iSPartners demonstrated its expertise in the business intelligence arena with a quick-fire five-week implementation that has helped JSE Altx-listed steel merchant, BSi Steel, significantly improve its cash flow and reduce aged stock levels.
BSi Steel's main challenge was to effectively manage its inventory list of more than 35 000 possible items spread across 115 warehouses throughout sub-Saharan Africa. BSi was hampered by significant cash being tied up in aged stock items, which was not immediately visible to management.
iSPartners was contracted to design, develop and implement a business intelligence solution that could assist BSi in reducing its stockholding. The final system comprised a mix of solutions that enables BSi Steel to arrange and view all its data as it needs. The solution consisted of a data warehouse and cubes developed using timeXtender - deployed to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Strategy Companion's Analyzer, which is used to present the data and reports in a user-friendly and easily navigable fashion.
timeXtender, a rapid business intelligence development platform, was used to speed up the development and implementation. In addition to this, timeXtender also enables on-the-fly changes to the BI system post-implementation, which greatly enhances the flexibility of the solution.
“An organisation such as BSi Steel can't afford lengthy delays or time-consuming tampering with its management systems, and we are very proud to have delivered this solution in such a short time,” says iSPartners' Dan Erasmus. “This was possible despite their many different sales models that range from over-the-counter sales outlets all the way to bulk sales and even the group's processing facility.”
This scenario and business situation are all too familiar to iSPartners, which is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Business Intelligence, and specialises in developing BI and CRM systems that enable better management of the sales, marketing, financial and management functions.
“The strength of this solution is that no hard-coding is required, placing the power of the application in the hands of the customer,” adds Erasmus.
BSi Steel's IT Manager, Andrew Wood, said that extracting data from its ERP system had become a major challenge and was unable to produce an efficient reporting structure.
“With this new platform, we were able to build an aged stock report that brought immediate value, faster stock turn and maximum cash flow to the business,” says Wood. “This aged stock report enabled a view that gave executives insight right from group level, through to business unit level as well as down to a SKU level, enabling immediate action and decision-making.”
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