Quadrus collaborated with us to design an open and strategic solution. They worked with us from design through to delivery, keeping the project on time and on budget. This initiative has empowered our business users to access information in a flexible and timely fashion, while reducing ongoing IT maintenance costs via the retirement of legacy systems.
- Greg Stewart
Vice President,
Business Services
Superior Propane
HOW WE DO IT - Case Studies
Superior Propane Inc.
Objective:
Superior recognized a need for better and more cost effective access to historical financial and operational data
Solution:
Quadrus worked closely with Superior to provide business users with quick and easy data access for more informed decision-making Since 1951, Superior Propane has grown to become Canada's largest and only national marketer of propane, propane-burning appliances and related support services. Superior services nearly 300,000 customers and distributes approximately 1.7 billion litres of propane annually via its 190 operating sites.
Superior recognized a need for more flexible and cost effective access to historical financial and operational data. Until this time, data could only be accessed by individuals with specific technical knowledge, often requiring the IS department to develop custom reports. Source system experts were required to extract data from three different legacy systems. Superior wanted to streamline this process and enable business users to access and analyze data on demand—without the need for technical expertise.
Quadrus worked closely with Superior to extract data from legacy sources to one database server and to develop a simple front-end data access mechanism for business users. The first releases of this data archive solution permitted the retirement of two legacy ERP systems. Decommissioning these systems and associated infrastructure, along with reductions in fulltime and contractor expertise to support them, will reduce net costs significantly. Given a one-time all-in cost of $500K for all three releases of the nine month project, this was a very cost-effective solution with a payback of less than one year.
From a technical perspective, a three-stage data warehouse (pre-stage, stage, subject matter) was created with analysis services cubes to source Microsoft Excel pivot tables. Superior selected SQL Server as the database technology and its major components were used including database storage, Data Transformation Services, and Analysis Services. Superior's standard desktop software—Microsoft Excel and Access with pivot tables and pivot charts—were selected as analysis tools due to their familiarity to users.
Business users are seeing the benefit of the consolidation of the legacy servers for financial audit and historical reporting purposes. The solution provides business users with the easy, instant access to data they want—any time it is needed. Access to operational data for ad hoc and analytic queries will be further improved with future revisions. It is anticipated that this level of accessibility and ease of use by business users will have a ripple effect on the organization including increased efficiency, improved decision-making speed and an enhanced ability to make powerful, informed business decisions. It also positions Superior to add more sophisticated financial analytics, as the business need arises.