| Description |
1 online resource (26 pages) : illustrations, charts |
| Series |
Emerald emerging markets case studies, 2045-0635 ; vol. 6, no. 2 |
| Summary |
SER (Sugar, Energy and Rum) was a company belonging to the Grupo Pellas Corporation. The company operated in 4 countries, had 6 subsidiaries, employed more than 25,000 people, had more than 43,500 manzanas of sugarcane crops just in Nicaragua alone and had global annual sales of more than US $400 million. In 2008, due to the negative effects of the crisis on the company's business model (increasing costs due to higher prices for fuel and decreasing income because of low international sugar prices), the company decided to implement a BI system to optimize its processes in order to reduce costs and increase productivity. At that time the company had more than 100 years of data, information systems that fed into their main business processes and a culture that appreciated data as the basis for decision-making. However, there were inconsistencies among data systems, users received highly complex reports in Excel or green screens and process monitoring happened long after the tasks had been completed. As a response, SER used extract-transform-load (ETL) to collect and clean data that would be used in the BI system (the case leaves the questions regarding the systems selection unsolved for discussion). Based on their business model, they selected the most critical processes and defined key performance indicators (KPI) to measure the impact of changes in those processes. They considered graphic design as a tool to make the system more accepted by users and worked together with users so that reports only offered the most important information. The result was improved costs and productivity. They decreased manual time spent by 14%, automated time spent by 10%, and eliminated 1,556 hours of dead time for equipment in the field, which allowed them to increase productivity by US $1 million just in sugar. They saved 20,000 trips from the fields to the factories, which represented more than US $1 million in savings by monitoring the weight of wagons loaded with sugarcane in real time. They improved client perceptions about the company both locally and internationally by implementing a sugar traceability system.SER (Sugar, Energy and Rum) was a company belonging to the Grupo Pellas Corporation. The company operated in 4 countries, had 6 subsidiaries, employed more than 25,000 people, had more than 43,500 manzanas of sugarcane crops just in Nicaragua alone and had global annual sales of more than US $400 million. In 2008, due to the negative effects of the crisis on the company's business model (increasing costs due to higher prices for fuel and decreasing income because of low international sugar prices), the company decided to implement a BI system to optimize its processes in order to reduce costs and increase productivity |
| Notes |
Expected learning outcomes: The case "Business Intelligence at the Grupo Pellas SER Company" has as its objective to respond to the question: How does a company make its BI system implementation successful? As such, the case: - Discusses what a BI system is and what it provides to a business. - Analyses challenges, benefits and context when implementing a BI system. - Analyses success factors and recommendations in the BI system implementation process. - Analyses the process of implementing a BI, and highlights the importance of the system priority questions and technological alternatives |
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Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details |
| Subject |
Business intelligence
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Management information systems
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| Genre/Form |
Case studies.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Barahona, Juan Carlos
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