Data Warehouse Opens Doors To New Opportunities With Cabinet Manufacturer

Sometimes an integrator and its customer are surprisingly well suited for each other. Take, for example, Relational Solutions, Inc. (Westlake, OH) (www.relationalsolutions.com) and KraftMaid Cabinetry (Middlefield, OH). A $650 million division of Masco Corp., KraftMaid specializes in made-to-order cabinetry such as that used in kitchens and bathrooms. KraftMaid customers choose the components and the style, and the manufacturer builds a design to meet the specific requirements for space and functionality. In a similar manner, Relational Solutions offers BI (business intelligence) software and services to a wide range of consumer products manufacturers, offering consultation on querying and reporting to produce the exact results a customer is looking for to improve its business.

KraftMaid and Relational Solutions were brought together several years ago by another integrator who provided services to the manufacturer. When KraftMaid asked for a BI solution to improve reporting from its ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, the integrator turned to the expertise offered by Relational Solutions. Specifically, KraftMaid's ERP system was efficient for many functions such as invoicing, shipping, and processing orders, but when it came time to gather the information in a way that was suitable for reporting and trend analysis, it fell short. "It would take days to run certain reports," says Rob York, president of Relational Solutions. "Others required a week to assemble the data from a number of sources. By the time upper management was getting the information, it was already outdated and prone to errors."

VAR Uses Software Tools To Build Centralized Data Repository
Relational Solutions implemented a SQL (structured query language) database to serve as a repository for all operational data collected. DataStage, an ETL (extract, transform, load) tool from Ascential Software (Westborough, MA), is used to create extracts for collecting the data and apply business rules. It also enables validation and cleansing of the data, preventing problems such as an inaccurate ZIP code or a number being used in a space that requires text (e.g. the name of a state).

Using DataStage was a competitive advantage for Relational Solutions, as proposals from other integrators involved custom scripts. When business rules must be changed, a custom script is more difficult to modify, especially if the original programmer is no longer available. "If something goes wrong, there are pages of code, and it's sometimes almost impossible to find the problem," comments York. "DataStage provides a very visual representation of the solution, and two days of training is usually about all that is needed for someone new to learn to manage the process." York indicates that non-technical users can master the business functions in less than a day.

Because the orders it receives are somewhat customized, KraftMaid practices just-in-time manufacturing, not producing a complete product until the order is received. The manufacturer's goal is to fill each order in a week or less. Quick delivery is also the rule for Relational Solutions. The initial BI solution it designed for KraftMaid took less than four months to implement, from design to desktop. York warns that drawn out implementation cycles that don't provide quick benefits soon become burdensome and frustrating for the end user. In KraftMaid's case, the total cost of this project was $135,000. Within weeks, an analysis of the data collected indicated that KraftMaid was not accurately applying the volume discounts for individual customers. Since the discounts were in the customers' favor, adjusting those discounts provided nearly immediate cost-justification. "Improved understanding of those discounts provided such a measurable advantage, the company went no further in pursuing a cost analysis," states York.

New Data Sources, User Enhancements Create Ongoing Opportunities
KraftMaid was so enthusiastic about this success that it has since retained Relational Solutions to add other data sources to the repository. The first of these was actual budget data from the company's spreadsheets. The second was third-party data in flat files from F.W. Dodge, which provides information about regional market share between competing vendors or what types of products sell best in certain areas.

In addition to ongoing opportunities to provide services for the data warehouse itself, Relational Solutions is currently in the early stages of implementing a BI portal for KraftMaid employees. While it is relatively simple to run queries against the database and distribute reports via e-mail or other means, KraftMaid's goal was to give its employees access to the intelligence they wanted when they wanted it with a simple interface. Developed by Relational Solutions, the Blue Sky BI Portal allows users to run predefined queries at any time. The first phase involved a few hundred sales employees, but it will eventually be deployed to almost 5,000 users at a cost of about $50,000.

Skeptical Prospect Becomes Referenceable Customer
York admits that KraftMaid CIO Tom Naples was initially skeptical of the proposed solution. After all, his own staff couldn't run accurate reports despite sophisticated ERP software, and York was claiming he could automate the seemingly impossible process. Today, however, Naples is one of Relational Solutions' biggest supporters, and KraftMaid has agreed to be a referenceable account as York pursues other opportunities among mid-tier ($100 million to $1 billion) consumer goods manufacturers of all kinds. In fact, other prospective customers have traveled to Ohio's Amish country to see the BI solution at work.

By specializing in BI/data warehousing applications, Relational Solutions is able to build a reputation in this market. Being flexible enough to quickly create solutions that fit the needs of the individual customer while maintaining that focus creates long-term customer relationships like the one it enjoys with KraftMaid.