Business Intelligence for

Logistics Industry
Competing on Analytics
Competing on Analytics

Why compete on Analytics?

Companies offer similar products and New Basis of Competition

use similar technology
Efficient and effective execution
Geographical advantage or protective
regulation are eroded by liberalization Smart Decision making
and globalization
Ability to wring last drop of value from
business processes
Proprietary technologies are rapidly
copied All of above can be gained from
sophisticated use of ANALYTICS
Breakthrough innovation in products
and services are increasingly difficult
to achieve
What is Business Intelligence

Business intelligence (BI) refers to skills, knowledge,

technologies, applications and practices used to help a
business to acquire a better understanding of the market
behavior and business context.

The purpose of business intelligence is to support better

business decision making.
What are Analytics

Analytics means extensive use of data, statistical and

quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models
and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions

Analytics are subset of Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence is a set of technologies and processes

that use data to understand and analyze business
performance

Business Intelligence includes both data access and

reporting & analytics
 Business Intelligence & Analytics

Optimization Whats the best that can happen?

Predictive Modeling What will happen next?

Forecasting/ extrapolation What if these trends continue? Analytics

Competitive Advantage

Statistical Analysis Why is this happening?

Alerts What actions are needed?

Query/ Drill down Where exactly is the problem?

Ad hoc reports How many, how often, where? Access

&
Standard Reports What happened? reporting

Degree of Intelligence
Benefits of BI

Cuts through the clutter of multiple data reports and presents

actionable information

Helps to combine various sources of data into one single repository

to offer ONE VERSION OF TRUTH

Improves productivity of analytics team by cutting down time to

gather, clean and process data. With BI, the team can spend
maximum time on analysis and arrive at better business decisions

BI helps to correlate various business dimensions as compared to

linear single dimension MIS reports

Graphical and intuitive presentation of facts helps to focus minds on

a problem rather than getting lost in mountains of boring numbers
Stages of Analytical Competition
The five stages of analytical competition

Stage 5
Analytical
competitors

Stage 4
Analytically companies

Stage 3
Analytical aspirations

Stage 2
Localized Analytics

Stage 1
Analytically Impaired
Competing on analytics stages model
Stage Level of insights
1. Analytically impaired Negligible- flying blind
2. Localized analytics Local and opportunistic- may not
be supporting companys
distinctive capabilities
3. Analytical aspirations Begin effort for more integrated
data and analytics
4. Analytical companies Enterprise wide perspective-,
able to use analytics for point
advantage, know what to do to
get to next level, but not quite
there
5.Analyitical competitors Enterprise-wide, big results,
sustainable advantage
Questions asked Objective
What happened in our Get accurate data to improve
business? operations
What can we do to improve Use analytics to improve one
this activity? How can we or more functions
understand our business
better?
Whats happening now? Can Use analytics to improve a
we extrapolate existing distinctive capability
trends?
How can we use analytics to Build broad analytical
innovate and differentiate? capability- analytics for
differentiation
Whats next? Whats Analytical master- fully
possible? How do we stay competing on analytics
ahead?
BI-- Qlikview + WebXpress
 Data Management

Transformation Tools and

BI Architecture

processes

Repositories

Metadata
Architecture

Operational Processes
Business Intelligence

Analytical tools and

applications

Presentation tools and

applications
BI using Qlikview & WebXpress

WebXpress + QV BI
Architecture

WebXpress Database

Web Browser or QV
Qlikview Developer

Qlikview Server

Analyzer client
QVW Files

Qlikview Transform Data Extraction Engine

WebXpress Online ERP

 About Qlikview

Qlikview, brough to you by Qliktech, is the worlds fastest-growing Business Intelligence

software (IDC 2008)
QlikTech has approximately 9,050 customers in 86 countries and more than 500
partners worldwide.
Qlikviews patented in-memory association technology brings fast results and better
decision making to a wide range of customers and industries.
QlikView is intuitive to learn, simple to modify and can be deployed in less than a week.
QlikTech was founded in Lund, Sweden and is headquartered in Radnor, PA (USA) with
direct operations throughout Europe and the Americas.
 About WebXpress

WebXpress is Indias leading Logistics software solution suite that caters to Logistics Service
Providers as well as Users of Logistics Services
WebXpress is brought to you by ECFY Consulting Pvt. Ltd., a logistics technology solutions
company based at Mumbai, India.

Business Intelligence- Qlikview

Customer
WebXpress Product Suite
DEVICES B2B Portal
Mobile Integration
Tracking
GPS Fleet Management Transportation Warehousing EDI
Invoice
Bar Code RosettaNet
Sensors XML
Complaints
Finance & Accounts | CRM
Enquiry
Contracts
Allied Services: Managed Web Hosting | Connectivity E-POD
 WebXpress BI- Analytics from Day One

Why Qlikview?
Qlikview is worlds fastest growing BI Gartners Magic Quadrant for BI vendors- 2008
company
Figures as Visionary in Gartners Magic
Quadrant- 2008
Sets up in a few weeks as compared to
months for other BI tools
Easy to train, easy to use BI for everyone
WebXpress & BI
WebXpress offers BI as built-in feature
No set up time and ready to use templates
WebXpress domain expertise added to BI=
analytics from day one
Option to train customer staff on BI
development tools
Qlikview- Gartner MQ since last 6 years

Gartners Magic Quadrant for BI vendors

2009 2011
Aberdeen Says
WebXpress BI Services
Ready to use analytics: WebXpress team has prepared a set of analytics reports
for various business areas. Customer can evaluate and pick and chose from these
ready templates
Study of new analytics: WebXpress domain experts will work with Safexpress
decision makers to understand their analytical reporting requirements. These will be
beyond ready to use templates
Study of OLTP database: WebXpress technical team will study the data structure
of various tables to understand table and field definitions, table relationships etc. The
team will map the fields with those required for analytics.
Load OLTP data into Qlikview: WebXpress technical team will design scripts to
load data from OLTP system into Qlikview Data Files called QVDs
Design/ deploy analytics: WebXpress team will then design analytics using
Qlikview development tool and connect the analytics to data sources
Training: WebXpress team will also train Safexpress technical team in use of
Qlikview. WebXpress team will separately train users of analytics as to how Qlikview
should be operated
Advantages of WebXpress
Qlikview BI
Why WebXpress BI with Qlikview

Domain Expertise
Expertise in TMS, WMS, Fleet, EDI
and GPS
World Class BI tool Implementation Expertise
Consulting team with logistics
Qlikview- leader in next gen BI Over 25 customers and 2000
industry experience
Used by over 8000 customers users
Team trained on Qlikview Project management expertise
Interaction with Owners/ CXO
The WebXpress BI Advantage
Domain Focus Support Infrastructure
Undiluted focus on supply chain Online Customer Support Portal
and logistics Telephonic and IM support
Technical Expertise
Product focus with services Project Management Office
Team of Database experts
Expertise in Data Extraction,
Transformation and Loading
Programming expertise
Standard BI Implementation

Typical
Steps Description effort in
days

Determining needs of management, departments, type of

Step 1: Requirement Spec 20
analysis, metrics, KPIs, reports

Extraction of data from multiple sources- applications, XLS

Step 2: Extraction 45
files etc.

Cleaning extracted data, removing inconsistent data, filling

Step 3: Transformation 45
data gaps

Step 4: Loading Loading data into analytics engine database format 10

Training power users how to handle BI tools and run analysis.

Step 5: Training 15
How to form data combinations for various requirements

Step 6: Presentation Run analytics and present outcome to management 10

145
Limitation of Standard BI Project
Over 70% of effort and cost of BI is spent on
PREPARATION.

A typical BI project can take 3-6 months to go live.

That too, top management sees result only at the fag end
of the project

Thus, any expectation mismatch results in massive loss of

time and effort, not to speak of costs

Traditional BI can be used only by highly trained users and

that too on specific hardware
WebXpress + Qlikview BI Implementation

Typical
Steps Description Effort in
days

WebXpress has ready analysis options that top

Step 1: Requirement Spec 2
management can chose from

WebXpress database is integrated with Qlikview, thus

Step 2: Extraction 1
extraction of data takes less than 1 hour

WebXpress data is clean, accurate and a singular source.

Step 3: Transformation 0
Thus NO transformation is required

Step 4: Loading In Qlikview, extraction and loading are same steps 0

Qlikview is highly intuitive and ANY users can learn it within

Step 5: Training 3
few hours

Top Management as well as executives can run analytics

Step 6: Presentation 2
themselves. No need for expert manpower to run BI

8
Traditional BI and WebXpress + Qlikview
Comparison
Parameter Traditional BI WebXpress + Qlikview

Total project days 100-200 days 5-10 days

Consultants required BI Consultants Trainers

Domain Consultants
Database Consultants
Training experts

Top Management time Extensive interviews, business understanding WebXpress understands your business
At least 10-15 days At most 2-3 days

IT Time Understanding data sources, data structures WebXpress data structures are built into
and definition Qlikview
At least 20-30 days ZERO days

Infrastructure Separate hardware for BI engine Same server as WebXpress server

Costs breakup Consulting- 50% Consulting- 30%

Licenses- 40% Licenses- 70%
Hardware- 10% Hardware- 0%

ROI 18-36 months 2-3 months

Qlikview BI Technical
Architecture
Qlikview BI deployment

WebXpress SQL Other data

Oracle Database
Database sources, XLS files

Extract, Transform, Load, Schedule

Analytics Development

Analytics File Repository

3G Mobile
Qlikview Small Business Server
Network

VPN/ INTERNET

Qlikview Desktop Qlikview Browser Qlikview iPhone/ Android/

Edition Edition iPad client
Qlikview Solution Components

Qlikview Product Usage

Qlikview Server
Deployment of Qlikview on Internet
Repository of QVW files to be opened in browser
Connection to Qlikview Enterprise

Qlikview Personal Edition Development tool to create new analytics

Add, edit, delete charts
Add data sources such as XLS
Connect to Qlikview Enterprise repository

QV Analyzer on Desktop Run analytics charts by changing parameters

Export charts, data tables
Decision making based on analytics
Connect to Qlikview Enterprise repository

QV Analyzer on Browser Browser based access of Qlikview files

Export charts, data tables
Decision making based on analytics
Connect to Qlikview Enterprise repository
Customer Analysis
Traditional method using ERP reports
Step 1: Get all customer related reports
Sales register for last 2 years
Bill register
Sales summary- location wise, business type wise, pay basis wise
Outstanding report
Time taken: 2 hours
Step 2: Collate information using XLS
Use pivot tables, filters, macros to get to various out put
Convert data into charts using chart wizards
Time taken: 6 hours
Step 3: Present the data
Prepare a presentation; build in charts, XLS links
Time taken: 2 hours

Thus, total time taken for ONE customer analysis will be 10 hours. Given learning curve effect, it may
not take that long for next customer analysis.
The Next Level of Analysis
Now, will it be possible for the team to answer all of following
questions:

Please above analysis for a particular ZONE

Please given analysis for mode=Air and Pay basis=TBB
Please show data only for 2008
Now show data for 2007 and 2006 but not 2008
Please show data across the years only for Monsoon- that is Jul,
Aug and Sep
Show day wise sales trend for January 2008
Show data in %, number of transactions and sales in Rs. Lakhs
Show data combined for customer A and customer C
Analysis using Qlikview
Step 1: Open Qlikview and open Customer Snapshot Analysis

Step 2: Reload latest transaction data

Step 3: Answer questions as put up by management, in full

graphical view, in a single dashboard

Total time: 5 minutes

Time available to answer queries: Entire day
Seeing is believing: Data Across Customers
Scenario Building
Shows Analysis for:
Customer: All names same as similar to- Ingram Micro
Year 2008
Month- Jan to March
South Zone + North Zone
Pay basis- TBB and To Pay
Mode of service: ALL

Show following output

Shows sales breakup in %
Show Pay basis breakup
Show yield
Show unbilled and billed
Shows daily sales trend
Show top booking and delivery locations
Data for a given customer
Cost Analysis
KPI
Cost BreakUp
Top Cost Analysis
Cost Register
Cost Trends