Background

JDR Cable Systems Ltd. is a provider of bespoke subsea power cables, umbilical systems and reeler packages for a broad range of applications to the offshore energy industry. Their solution plays a key role for offshore energy companies and requires thorough testing of all components evidenced by certification, regulatory compliance and test documentation.

JDR introduced Qlikview as their reporting platform to meet the requirements of various operational reports, KPIs and dashboards for senior management. With the growing business and increasing number/variety of data feeds, the original design using conventional practices in Qlikview reached a point where it was not possible to address the new and richer reporting requirements without substantial effort. In many cases, the output was limited to data dumps and the users resorted to link it with additional data to create their interpretations about the same business events.

The Problem

The Customer’s existing solution was designed as one monolithic solution. The introduced changes made it too brittle and complex to meet the business expectations. Different departments created their own version of same information which resulted in confusion. The “single version of truth” of records was lost as the BI team could not cope with the changes.

Solution Approach

We worked with the Customer’s BI team in re-engineering the solution. Our solution involved introduction of a layered architecture with clear “separation of concerns” resulting in a central data warehouse. New business information models were implemented to help users map data with the business processes and improve the visualisation. Decoupling of layers and reusability was central to the solution to retain ‘A Single Version of the Truth’ and to promote reuse of clean data sources. This facilitated creation of additional data marts based on specific reporting requirements, but the incremental efforts were substantially reduced.

Our solution reduced pressure on the Customer’s IT team due to the improved efficiency of the system and easier integration of new data feeds.

The data warehouse facilitated reuse of data among departments for their reports.

The report loading time improved significantly due to simpler presentation layer and dependence on a single QVW file.

The solution also promoted self-service by users with the availability of business friendly data in data marts.