Fast answers: AXLE Studio presents critical data without delay
Karen Dilger, contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 3/16/2008 12:26:00 PM
The accounts receivable department at Virtek Vision International certainly has its hands full. The Waterloo, Ontario-based provider of laser templating, inspection, marking, and engraving products serves thousands of customers in a variety of industries.
Therefore, it is important for credit managers to keep collections up-to-date by identifying potentially delinquent accounts before they become problems. However, until recently, workers relied on spreadsheets that pulled information from the company’s ERP system. The process was slow, cumbersome, and inflexible.
“We couldn’t identify key accounts on one screen and we didn’t have access to certain data,” says Katherine Campbell, corporate controller. “In our ERP system, customer information is in one massive table and the data is located by field but not labeled. It used to take our credit manager an entire day to run the collections report, which was then emailed to those that needed it.”
Processes in A/R are much more efficient since the company deployed a business intelligence (BI) solution from a company known as AXLE Studio. With this solution—called AXLE Studio 2007—credit managers get automatic warnings when an account becomes 45 days past due. The system also identifies which companies should be given restrictions on future orders.
Reports are generated and sent on-demand via email to unit managers. “Our IT staff is working on getting the reports to run daily automatically,” says Campbell. “We want to give users the ability to create their own customized reports specific to their product lines. Managers should be able to see their receivables, backlog, and revenue.”
The AXLE system is part of a four-phase implementation process that began last year. It runs on a Microsoft SQL Server database that also partially supports the BI functionality in Virtek’s ERP system. In the future, the company plans to extend the system to include more users and offer new functionality, including volume of order shipping, global cash reporting, and multiple currencies.
Virtek is currently working with Dynac, Inc., the Kitchener, Ontario-based value-added reseller for AXLE Studio, to build an extraction layer in the system that creates triggers to pull knowledge from disparate systems to display it in a meaningful way. “Users can see how many new orders were booked today or how many were changed,” says Gary MacFarlane, Dynac CEO and co-founder. “Instead of having to look up the data in five or six places, the system gives it to them on one screen.”
Since the system is Intranet-based, it does not require any additional hardware or servers. It uses a fat client and is housed within the corporate structure.
Unlike most BI systems, AXLE Studio does not require building a data warehouse, and is therefore deployed more quickly. “Data can be refreshed automatically and query loading can be done at off-peak hours,” says MacFarlane. “Data warehouses typically are only refreshed periodically and often users must wait for current data to be uploaded.”
Another unique aspect of the system is that it is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses or divisions of larger companies. “The system does not feature such functionality as regression analysis or extensive statistical analysis tools that are common in large BI systems,” says MacFarlane. “However, it connects directly to key data sources, such as general ledgers and ERP systems, and can link to multiple tables within databases and across multiple databases.”
AXLE Studio users can learn to become designers, building their own queries and cubes. “There is no need for special licenses or extra modules, and users easily can turn functions on and off,” says MacFarlane. “Users do not have to build extension modules as is often required with traditional BI solutions.”
There are approximately 6,000 users of AXLE Studio worldwide, and the company only recently entered the North American market. Dynac functions as the competency center for AXLE in the Americas, offering installation and technical support as well as user training.
