Approach
To resolve the problems listed above, the customer embarked upon a long-term data warehouse initiative and chose RiVi — for its core expertise in that area — to help with the implementation of the system. RiVi was involved in the entire life cycle of the project, from gathering requirements, conducting user information sessions, documenting existing business processes, designing the warehouse and portal architecture, system architecture, ETL architecture, selection of hardware and software tools, establishing infrastructure, setting up various work environments, development, quality control, changing management and rollover to production. The project was implemented in phases with key dashboards and reporting systems being integrated in each phase. The following defined the hardware and software environment:
- Oracle 9i Database Server.
- Oracle 9i Application Server.
- Oracle 9iDS (Forms, Reports, Discoverer, Designer, Portal, OWB)
- Windows 2000.
- Compaq Blade Servers.
- High Availability/Load Balancing configuration in production.
- SAN (Storage Area Network) for storage.
- Centralized management using OEM (Oracle Enterprise Manager)
- Quest Software’s TOAD Suite for PL/SQL development
Through the implementation of an Enterprise Data Warehouse and Web Portal, decision makers no longer have to deal with raw data: data from diverse legacy systems is standardized, integrated and presented in an easy-to-use online format accessible via a web browser.
Access to real-time information on bus and rail performance, quality, safety, customer complaints, crime rates, staffing and financial aspects is supported with drill-down and drill-through functionality.
Managers are presented with indicators that provide an overview of current performance and activities
Alerts and indicators of “hot spots” are provided based on complex activities.
Data entry is automated, reducing data processing time. The data warehouse portal is also integrated with the intranet web-site.
RiVi also made recommendations for the future phases and how the existing data warehouse could further be enhanced to help the customer achieve its business goals.
Results
“Receiving up-to-date and timely information is critical in making effective decisions. Our recent rollout of the TRANS portal as an executive information system has helped me and the rest of the authority in making time-sensitive decisions. I am able to view MARTA reports on-line at any time…Additionally, we have been able to realize significant savings related to maintenance activities…”
CFO & AGM Finance
Benefits of the data warehouse project to customer include:
- Realized cost savings by
- Avoiding manual creation and distribution of reports.
- Changing outdated and manual business processes.
- Automating data cleansing and aggregation activities.
- Streamlining Maintenance activities
- Authority-wide Web-based access
- Real-time Snapshots of the Business & Effective decision making
- Availability of Historical data aggregated from various sources and displayed in various formats – Pie Charts, Graphs, etc…Ability to compare Actual with Target and Trending.
- Automated Monthly Performance Review and other Reports.
- Improved Operations (Handling of Data and Information):
- Improved Interface / Single view of data co-related from various sources.
- Consistency in reporting, presentation, and accuracy of data
- Automated / Standardized Data Calculations
- Effective and efficient way to analyze historical data
- One stop shop for all authority’s KPIs and reports
- Improved Security and Access Control
- No waiting period for decision making – power in the hands of executives!
- Ability to pro-actively monitor business performance and stay ahead of the game.
