2 page Case Study - Posted 11/10/2006
Views: 597
Rate This Evidence:
Timely Insights Enable Gemplus Managers to Quickly Adapt to Market Developments
Business Challenge
Gemplus, a leader in smart cards, has produced over 5.6 billion units since its founding in 1988. “We are now in 58 countries across five continents and our business spans three sectors: Telecommunications, Financial Services and Identity & Security,” says Kristiaan Van den Eynde, Gemplus’ Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller. The company now faces strong pressure from an increasing number of competitors. In order to increase the company’s competitiveness in local markets, they restructured their industry-focused organization to one that is geographically focused. Also, to increase Gemplus’ responsiveness to market conditions, the company made providing access to reliable, real-time and consolidated information a top business priority for approximately 40 managers including the executive board.
Solution: Reduces Consolidation Time
Previously, hardcopy reports were sent to managers two weeks after the quarter-end. “Reports were created with Microsoft Excel from OLAP cubes, and then exported to Microsoft PowerPoint. The process was conducted by printing hard copy documents for each manager,” explains Alexis Poitou, Gemplus IT Decision Manager.
“Implementing Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 scorecarding met our president’s goal to speed up strategic decision-making.” Gemplus’ managers contend with markets evolving more rapidly than ever. Now the information delivery process is entirely automated and the consolidation cycle has been reduced to five days. “Managers all over the world have access to secure, personalized dashboards in real time, from an ordinary browser,” says Poitou. “The ten days saved gave us a decided competitive edge. Our sales prices, based on exchange rates, are constantly changing. Near real-time visibility into average sales prices during the quarter enables managers to react very swiftly based on their forecast objectives. The comments linked to the indicators allow me, through local and regional views, to drill more deeply to the data to understand the cause of these fluctuations and their impact at group level,” Van den Eynde explains.
Business Benefits: Real-Time, Live, Annotated Information
Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 improved management decision-making by eliminated the painstaking work of having to study multiple hard copy reports. Managers now access an interactive scorecard that enables easy navigation through a built-in table of key
through a built-in table of key performance indicators. “Each indicator is color-coded: green, if the results exceed forecast objectives; orange, if they balance; or red, if they fall short,” says Poitou. Scorecards with intuitive graphics and key performance indicators along with detailed annotations make them easier to understand and more actionable.
“Indicators are consistently displayed with comments depending on whether they are positive or negative,” explains Poitou. These comments are supplemented with financial data associated with the various company entities (country, region) and then consolidated for group-level reporting.
“The validation process is facilitated through collaboration through Office SharePoint Portal Server linked to Office PerformancePoint Server 2007,” Poitou says. As a result, highly descriptive information makes indicators easier to understand and strategic decisions easier. Another key feature provided by Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is robust, role-based information access controls. This was the main obstacle to providing managers with open access to the company’s OLAP databases. “Our listing on Paris Euronext and NASDAQ stock exchanges requires us to exercise the highest vigilance over financial information to minimize insider trading risks. Moreover, we have internal confidentiality policies over financial data,” Van den Eynde explains. Each manager’s access rights are defined in Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 which maintains access controls over certain physical data structures within the multidimensional OLAP cube. “Regional managers' access rights are limited to their respective geographical areas. The eight executive vice-presidents of the board of directors have greater privileges and they have access to the consolidated data of all regions,” says Poitou.
Increased Manager Usability
“Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 provides managers with an intuitive and easy way to directly access OLAP data,” says Xavier Palayer, IS Senior Director. “The next stage involves providing them greater access to other subject areas such as Human Resources, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 increases our competitiveness because it facilitates greater understanding by providing a common business vocabulary for all our managers as well as real-time access to reliable, timely and detailed information,” concludes Van den Eynde.
Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office System is the business world’s chosen environment for information workers, providing the programs, servers, and services that help them succeed by transforming information into business results.
For more information about the Microsoft Office System, go to
www.microsoft.com/office.
For more information about Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, go to www.microsoft.com/performancepoint
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Document published August 2006
