Positioning itself as the leading irrigation company in the Limpopo province, Bekmar Irrigation is dedicated to providing advanced drip and micro-irrigation solutions for sustainable, cost-effective farming. With a strong commitment to efficient resource use, Bekmar needed equally efficient systems for its own operations – starting with sales reporting. The company approached Keyrus with a critical need: streamline and enhance their existing manual, Excel-based sales reporting process.
Challenges
Bekmar’s sales reporting process involved multiple, interlinked Excel sheets that required daily manual updates. Not only was this process time-intensive, but it also limited the company’s ability to gain meaningful insights from their sales data. To address these challenges, Bekmar outlined three key goals:
1. Reduce manual effort – eliminate tedious manual updates to focus on insight-driven analysis.
2. Automate sales reporting – distribute updated sales reports to the team daily without the risk of delays.
3. Ensure comprehensive data capture – move towards a complete, holistic view of sales data to inform decision-making.
Solution
To meet Bekmar’s expectations, Keyrus implemented a robust, hybrid-cloud-based reporting solution designed to optimise Bekmar’s existing data sources while providing scalability for the future. The solution leverages SQL Server, SQL Agent Jobs, T-SQL and Tableau Cloud to automate data movement, transformation and reporting.
1. Automated data movement: Automated merge statements in SQL Server ensure that the staging database is continuously updated with new and modified records from SAP through a linked server, ensuring accurate and current data availability.
2. Data transformation: Keyrus transformed the data via output views from the staging area, merging it with a secure, relational data warehouse. The data is indexed and optimised for fast access and flexibility.
3. Real-time reporting: Once processed, the data model is ready for visualisation in Tableau. The interactive reports include filters that allow Bekmar’s team to focus on specific sales insights, supporting targeted action.
Key benefits
“This fully automated solution has redefined Bekmar’s approach to sales data, enabling us to focus on analysis rather than maintenance,” commented Paul van den Berg, Managing Director at Bekmar Irrigation. “Keyrus’ expertise in data management and visualisation allowed our company to transition from a manually ran analytics to a modern, efficient and scalable automated solution,” adds Van den Berg.
- Real-time sales insights. Bekmar now has live visibility into daily sales performance, driving informed decision-making.
- Historical data reference. Users can access historical sales data by selecting specific dates, adding depth to trend analysis.
- Zero manual effort. SAP integration automates data updates, eliminating time-consuming manual work.
- Data-driven culture. Bekmar is now positioned to build a data-driven culture, using reliable insights to support sustainable growth.
Conclusion
“Through this transformative solution, Keyrus helped Bekmar Irrigation eliminate manual work, improve reporting accuracy and embrace data-driven insights,” summarises Dandre Diedericks, Data Engineer at Keyrus. “By partnering with Keyrus, Bekmar has not only optimised our reporting processes but has also laid the foundation for a future of strategic, data-led growth in sustainable farming,” concludes Van den Berg.
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