Best Water Technology (BWT)

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Producing clarity is what the Best Water Technology (BWT) group does best. Active in all areas of water treatment, the group’s guiding principles are creating clarity and transparency as it generates economically and ecologically optimized products for the entire water cycle.

This explains why the use of business intelligence (BI) solutions is so well-established in BWT’s core markets.

Around 200 users at BWT AG currently use IBM Cognos solutions to analyze the company’s business and create solid foundations for strategic and operational decision-making. Additional country subsidiaries are gradually being integrated in the system.

Challenges Faced
Some years ago, the BWT group began implementing a BI analysis and reporting solution capable of spanning national and company borders to create a consistent standard for analyzing and evaluating key figures. The solution needed to provide a consistent view of the company’s performance data locally, in individual countries and across the entire group.

Strategy Followed
Helmut Rainer, Assistant to the Board of Directors, Group Data Warehouse at BWT, began looking for a suitable BI solution for the group back in 2001. The main issue was the very limited reporting possibilities of the different ERP systems used within the BWT group at the time.

The group also needed an efficient analysis and reporting tool. On completion of its evaluation of Business Objects, Hyperion and MicroStrategy, BWT opted for IBM Cognos Impromptu®, IBM Cognos PowerPlay®, IBM Cognos Transformer and later IBM Cognos Connection. At the time, the Christ group, a BWT affiliated company since 2001, was using IBM Cognos solutions with very good results, so that factor was instrumental in the decision. With the first IBM Cognos deployment, BWT found that a whole range of key data models and reports could be created in many areas of the company. These mainly related to turnover, sales, inventory, inventory valuation, supplier turnover, purchasing statistics, production analyses, QA checks, time analyses, wage and salary analyses, field sales commission, sales postcode analyses, customer returns, open orders, project analyses, and account and cost centre analyses.

In 2003, MBS Dynamics AX (previously Axapta) was implemented in BWT’s ERP landscape in three countries. The IBM Cognos solutions proved their worth from the very start, transferring data from downstream systems and preparing group reports for consolidation. The IBM Cognos system was also used to combine turnover data from the sales and project module and make it available in model form for analysis purposes.

With this success in the early years, BWT moved to IBM Cognos 8 BI in 2006, and recently implemented the latest version with the help of certified IBM Cognos partner, CBG Iformatik Gmbh and BI Plus GmbH. At the start of 2008, BWT decided to deploy IBM Cognos 8 Planning as well, for its “CPM for Water+More” project and the BWT data warehouse. The planning solution is used to produce budgets and rolling forecasts. IBM Cognos Professional Services experts were also on hand to offer assistance during the upgrade and the implementation of IBM Cognos 8 Planning.

Benefits Realized
The IBM Cognos solutions are now used by around 200 users from different BWT companies and departments. The majority of users is very satisfied and can hardly imagine life without the IBM Cognos system. Most users work on IBM Cognos Connection, making extensive use of its scheduling options.

The main benefits of the solution include faster provision of monthly and now daily reports for management, and monthly group reports, the monthly inventory valuation, automatic calculation and creation of reports by field sales staff for swimming pool additives, the EDI invoice list and project reporting.

Plans are already in place at BWT to extend the IBM Cognos solution to keep pace with developments in performance management.

About IBM Cognos BI and Performance Management
IBM Cognos business intelligence (BI) and performance management solutions deliver world-leading enterprise planning, consolidation and BI software, support and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance. IBM Cognos solutions bring together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers an open, adaptive and complete performance solution. Over 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries around the world choose IBM Cognos solutions.