Enterprise Performance Management - Data is First Priority

As Wikepdia says : Data profiling is the process of examining the data available in an existing data source (e.g. a database or a file ) and collecting statistics and information about that data. The purpose of these statistics may be to: find out whether existing data can easily be used for other purposes Give metrics on data quality including whether the data conforms to company standards Assess the risk involved in integrating data for new applications, including the challenges of joins Track data quality Assess whether metadata accurately describes the actual values in the source database Understanding data challenges early in any data intensive project, so that late project surprises are avoided. Finding data problems late in the project can incur time delays and project cost overruns. Have an enterprise view of all data, for uses such as Master Data Management where key data is needed, or Data governance for improving data quality Now this is all we know. The real quest...

SO yes now you know that you need to have data in correct shape - but how to start all the juggernaut? I will tell you - this is a step by step process. So you need to identify your needs first. How to do that ? Profile your data using simple queries on database server like MS SQL server, Oracle etc. There are sophisticated tools available in the market who can profile data for you. What does this profiling meant to you - it analyze your data and will tell you how much dirty or incosnistent data you have. You may have some null values, date format issues, numeric and character data collision issues, binary data like male, female etc. Now once you know dirtiness of your data atleast you know where you stand. Now the next step is to analyze results and estimate the cleansing efforts. I will tell you that soon. Watch Out.

Your organization churns lot of data everyday.. Purchase orders, inventory, vendors, suppliers, material masters, receipt vouchers and what not. Do you have clear picture of all this data? Do you have visibility to what you are spending, how much, to whom ? If you think twice before answering, you need spend analysis on your data. I am going to suggest a simple assessment package by which you can actually assess your system data and decide whether you need a full scale strategic sourcing initiatives, do you need a supply chain rationalization. Look for this space.

Accurate spend data is not available. Too many sources – data difficult to aggregate and classify. Supporting master data like contract, vendor is not available in electronic format. Master data is duplicated, dirty and incomplete. Spending analysis approach is too narrow. Spend data is historic , not forward looking. Analysis process is Adhoc. Data not broken down into cost, volume, drivers with baselines, targets, actual. Confusing technology and service market. Fragmented technology market services. Providers solve different problems and involved in diff phases of life cycle. Building hard ROI case is tricky.

Identify path to spend reduction. Leverage spend across locations. Develop category specific strategies for spend management. Identify and control areas of maverick spend. To accelerate ROI on strategic sourcing / procurement efforts.

What is Spend Analysis ? Spend analysis is an in-depth analysis of purchases, used to determine how much is spent, what it is spent on, from whom items are purchased, and who is doing the buying. The resulting analysis provides business intelligence that allows supply chain managers (SCMs) and sourcing teams to more effectively manage requirements by commodity group Why it is Important ? Company’s annual sales is $ 25,000,000 per year, corporate spend of 40% and the gross profit margin before taxes is 28%. Then If spend is reduced by 15% through better procurement intelligence Then $ 1,500.000 could be saved in cost and increasing the gross profit margin to 34% That equates to increasing revenue by $ 5,300,000 and all of the cost to support that growth .