“Investing in the business intelligence system was a necessary investment. Now we have all of our business information in one place.” Jussi Muhonen, director of finance and human resources, A-lehdet
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A-Lehdet
A-Lehdet
The Finnish media house A-lehdet has deployed a business intelligence solution that enables the company to combine and use business intelligence more efficiently. Thanks to data warehousing and the new reporting solution, information is easy to find, higher quality and easier to refine. The bonus is that time is saved. All of this results in one true view of the business, in support of decision-making.
Background
The third-largest periodical publishing house in Finland, A-lehdet decided to harmonise its entire IT architecture using Microsoft technologies, in connection with a general system update. The deployment of the business intelligence system was a significant part of the project.
The challenge faced by A-lehdet was that business intelligence was scattered across different storage systems, which is a familiar story at many companies. The previous reporting solutions were self-maintained, dedicated solutions that utilised several data sources and technologies, some of which were outdated. This gave rise to a situation in which the same data could be interpreted in many different ways.
Solution
These problems were addressed by building a centralised, corporate-level data warehousing and reporting solution one phase at a time. This resulted in a uniform business intelligence solution that enables data manageability and transparency. The system can be developed and expanded further according to business needs.
The subscription sales reporting system was deployed in the first phase of the project in November 2010. It was decided that A-lehdet’s new IT architecture would be built entirely on Microsoft technologies.
Customer benefits
The new business intelligence solution has created a shared reporting environment that serves all of A-lehdet’s operative systems.
In addition to improving the quality and accessibility of information, the system enables the production of more versatile and detailed reports, automating reporting, better history data and a consistent way to develop reports independently of the source system that produces the data. Additionally, the system’s reliability and manageability are much improved.
“Investing in the business intelligence system was a necessary investment. Now we have all of our business information in one place. We benefit from better-quality information and better possibilities to combine it. We also save time, as there is less manual work to be done.
For the IT personnel, the time saving amounts to 10–20%, which equates to many years of work in the long term," says Jussi Muhonen, director of finance and human resources at A-lehdet.
Commitment anticipates successful project
Affecto was selected to implement A-lehdet’s business intelligence system. The project makes use of the competencies of the various parties and their commitment to the project. A successful specification stage requires close collaboration with the customer, who is in the key role as they know the needs of the organisation.
“It is important to proceed with plans and in stages in business intelligence projects using sufficiently small, rapid cycles. A-lehdet has now received a well-documented and sustainable solution that can be developed further as business needs require,” explains Antti Seppälä from Affecto.
A-lehdet has welcomed the possibilities of the new reporting system. In the second phase of the project, due to start in the spring of 2011, subsequent reporting components will follow and the management, maintenance and visualisation of the system, as well as support services for it, will be developed.
“I’m sure there are plenty of other good reporting systems on the market but this one won out because it is lightweight and easy to customise. At this point, I have not come across anything that I cannot do with this,” says Jussi Muhonen.