transactional data - driving real time business

8/2/2019 Transactional Data - Driving Real Time Business

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Trasactioal data shold be a widow ito

yor bsiess stratey, bt for most compaies,

opei that widow takes more brte force tha

they miht care to exert. Eabli that data to

sere as the basis for aalysis typically reqires

areati it from arios trasactioal systems

iside a data mart or a data warehose or work-

i with spreadsheets ad the static data locked

iside them. This pretty well defeats ay hopes

of execti bsiess plas i real time based o

dyamic data.

Perhaps the sitatio i a lare acial ad isr-

ace compay that has some real-time access to its

operatioal data will strike a chord: “We’re taki

raw trasactios ad tri them ito aalytics,

ad from there we’re doi aalysis tredi ad all

that other ood stff,” says the compay’s director

of IT. Bt—ad here’s the catch—“it’s ot real-time

by the time that happes.”

It’s oly whe the eterprise has access to ad

isiht ito p-to-the-mite data from ERP

systems ad other sorces that the widow opes

wide, with reater ease. Tri hih olmes of

trasactioal data ito kowlede that bsiess

sers ca efcietly access, derstad ad act

o—ot i hors or days bt i secods, ad

from ay deice, aywhere—matters for may

reasos. They iclde eerythi from optimizi

prodctio maaemet based o spplier ad

prchase order actiity to boosti retrs o

retail promotios thaks to sales data say—ad

doi it withot hai to areate, smmarize

or trasform that data meas redci reddat

ifrastrctre ad batch processi jobs that add

costs to the IT eiromet.

Aayzig Data: Vii Veu reaity

Today that compelli isio is i cotetio with

reality for may oraizatios. I a lobal srey

of IT leaders codcted by IDg Research Serices,

early 80 percet said their mai oraizatioal

oal for the ext 12 moths is to proide or mai-

tai a iformatio architectre that spports

ftre bsiess objecties ioli cstomers,

prodcts, serices ad markets.

“We look for opportities for ew bsiess ad

ew reee sorces—ad a lot of it is related

to the aalytics we ca do—to do a better job

of spotti this that are ot of parameter, ad

the we leel-set or reset whe we see opporti-

ties to ct costs or improe reee streams be-

case of that trasactioal data,” says Rex Pritt,

maaer, MIS protability ad risk, at PREMIER

Bakcard. “Deitely or oals ad objecties are

cetered o doi that.”

1 I TrAnsAcTIonAl DATA: DRIvIng REAL-TIME BuSInESS

Transactional Data:Driving Real-Time BusinessA GLOBAL SURVEY OF IT LEADERS SHOWS THAT MOST ORGANIZATIONS FIND

CONVERTING HIGH VOLUMES OF FRESH TRANSACTIONAL DATA INTO KNOWL-

EDGE THAT BUSINESS USERS CAN EFFICIENTLY ACCESS, UNDERSTAND AND ACT

ON IS CHALLENGING. SAP AND HP ARE TACKLING THIS CHALLENGE HEAD-ON.



Creati the iformatio architectre may of

the srey respodets seem to eisio is a

tall order: Oly 27 percet of those who cited

this reqiremet cosider themseles to be ex-

tremely or ery effectie at doi the job ow.

I eterprises that wat to do so mch

more—ad so mch faster—tha they ca

crretly do i maai ad aalyzi

data that describes eets from bsiess

applicatios, that’s jst oe of may aps

to ll. Eterprises are ee less practiced at

specic objecties sch as these:

n Amo the respodets, 67 percet said

it’s critical or ery importat to be able to

idetify ew bsiess opportities, bt oly

23 percet idetied themseles as bei

qite effectie at doi so.

n This tred coties with predicti ad

respodi to cstomer eeds i real time;

that’s importat for 65 percet of respo-

dets, bt oly 19 percet reported bei

extremely or ery effectie at this.

n Whe it comes to accessi tred data

relatie to cstomers’ pcomi eeds, 64

percet clamor for it ad 19 percet are

particlarly ood at spporti it.

nAlso, hai the ability to qickly idetify ew

bsiess opportities raks hih for 67 percet

bt is a stro practice for oly 23 percet.

The diersity of the applicatio ecosystem

where acial order, ioice, loistics ad

other eet-related data resides cotribtes

to creati aps. Srey respodets report

that they rely primarily o acial reporti

ad ERP systems as well as persoal prodc-

tiity tools sch as Excel for accessi, stor-

i, aalyzi, modeli, delieri, reporti

ad tracki trasactioal data. Bt other

applicatios are also i the mix, ad doi

somethi with the data that spas them

ca add layers to eterprise architectres.

At oe lare pharmacetical compay, with

900 employees ad $1.2 billio i reee,

acial data—sales, shipmets, prchase

orders ad so o—resides primarily i its ERP

system, whereas its MES (mafactri

exectio system) holds data o materials

stats ad labor as raw materials are coerted

ito oods. It’s oly i the last year that the

compay has stadardized o these systems

ad be aalyzi the data, with a primary

focs o qality ad cost iformatio, sch as

which mafactri processes hae the most

siicat impacts o prodct qality. The

process to date has reqired extracti datafrom the trasactioal systems i Excel format

ad loadi it ito a SAS eiromet. “We

se SAS statistical tools to eerate correla-

tios betwee qality laboratory reslts (sch

as abot prodct stability ad potecy) with

mafactri coditios ad ariatios,”

explais the director of techical operatios

systems ad ERP. “We also adjst for storae

ad moemet iformatio as well as lot track-

i iformatio from the ERP system.”

Spplier performace ad cstomer iforma-

tio are ext o the compay’s aalysis sites,the director says. Ideed, depedi o what a

bsiess wats to achiee, it may eed to ai

real-time access to trasactioal data from

third parties sch as sppliers ad parters or

from sorces tracki macroecoomic idica-

tors or competitie iformatio. Althoh

etti sch third-party access is amo the

reatest challees for srey respodets,

may also cold se help with iteral data.

Almost half of the respodets reported that

it was at least somewhat difclt to hae

real-time reach ito iteral order/cotract

ad cstomer iformatio, ad more tha 40

percet said the same of operatioal compay

performace data. Oe-third cited this as a

isse for corporate acial iformatio.

Bttm ie: There’s room for improe-

met across the board. Less tha 20

percet of the respodets reported that

aii access to ay type of data affiliated

with trasactios i real time was “ery

easy.” With so mch of it spread across so

may systems ad so mch time ad effort

spet o processi it so that it’s seble

to drie bsiess decisios, it’s clear that

most eterprises cold se some help. For

may that help will come i the form of

tiht ties betwee isiht ad aalytics so-

ltios that miimize database sae adadmiistratio ad i-memory database

techoloy that redces reliace o disks

for accelerated qery processi that ca

lead to maki iformed bsiess deci-

sios irtally o the fly.

Tday’ Wkfe I Mbie; Data

Maagemet ad Aayti Mut Be, T

Real-time aalytics ca’t be tied to the

desktop—ot whe more ad more kowlede

workers ad execties who eed to der-

stad the data to be aalyzed are as likely,

or ee more likely, to be o the road as theyare i the ofce. It’s critical or ery importat

to spport speedy trasactioal data access,

modeli ad aalysis across mobile deices

for exectie/corporate maaers as well as

ace, sales ad operatios stakeholders ad

IT pros, accordi to srey-takers. Jst 46

percet of the respodets see hai sch ac-

cess i real time ia mobile deices as critically

importat for marketi professioals, bt IT

ad bsiess leaders from ery lare compa-

ies—those with 10,000 or more employees—

were siicatly more likely to iclde that

fctio i their mst-hae cateory.

Those ambitios, howeer, hae yet to be

broadly realized. Exectie ad corporate

maaers ad IT staff hae sch access i 45

ad 42 percet of the cases, respectiely, bt

for all other fctios, sch abilities are less

assred. Oly abot oe-qarter of opera-

tios ad sales workers, oe-fth of ace


Sixty-e percet of srey respodetssaid it’s importat to predict ad respond tocustomer needs in real time. Oly 19% said

they are “effectie” or “ery effectie” at it.



professioals ad jst 16 percet of market-

ers ca se their mobile deices this way.

What’s holdi them back, ie that the

potetial of self-serice BI for facilitati

data access ad dashboard aalysis across

all edpoits, icldi mobile oes, is socompelli? Imaie the possibilities for the

eterprise whe workers roami the factory

oor ca access ititie, real-time BI ad

respod istatly to eets as they occr.

The aswer may hae to do with the chal-

lees eterprises face i tryi to delier to

wireless mobile platforms isihts leaed

from processi qeries across massie

amots of data efcietly (ad i a isally

coheret way). Whe it comes to the qery

performace qestio, i-memory techoloy

for mappi data from ERP or other sorce

systems i a serer’s mai memory steps i:

Hdreds of billios of records ca be aalyzed

i secods rather tha what wold be, for sers

o mobile deices, a itermiable ad itoler-

able wait of mites or loer.

Hw ce Ae Ue t rea-Time

Udetadig f Taatia Data?

Oe optios exchae is realizi seeral

beets from access to trasactioal data.

users ca r qeries with the help of its

statistical aalysis software, plli i trad-

i data i real time to display o the CEO’s

ad CFO’s dashboards.

“They hae a real-time iew of what’s hap-

pei i the tradi eiromet—all the

differet tradi istrmets ad how they

are performi,” says the optios exchae’s

director of systems, storae ad plai.

A ariety of data abot the trades that

bsiesses codct with the exchae fels

decisios abot which of them are eliible

for discots. Also, its relatio ad sreil

lace departmets are able to aswer SECiqiries abot trades i real time—“the lea

departmet also beets from bei able to

iew real-time data,” he says.

As alable as the promise of real-time ac-

cess to this data o ay deice is, less tha

half of the respodets hae a eterprise-

wide soltio i place to maae ad aalyze

it. They may hae pt i place some techol-

oy to address particlar isses i a more

piecemeal or layered ad ear-real-time

fashio. For example, a director of techical

operatios systems ad ERP i the pharma-cetical idstry says that his compay is

focsed o etti a ear-real-time feed of

select iformatio from its ERP, MES ad lab

qality systems ia a data mart. “The little

data mart is what we look at o a daily basis

to see what happeed today, where some

isses miht be ad what miht we eed to

adjst,” sch as a isse with the potecy of

a particlar batch of medicie, he says.

Bt may oraizatios’ desire to embrace

a more holistic approach is clearly there: Of

the respodets, 40 percet hae eter-prise-wide implemetatio plas.

The driers for, ad therefore the expected

otcomes of, iestmets i eterprise-

wide soltios for maai trasactioal

data are reater exibility ad resiliecy (76

percet) for the bsiess, followed closely

by improi the stadardizatio of bsiess

processes ad/or KPIs across departmets

ad bsiess its (73 percet). O the IT

side, the oerwhelmi driers, oted by

78 percet of the respodets, are redced

complexity ad lowered costs (see chart).

Deployi the riht techoloy is jst the start-

i poit for sccessfl deploymets, howeer.

The biest barriers to the implemetatio of

soltios for trasactioal data maaemet,

srey respodets said, hae bee the eed to

spport iteratio soltios ad skills across

mltiple bsiess processes (cited by 59

percet) ad a lack of resorces to implemet


Reducing IT complexity and lowering costs

through standards-based use of technology

% Critical/Very Important IT Drivers for Solutions Used to Manage Transactional Data

Improving the business ability toself-supportand reduce reliance on IT

for data access and analysis

Increasing the speed of transactionalinformation flow (in areas

such as planning, forecasting, etc.)

Improving data control and governance

Improving IT control and performance(managing IT as a business, SLAs)

Having the ability to quickly analyzelarge volumes of data (trends,

data-mining, predictive analytics)

Having the ability to access andmanipulate both structured

and unstructured data

66

65

65

65

64%

57%

IT Drivers for Data Management Solutions

78%

66%

65%

65%

65%

64%

57%

How important are the following as IT drivers for your organization’s investments in solutions used to

access, transform, store, analyze, model, report, deliver, and track transactional data?

Source: IDG Research Services

IT leaders recognize the value of real-time access to data, yet fewer than half of respondents have an enterprise-wide solution in place.



their isio (oted by 56 percet). It is pos-

sible, howeer, to speak to a critical hope may

compaies hae abot iesti i trasac-

tioal data maaemet soltios: Amo the

respodets, 66 percet said that improi

the self-spport ability of the bsiess adredci reliace o IT for data access ad

aalysis are critical IT driers for moi i this

directio.

Takig Ati

Fortately, a ew soltio presets ways to

eable bsiesses to access critical iforma-

tio i real time ad ia a simple self-serice

model that ets arod some obstacles, sch

as IT’s ow resorce limits.

SAP, co-ioati with parters ad cs-

tomers, has itrodced the SAP I-Memoryappliace (SAP HAnA™). SAP HAnA ses

a i-memory eie to speed data aalysis,

a deelopmet that comes alo at a crcial

time: The amot of data is rowi, bt

the more aailable data is, the more dif-

clt techically it becomes to access. That

chaes with SAP HAnA, which presets a

ew paradim for maki access to that data

more real-time so that kowlede workers

ca make decisios that are based o actal

iformatio, ot esswork.

The shifti ecoomics of IT has helpedprompt the deelopmet of this techoloy.

With HP’s Coered Ifrastrctre, cstom-

ers beet from major total cost of ower-

ship (TCO) redctio while bei eabled

to efcietly r their IT, si faster ad

more-capable serers; storae ad etworks

fctio as shared pools of iteroperable

resorces. Ad ow, throh SAP’s applica-

tio of i-memory techoloy, those ifra-

strctres ca be colocated with software

architectres that bri toether data ad its

processi at the same time. The ed reslt?

Closi the ap betwee the desire to create

a iformatio architectre that spports

ftre bsiess objecties reardi cstom-

ers, prodcts, serices ad markets ad the

ability of bsiesses to actally accomplish

that ad realize reater ROI from their data.

With a soltio sch as the SAP HAnA, a

hardware/software platform that combies

the SAP Bsiess Aalytic Eie with serer

techoloy from HP, the promise of self-serice

BI for bsiess sers across desktop ad

mobile deices ca be realized. Kowlede

workers will o loer be limited to traditioal

qeryi ad reporti bt ca also eae i

tre search ad discoery, sice they wo’t be

costraied by IT to worki with a restricted

amot of data. Thaks to i-memory compt-i, IT ca freely proide access to a reater

amot of data—there’s o worry that so

mch podi o the database by so may

sers will sed it crashi. Ad ed sers ca

se the mobile or desktop tools with which

they’re already familiar for accessi data from

the trasactio database that is replicated o

the HAnA platform.

The HAnA road map starts with the appliace

as a lie-of-bsiess soltio rather tha a data

warehose or data areatio play. SAP’s

BsiessObjects is optimized to r o theHAnA appliace, ad SAP is also delieri

a site of applicatios that ca sole specic

bsiess problems by si trasactioal data

with the help of a bsiess-ser-friedly mod-

eli eiromet it has created. This shold

redce reqiremets to call o IT or power

sers for help with aalysis scearios.

Amo abot a doze applicatios debti

or bei plaed for the appliace are some

for strateic workforce ad sales ad opera-

tios plai, cash ad liqidity ad trade

promotios maaemet, ad cstomer

reee performace as well as merchadis-

i ad assortmet maaemet. To frther

lihte the load o iteral IT, abot 30 per-

cet of the ew applicatios will be offered

o demad i a i-memory clod.

SAP ad HP also hae bee worki to-

ether to esre that the platform’s se

i a coered ifrastrctre eiro-

met will proceed with miimal disrp-

tio for IT. The pla also icldes work-

i closely with cstomers to deelop

prpose-bilt applicatios o top of the

platform that will beefit from i-memo-

ry compti.

Eqally importat, the directio for theHAnA is to be data sorce–aostic, sp-

porti real-time access ad replicatio of

data from SAP ERP as well as data itera-

tio serices for accessi ad idexi

iformatio from irtally ay data sorce.

That appears to be a importat capability

for compaies sch as PREMIER Bakcard

ad its real-time data aalytics objec-

ties. Says Pritt, “I thik there are a lot of

edors that are kid of myopic, with oe

techoloy fodatio associated with

their serices, ad if yo ca’t iterate

with that, yo hae to by a ew platformor do adjstmets to yor systems. I thik

flexibility ad iteratio are critical.”

With the HAnA ad the access to ad

aalysis of trasactioal data it spports,

the eterprise ets more tha a widow

ito its bsiess stratey. It also ais a

portal to bsiess sccess. After all, whe

a bsiess ca hae access to more data i

real time, what it actally ais is iforma-

tio i cotext. Ad whe a bsiess has

iformatio i cotext at the riht time, it

becomes possible to make decisios that

ca hae a profod impact.

That’s ot jst a ioatio i aalytics.

It’s also a reoltio—oe that will help

bsiesses realize so mch of what IDg’s re-

search shows they wat, from timely isiht

ito ew opportities to predicti ad

qickly respodi to cstomer eeds.


Shifti ecoomics of IT has helped promptthe deelopmet of techoloy that solvesthe problem of ot bei able to predict ad

respod to cstomers’ eeds i real time.

transactional data - driving real time business

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