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Business profile
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DHL GmbH Global Shipping Giant
A subsidiary of DHL Worldwide Express, a leader in the express-delivery business, DHL GmbH has more than 50 locations throughout Germany. The company ships close to 10 million packages annually, to every corner of the globe, independent of air routes and timetables. Since its first German office was established in 1978, DHL GmbH's annual sales have multiplied substantially, reaching 352 million deutsche marks in 1996. Headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, the company employs close to 2,000.
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Keeping pace with technological advancements Distributing strategic information efficiently
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Increased demand for "just-in-time" information
- Limitations of existing data structures
"Although our systems had performed well and mastered all necessary tasks, they were not up to meeting the challenges of the future," says Eckhard Rocher, DHL GmbH's Information Manager. "The volume of tasks was growing rapidly and, at the same time, information technology had advanced considerably."
"With the globalization of markets, increasing competition, and rising costs, information has taken on special significance. It's of crucial importance and in order to stay ahead, we have to ensure that strategic information is easily available-whether from internal or external databases, archives or other sources-to every employee who needs it."
In 1995, escalating demand for "just-in-time" delivery and electronic tracking capabilities led DHL GmbH to launch a project called IRIS (Integrated Reporting Information System). "Information about the location and status of freight has become just as critical to customers as receiving the package intact," Rocher notes.
A comprehensive undertaking, IRIS was designed to provide decision- makers in all key areas of the company with business intelligence on their desktop. "Anyone needing access to various information channels in the course of writing a report, for example, had experienced the inadequacies of previously existing data structures first hand," Rocher explains.
Success strategy
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Base IRIS on Informix and Hewlett-Packard combination*
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Choose Cognos' PowerPlay for multidimensional analysis and
- Impromptu for data access and reporting
- Develop detailed tools selection criteria
- Create new client/server system
In keeping with new global standards established for DHL's worldwide operations, DHL GmbH developed its plans for IRIS around use of an Informix database, together with HP-UX. "Before any choice was made in terms of tools, several workshops were organized," recalls Rocher. "They involved key users from all areas of the company, who arrived at a logical data model as a basis for the database design, carried out a problem analysis, and drafted a specifications profile for the tools."
"Our 'knock-out' criteria included user friendliness, compatibility with other applications such as Excel or Lotus 1-2-3, distributed data access, and the issuing of standard reports. If those conditions weren't met, we couldn't use the tool."
Eight different tools were tested against DHL GmbH's prototype database and in the final analysis, Cognos' Impromptu and PowerPlay scored best. "The decision was made easy by the fact that both solutions differed, in some respects markedly, from other offers for functional and technical, as well as cost-related reasons," Rocher notes. "We also took into account recommendations by the Gartner Group, as well as the positive experience of DHL's Dutch branch, which was already working successfully with Cognos."
DHL GmbH then created a new client/server system, which transfers operational data at defined intervals from the host to the server level, where data is aggregated into metadata, that's used in decision-making. The metadata provides users with different perspectives of company business processes and employs familiar DHL business terms, such as Airway Bill Number and Customer Account.
"Impromptu allows those responsible for various business areas, as well as specialists from the company's controlling and distribution departments, to access information without having to know SQL," explains Rocher. "PowerPlay, on the other hand, provides top management with a multidimensional view of information, that's automatically compressed as much as possible."
"With PowerPlay's On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) capabilities, what took days has now shrunk to minutes."
Business benefits
- Ability to respond more quickly to customer needs
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Time saved in gathering and analyzing information
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Ability to become more proactive
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Ability to remain competitive
According to Rocher, faster data access has allowed DHL GmbH to become more proactive in its customer dealings, informing them automatically of any delays due to customs or other hold-ups. "It's much easier to stay a step ahead," he notes. "For a company extremely customer-oriented-in a business as competitive as ours-that's very important."
"We can now react immediately to customer inquiries," says Rocher. "For example, if a customer wants to see full shipping details for a month, we can correspond instantly. Using Excel spreadsheets and calculating shipments manually, it used to take us a lot longer."
"With PowerPlay's Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) capabilities, what took days has now shrunk to minutes. Managers can explore and analyze data on-the-spot and customer shipments can be tracked more quickly."
"The Cognos/Informix/HP solution works very well for us," Rocher concludes. "As proof, the IRIS system has now been installed in five other countries and others are expected to adopt it soon."
Contacts
Cognos
Scott Lawre
Partner Development Manager
(613)738-1440 x3652
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