

Grain

Chicago Board

of Trade

Factories &

Processing Plants

Southbound Freight

Northbound Freight

Transfer

Empty

Barges to

Competitive

Fleet

Transfer

Empty

Barges to

Fleet

(Park)

Clean

Barges

Repair

Barges

Vessel

Enters the

Gulf

Originate

Loans

Crop

Insurance

Monthly

Financial

Reporting

Ship to

Factory via

Truck or Rail

Unload at

Terminal

Truck

Brokering

Transport

on Barge

Load on

Barge

(Stevedore)

Unload

Vessel

(Stevedore)

Park Vessel

at

Anchorage

Arrange

Logistics

Storage

Purchase

Barge

Freight

Switching

D. Ag Finance

Business Activity Matrix: Definitions

Category

Focus

Area

Dashboard

Readiness

Term

Definition

Business Unit

Activity

Process

Technology

H (High)

M (Medium)

L (Low)

Business unit within ABC

A subset of business unit – a major activity performed by that business unit

Process within the function, including manual & automated, workflow, approvals

documentation, measurement, distribution, bottleneck, etc.

Technology that supports the business function, including systems, automations, reporting,

notifications, disconnects, security, scalability, maintainability, applications, etc.

Adequate: Ready to be incorporated in the dashboard

Okay: But definitely needs reviewing and monitoring before activity can be tracked

Inadequate: Definitely needs some revision

Business Activity Matrix: Snapshot

Business Unit

Activity

Business

Driver

Key Performance

Indicators (KPIs)

Type

Data Capture

Process

Technology/

Data Source

(Operational

/Financial)

Manual or Automated?

Batch or Real-time?

Description/Barriers

Process

Technology

Dashboard

Readiness

Dashboard

Readiness

A

A1

A2

A3

A4

Grain Operations

Buy/Sell Grain

Hedge Grain

Receive Grain

(at terminal)

Store, Mix &

Blend Grain

Volume

Margin

Margin

Margin

Volume

Volume

Tons (#), Bushels (#)

Revenue ($), Revenue ($)

per bushel, Cost ($),

Cost ($) per bushel, Initial

Purchase Margin ($),

Trading Margin ($),

Carries ($)

Hedge Position

(by commodity)

Tons (#), Bushels (#)

Stored inventory levels

(tons, bushels)

Mix & Blend Spread ($)

Carries ($)

Operational

Financial

Financial

Financial

Operational

Operational

Automated

Real-time

12 different hedge books need

aggregated for reporting

purposes.

Automated

Batch

Captured on a monthly basis

in 12 different flat files

Initial Purchase margin, trading

margin, and carries are

included in Total margin. Hard

to estimate carries.

Automated

Batch

Captured daily in 12 different

flat files – needed aggregating

for reporting purposes.

Manual

Batch

Challenge is that there is a

12-24 hour delay in getting it

into the system

Automated

Batch

No Challenges

Automated

Batch

Hard to estimate carries

H

H

H

M

M

M

H

H

H

H

H

H

Agris flat files

Agris flat files

Agris flat files

Agris flat files

Agris flat files

Agris flat files

Assessment of Dashboard Readiness

Business Unit

Activity

Business

Driver

Process

Technology

A

Grain Operations

Volume

Margin

Margin

Volume

Volume

Margin

Yield

Customer

Performance

Volume

Margin

Volume

Margin

Volume

Service

Quality

Volume

Service

Quality

A1

Buy/Sell Grain

A2

Hedge Grain

A3

Receive Grain

(at Terminal)

A4

Store, Mix &

Blend Grain

A5

Process

Soybeans

A6

Load on Barge

A7

Purchase

Barge Freight

A8

Transport Grain

(on barge)

A9

Unload barge

at terminal (Stevedore)

Business Unit

Activity

Business

Driver

Process

Technology

B

Marine

Volume

Margin

Security

Volume

Margin

Volume

Margin

B1

Transfer empty

barges to fleet

(fleeting)

B2

B3

Clean barges

Repair barges

Business Unit

Activity

Business

Driver

Process

Technology

C

CTLC

Efficiency

Customer

Performance

Revenue

Volume

Margin

Volume

Margin

C1

Arrange

Logistics

C2

C3

Unload vessel

(Stevedore)

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

Load on barge

Purch. barge freight

Park vessel at

anchorage

Transport on

barge

Unload barge at

terminal

Broker trucks

(RBB Brokering)

Store cargo

(Terminaling)

Ship to factory

via truck (RBT Transport) or rail

Service

Quality

Volume

Margin

Profitability

Volume

Margin

Service

Quality

Volume

Volume

Service

Quality

Margin

Margin

Service

Quality

Volume

Margin

Volume

Business Unit

Activity

Business

Driver

Process

Technology

D

Ag Finance

Volume

D1

Originate Loans

E

E1

Sell crop insurance

F

F1

Monthly

Financial Statements

Diversified

Services

Corporate

Margin

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Volume

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Revenue,

Expense,

Profitability

Expense

Opportunity identification
and Prioritization

Identify dashboard components

Grain Operations

CTLC Operations

Marine Operations

Monthly Financials

Grain Buy/Sell Information

Net Position Info

Handle Info

Storage Info

Mix & Blend Spread Info

Soybean Processing Yield Info

Soybean Processing Profitability Info

Southbound Freight Info

Southbound Position

Anchorage Info

Stevedore Info

Northbound Terminaling Info

Logistics Info

Norhtbound Position Info

Fleeting Info

Cleaning Info

Repair Info

Ag-Finance Info

Diversified Services Info

Forecasting Module

Customer Profitability

Line of Business Profitability

Region/Location Profitability

Commodity Profitability

Days/Sales Outstanding

Aged Accounts Receiveable

P&L Acutal vs. Forecast

Payroll Summary

Grain volume and information

Details of all grain hedging activity

Shows terminal receipts and dispositions/volume by commodity/grade

Stored inventory levels (volume/commodity/grade) for each terminal

Inputs & outputs (volume/commodity/grade) & margin ($ spread)

Yield for meal (tons) and oil (lbs) by total soybean tonnage processed

Revenue minus expenses (profit)

Tonnage transported (commodity/grade), loaded, unloaded, shrinkage, etc.

Fiscal versus forward contracts and positions for southbound freight

Volume and margin on a ship/day basis

Volume and margin (tonnage unloaded/loaded) (commodity/grade)

Summary info by terminal, volume (commodity/handle rate) and margin

Freight purchased and sold

Shows volume by commodity, transportation charged for each barge & profitability

Shows volume and margin for the fleeting process (barges/day, profit/day, etc.)

Volume and margin for the cleaning operation (by job and monthly)

Volume (#jobs) margin (by job and monthly)

Loan volume and related origination- and servicing-fee dollars

Policy volume and related premium policy dollars

Common template for capturing forecast detail from the field

Summary & drill down of customer profitability (Segmentation, day/sales, frequency)

Summary and drill down of Line of Business Profitability

Summary and drill down of Region/Location Profitability

Summary and drill down of Commodity Profitability

Summary and drill down of Day/Sales Outstanding

Summary and drill down of Aged Accounts Receivable

Summary and drill down of performance

Summary of payroll labor distribution info by location/region/corporate

Dashboard

Name

Dashboard Components

(Opportunities)

Descriptions

ABC

ABC

Definitions: Prioritization criteria and elements

Criteria

Elements

Definitions

Scoring

Increase Margin

and Revenue

Increase

Managerial

Effectiveness

Improve

Forecasting &

Estimating

Accuracy

Organizational/

Process Change

Technical

Complexity

Scale of

Implementation

This element is a measure of how well the opportunity helps ABC increase revenue and

margin buy providing managers with better access to information that could influence their

investment and revenue generating decisions

This element is a measure of how well the opportunity helps ABC increase managerial

effectiveness because they will have a better insight into the what works and what does

not work well in their part of the business on a more timely basis

This element is a measure of how well the opportunity helps ABC improve forecasting

accuracy by providing a better insight into business trends, internal and external

influences and business potential

This element measure the degree to which the organization or processes will be

required to change (new skills, new way of doing business, overcoming organizational

inertia). It also addresses the possible legal or regulatory hurdles that may exist while

implementing the initiative. The resources needed (i.e., people, money, etc) is

commensurate with the complexity

This element measures how difficult the initiative would be to implement from a technical

standpoint. For example: Number of systems involved, how difficult the technology is to

work with, availability of skilled resources to implement the solution

This element assesses how large an implementation is required to do this initiative. For

example, the number of departments affected, the number of processes affected. Number

of data sources and systems affected, and the length of implementation period (since

longer projects can be more risky)

1 indicates no incremental ability to

increase revenue and margin

10 indicates very high incremental

ability to increase revenue margin

1 indicates no incremental ability to

increase managerial effectiveness

10 indicates very high incremental ability

to increase managerial effectiveness

1 indicates no incremental ability to

improve forecasting accuracy

10 indicates very high ability to improve

forecasting accuracy

1 indicates no organizational change

required

10 indicates very high level change

required

1 indicates no complexity

10 indicates highest level of complexity

and corresponding risk of failure

1 indicates a relatively small scale

implementation

Business Benefit

The Business Benefit criteria is a measurement of how well a solution helps ABC

achieve its goals

The Complexity criteria assess how difficult it is for the organization to implement the

initiative

Estimated total cost of time and resources to implement the solution. This includes the

cost of IT resources, software, hardware, and business resources

Complexity

Relative

Estimated Cost

High / Medium / Low

L<50K<M150K<H

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

Grain Operations

CTLC Operations

CTLC Operations

CTLC Operations

CTLC Operations

CTLC Operations

Marine Operations

Marine Operations

Marine Operations

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Monthly Financials

Grain Buy/Sell Informations

Net Position Info

Handle Info

Storage Info

Mix & Blend Info

Soybean Processing Yield Info

Soybean Processing Profitability Info

Southbound Frieght Info

Southbound Freight Position

Anchorage Info

Stevedore Info

Norhtbound Terminaling Info

Logistics Info

Norhtbound Position Info

Fleeting Info

Cleaning Info

Repair Info

Ag-Finance Info

Diversified Services Info

Forecasting Module

Customer Profitability

Line of Business Profitability

Region/Location Profitability

Commodity Profitability

Financial Ratios

Aged Acocunts Receivable

P&L Acutal vs. Forecast

Payroll Summary

7	10	8	8.4

1	5	1	2.6

2	6	4	4.0

2	4	3	3.0

5	5	3	4.6

4	6	1	4.2

7	10	8	8.4

1	1	1	1.0

7	10	8	8.4

3	7	7	5.4

3	6	6	4.8

2	6	8	4.8

3	7	8	5.6

7	10	8	8.4

4	7	8	6.0

2	5	6	4.0

2	5	5	3.8

1	3	5	2.6

2	5	5	3.8

1	10	10	6.4

9	10	4	8.4

1	9	8	5.6

1	8	8	5.2

5	9	8	7.2

1	5	1	2.6

1	3	1	1.8

1	2	1	1.4

5	10	10	8.0

4	4	6	4.7

1	5	5	3.7

6	4	5	5.0

7	4	5	5.3

4	4	5	4.3

1	3	1	1.7

1	3	1	1.7

1	3	1	137

5	3	2	3.3

3	6	3	4.0

3	5	2	3.3

6	3	5	4.7

2	3	2	2.3

2	3	1	2.0

1	2	1	1.3

1	3	1	1.7

1	3	1	1.7

1	1	1	10.

1	2	1	1.3

5	2	6	4.3

3	2	7	4.0

1	2	1	1.3

2	2	2	2.0

2	2	4	2.7

1	3	1	1.7

1	2	1	1.3

1	1	1	1.0

2	7	10	6.3

L

H

L

L

M

M

L

L

M

L

L

L

M

L

L

L

L

L

L

H

M

L

L

M

L

L

L

H

Increase

Margin and

Revenue

100%

Increase

Managerial

Effectiveness

100%

Improve

Forcasting/

Estimating

Accuracy

50%

Overall

Business

Benefit

Process/

Org. Change

Required

100%

Technical

Complexity

100%

Scale of

Implement

ation

100%

Overall

Complexity

Relative Estimated

Cost

L<$50K<M$150K<H

Opportunity

Prioritization Matrix

Dashboard

Opportunity

Business Benefit

Complexity

Cost

Opportunity prioritization results

High

Low

Medium

Legend

Grain Operations

CTLC Operations

Marine Operations

Monthly Financials

Investment Size

High
>$150K

Medium
$50K - $150K

Low
< $50K

Payroll

Grain

Buy/Sell

Customer

Profitability

Southbound

Freight Position

Northbound

Position

Soybean

Processing

Profit

Forecasting Module

Commodity

Profit

Anchorage

Northbound

Terminaling

Mix &

Blend

Handle

Storage

Net Position

Stevedore

Logistics

Fleeting

Line of Business

Profit

Region/Location

Profit

Soybean Processing

Yield

Cleaning

Repairing

Diversified

Services

Ag

Finance

Financial

Ratios

Aged AR

P&L Actual vs.

Forecast

Southbound

Freight

High

Medium

Low

Implementation Complexity

Business Benefit

Agenda

Project overview

Approach

Summary of findings

Opportunity ID & prioritization

Roadmap

Architecture

Summary of Scope

Recommendations

Next steps

Developing an actionable roadmap

CC/CTLC Operations

Other Requirements

Marine Operations

Monthly Financials

Grain Operations

IT Infrastructure

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Legend

End User Training

Grain Trading

Freight Position

Fleeting Info

Cleaning Info

CC/CTLC Stevedore

Northbound Freight Position

CC/CTLC Anchorage

Skills Assessment

Technical Training

Technical Support Services

LOB Profitability

Regional/ Location Profitability

P&L Actual vs. Forecast

Mix & Blend

Net Position

Repairing Info

Terminal Info

CC/CTLC Logistics

Commodity Profitability

End User Training

End User Training

Handle Info

Change Management

Change Management

Change Management

LDAP
Authentication
Tree

Role-base Access

Identity Synchronization

Expand Dashboard into Portal

White Pages

Secure Remote Access

Dashboard Framework

CC/CTLC
Northbound
Freight & anchorage

Boat Costs

CC Marine

Soybean Processing Yield

Soybean Processing Profit

Forecasting Module

Ag Financing

Aged Accounts Receivable

Payroll Summary

Customer Profitability

Financial Ratios

Diversified Services

Trucking

Soybean Daily Position

High-Level Road Map

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Grain Trading

Soybean Processing Yield

Soybean Processing Profit

Freight Position

Forecasting Module

Ag Financing

Aged Accounts Receivable

Payroll Summary

Fleeting Info

Cleaning Info

CC/CTLC Stevedore

Northbound Freight Position

CC/CTLC Anchorage

Customer Profitability

Financial Ratios

LOB Profitability

Regional/ Location Profitability

Diversified Services

P&L Actual vs. Forecast

Mix & Blend

Net Position

Repairing Info

Terminal Info

CC/CTLC Logistics

Commodity Profitability

Handle Info

Go/no go 1/21/05

Expand Dashboard into Portal framework

Infrastructure

CC/CTLC
Northbound
Freight & anchorage

Trucking

Boat

Costs

CC Marine

Soybean Daily Position

3/11/05

Oct

Sep

Aug

Jul

Jun

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

Dec

Nov

7/15/05

10/14/05

Estimated time line

Agenda

Project overview

Approach

Summary of findings

Opportunity ID & prioritization

Roadmap

Architecture

Summary of Scope

Recommendations

Next steps

Architecture

Current technical environment

Desktop Applications

(Local installation)

Web Delivery

(.Net & asp applications)

Citrix delivery

(VB applications)

Desktop

Authentication

Application

Authentication

VPN

Authentication

Enterprise Network

Application

Authentication

ADP

Payroll

ABC

Online

Location

Hedge Books

Location

Hedge Books

Virtual

Team

Rooms

ABC

Online

Freight

Virtual

Team

Shared

group

folders

Shared

group

folders

Shared

group

folders

Win XP

Desktops

w/Novell

Client

Exchange

Email

Win NT

Domain

Non-electronic labor distribution

Customers

Partners

Employees

Internet

Location

Hedge Books

Location

Hedge Books

Trackit Help

Desk

Apache/Tomcat

Microsoft IIS

Cisco Radius Dialup, Firewall, SSL

FRX & Crystal Reports

Solomon

Great Plains

Agris

Harbor

Mngmnt &

Bargebook

Freight

Central

Hedge

Book

Other

Applications

Future

AD

eDirectory

Future VM Ware on IBM SAN

Future architecture

Enterprise Network

Desktop Applications

(Local installation)

Web Delivery

(.Net & asp applications)

Citrix delivery

(VB applications)

Apache/Tomcat

Microsoft IIS

Portal Front End

Desktop

Authentication

VPN Minimized

Application

Authentication

SSL

Authentication

Auth

Tree

Location

Hedge Books

Location

Hedge Books

Location

Hedge Books

Location

Hedge Books

FRX & Crystal Reports

Solomon

Great Plains

Agris

Harbor

Mngmnt &

Bargebook

Freight &

Bargebook

Central

Hedge

Book

Other

Applications

ADP

Payroll

Shared

group

folders

Shared

group

folders

Shared

group

folders

AD

Workforce

Tree

Exchange

Email

Virtual

Team

Rooms

Freight

Virtual

Team

ABC

Online

Trackit Help

Desk

Employee
White

Page

Customer

White

Pages

Analytics Modules

Operational

Dashboards

Financial

Dashboards

CLAP

Datastore

Internet

Non-electronic labor distribution

Authentication for

600 Employees

4000 Customers

Data

Feed

authentication

authentication

Synchronize workers

Password synchronization

Synchronize

workers

Win XP

Desktops

w/Novell Client

Add and terminate workers

Customers

Partners

Employees

Aggregation Data Feeds

Auth

Auth

Auth

Auth

Future VM Ware on IBM SAN

Auth

Tree

Great

Plains

Agris

Phase 1 – Go/No Go Milestone

New authentication tree

Analytics engine – dataloads working for grain and corporate GL data

Limited analytics LDAP authentication

Analytics Modules

Operational

Dashboards

Financial

Dashboards

CLAP

Datastore

Phase 1A

SSL server configuration

Dashboard on core portal technology – grain and corporate financial first phase dashboard and reporting

Great

Plains

Agris

Analytics Modules

Operational

Dashboards

Financial

Dashboards

CLAP

Datastore

Internet

SSL

Authentication

Auth

Tree

Phase 2

Portal look and feel

Portal framework

eGuide integration

Synchronization between two identity stores

“Template” for new application development using 1 LDAP store

Core dashboard and reporting for CTLC, Marine, and Grain position

Great

Plains

Agris

Analytics Modules

Operational

Dashboards

Financial

Dashboards

CLAP

Datastore

Internet

SSL

Authentication

Auth

Tree

Workforce

Tree

Employee

White

Pages

Architectural phases

Phase 1 (up to the go/no-go milestone)

New authentication tree

Analytics engine - dataloads working for grain and corporate GL data

Limited analytics LDAP authentication

Phase 1A

SSL server configuration

Dashboard on core portal technology – grain and corporate financial first phase dashboard and reporting

Phase 2

Portal look and feel

Portal framework

eGuide integration

Synchronization between two identity stores

“Template” for new application development using 1 LDAP store

Core dashboard and reporting for CTLC, Marine, and Grain position

Phase 3 – Launch point for new projects by ABC IT

Account provisioning (email, group memberships)

Role based entitlements and access control

Minimize VPN

Citrix delivery via portal

ABC Online authentication

Customer white pages

Balance of Corporate Finance, Grain, CTLC, and Marine dashboards and reports, etc.

Dashboard application architecture

Presentaation

(User Interface) Level

Process & Workflow

Level

Analytics Level

Integration Level

Enterprise Data Level

Design

Tools

Admin

Secure Enterprise Dashboard

(Internet access and portal services)

Financial and Operational Data Sources

Integration Services (EAI

& Data Extraction/Translation/Load)

Business Intelligence, KPI’s, Graphical & Report Delivery

Business Services and System Workflow

User Interface & Web Services Development

Identity Management and Access Controls

Real time updatesa

Nsure Secure Identity Management (eDirectory 8.7.x, iManager, Audit, etc.),

Extend

Application Server

iChain (SSL/Rev Proxy), Extend Portal Svcs

Extend Director, Extend Composer

Extend Composer, Flat files & XML

Essbase Application Manager,

Hyperion Analyzer/Reports,

Agenda

Project overview

Approach

Summary of findings

Opportunity ID & prioritization

Roadmap

Architecture

Summary of Scope

Recommendations

Next steps

Scoping the phases

Functionality summary

A

B

C

D

E

E1

F

G

H

Grain

Operations

CTLC

Operations

Cooper/

Consolidate

Marine

Operations

Monthly

Financial

Monthly

FInancials

User

Interface

Security

Interaction

Handle

Information

Anchorage

Information

Anchorage

Information

Fleeting

Information

Region &

Location

Profitability

Diversified

Services

Add

multiple

Tabbed

Homepages

Use LDAP

Authenti-

cation

Use SSL

Grain

Trading

Stevedore

Information

Stevedore

Information

Cleaning

Information

Line of

Business

Profitability

Provide

Left/Top

Navigation

Allow

secure

remote

access

Aggregate

Agris Data

Mix &

Blend

Terminal

Information

Logistics

Repair

Information

Commodity

Profitability

Divide

homepages

into

portlets

Define

role-based

homepages

Aggregate

Great Plains

Grain

Position

Northbound

Freight

Position

Marine

Boat

Costs

P&L

Actual vs.

Forecast

Enable

different

layouts

Define

role-based

portlets

Aggregate

Hedge

book

Freight

Position

CTLC & C/C

Northbound

Freight &

Anchorage

Financial

Ratios

Personalize

content

by role

Allow

Single

Sign-on

Intergrate

eDirectory

Soybean

Processing

Yield

CTLC

Logistics

Aged

Accounts

Receivable

Minimize

or hide

portlets

Delegate

dashboard

access

mgmnt

Aggregate

Solomon

Soybean

Processing

Profit

Trucking

Customer

Profitability

Display

employee

white

pages

Collect

statistics

against portal

access

Aggregate

Harbor

Mgmnt

Soybean

Daily

Position

Payroll

Summary

Employee

Portal

Aggregate

Freight &

Barge Book

Forecasting

Module

Provision

Workers

Ag

Finance

Integrate

eGuide

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Realities of implementation

Realities of implementation

Expected number of data sources

Agris – 5

Great Plains – 2

Solomon – 2

Total - 9

Actual number of

data sources

Agris – 13

Great Plains – 3

Solomon – 28

Total - 44

Best Practices

The devil is in the details:

70% of the time expended during implementation will involve mapping data and developing ETL’s (extract, transform, and load)

Data must be gathered at a relevant level of detail (low enough granularity within meaningful timeframes, i.e., daily, weekly, monthly)

Other recommendations
and best practices

Recommendations

Iterative approach

Build on investments

Implement governance office, policies, and procedures

Continue to assess process changes at each phase

Continue to learn as you grow

Commit to a training plan to get maximum benefit from new and existing technology solutions

2nd point:

Strategy is not just having the best technology…

Need to:

- understand the landscape / opportunities

- think through the options

- decide which activities to pursue

- invest wisely

Align technology decisions with strategic decisions

Ensure that technology improves your business

Plan for technology to reduce the need to constantly play
catch up or put out fires

Get the most benefit out of your technology investment

Leverage technology across your organization

Use technology standards to reduce the total cost of ownership

Developing a Financial and Operational Dashboard Strategy

2003-12-08T12:43:39