Data You Can TrustMarnix Roels

The Business Case for a Single Source

of Data

Version: 2.2Date: 09.01.2012

Developed by the ORTeam

11 January 2012 3

Tata Steel in Europe

• Second largest steel producer in Europe

• Approximately 35,000 employees worldwide

• Major manufacturing sites in UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium

Strip Products UK sites in Port Talbot and Newport

• Sales offices and service centres in close to 50 countries

• Supplier to many demanding markets worldwide, including construction, automotive, packaging and mechanical engineering

11 January 2012 4

Victim of History

• Raw data available in different formats on different platforms

Mainframe DB2, Windows SQL, Oracle, Oracle RDB, PI, SAP, Linux

• Hard to interrogate formats

Lotus Notes databases, emails, paper copies• No unified approach for interrogating data

SQL query, WebFOCUS, Oracle SQL Developer, PI Process Book, Access, Excel

• Localised storage and handling of data for bespoke reports

• Tortuous, poorly documented data trails

• Working in silos disconnect between layers of the organisation

Result = conflicting business reports, doubt over what the “true” report values are

11 January 2012 5

A Single Version of the Truth

The aim is to design a data system that facilitates:

• Agreement on which metrics represent the “official” truth

• Documentation of an agreed and certified data trail

• Reporting from a central resource of agreed data

• Aligning reported data at different levels in the organisation

• Data available to everyone

11 January 2012 6

Towards Single Source - Step #1: Traffic Lights

Targets give meaning to values

Operational data, local impact

11 January 2012 7

Towards Single Source - Step # 2: Various KPIs

Various disparate requests for KPI reporting

Bespoke data gathering for bespoke reports

Fragmented business data

11 January 2012 8

Towards Single Source - Step # 3: Goals Translation

Attempt to link higher level business data with lower level operational data

Need for cascading goal, location and time trees becomes clear

Need for unified data source becomes clear

11 January 2012 9

The Key Components of Single Source

• Key Figures and KPIs

• Targets

• Dimensions

• Dashboards

• User-defined content

• Ownership at every level (key figure definition, key figure content, KPI definition, dashboard content, dashboard improvement, goal setting, goal improvement, …)

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Key Figures and KPIs

• Key figures are certified data (approved data trail) that can be summed up by location and time

• KPIs are values calculated from key figures at every combination of location and time

• This method prevents the production of false averages from calculated data

11 January 2012 11

Targets

• Targets are allocated to KPIs for a given location / time combination against a given target type

• Various types of target : red/amber/green, annual plan, benchmark, SPC mean, forecast

• Various classes of target : variable, constant, constant by time, constant by location, linear interpolation of end-of-year target

11 January 2012 12

Dimensions

• Dimensions help connect key figures, KPIs and, in the case of strategy deployment, goals at different levels in the data structure

• This connection ensures that values at different levels are aligned through a process of “rolling up”

Goal dimension:

Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

Time dimension:

Day Week Month Quarter Year

Location dimension:

Coke Ovens Raw Materials Coke Sinter & Iron Port Talbot

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“Rolling Up” Example – Cost / Tonne

• Cost rolls up by location

• Entered once at lowest level

• Automatically summarised

Ore Terminal

Raw Materials

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Sinter Plant

Coke Ovens

Blast Furnace 4

Blast Furnace 5

Iron Works

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 150,000Tonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 100,000

CSITonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 250,000

Port Talbot

11 January 2012 14

“Rolling Up” Example – Cost / Tonne

• Tonnes don’t roll up by location

• Entered at every level

• Figure used is business decision

Ore Terminal

Raw Materials

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Sinter Plant

Coke Ovens

Blast Furnace 4

Blast Furnace 5

Iron Works

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 20,000

Cost £: 50,000

Tonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 150,000

Tonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 100,000

CSITonnes: 40,000

Cost £: 250,000

Port Talbot

+

11 January 2012 15

Dashboards / Scorecards

• Can be created by designated users without any reference to the software developers

• Creators have all the KPIs in the Single Source system at their disposal

• Tools are available for the user to create new key figures and KPIs, should certain metrics for the dashboard / scorecard not yet be available

• Addition of new locations allows users from other sites to use existing metrics with values specific to their site

• Involvement of the software developers is only required if a new TYPE of dashboard, scorecard or reporting is required

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Example #1 : Executive Dashboard

• High level overview for a given time period, with drilldown

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Other Dashboard Templates

Time-based Executive Dashboard Location-based Dashboard

Cockpit Dashboard Strategy Deployment Dashboard

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User-defined Content

• User type 1 - general user : can add comments to KPIs, enter key values (if designated to do so) and set targets (if designated to do so)

• User type 2 – editor : can request key figures and KPIs, create dashboards and themes for location-based dashboards

• User type 3 – special editor : can create new goals

• User type 4 – data administrator : can vet requested key figures and KPIs, and promote to their appropriate scope (local, business or group)

• User type 5 – system administrator : software developers

Each user type also has the access rights of the user types of lower rank (Russian doll user model)

11 January 2012 19

Ownership at Every Level

• Ownership gives the users control over the content within the framework set by the developers, e.g. :

• Defining key figures and KPIs• Manual entry of key values• Approving and scoping key figures and KPIs• Setting KPI targets

• Different meanings of the word “Owner”

• Dashboard owner• Dashboard facilitator• Dashboard content availability• Dashboard content improvement

11 January 2012 20

Tools of the Trade

• Data storage on SQL 2008 Server

Provisional plan to move the data to an Oracle space

• All data entry systems use Visual Studio 2010 websites on a Windows 2003 R2 web server

• Data feeds into the Single Source system can happen using manual entry, SQL auto-feed, SAP query or WebFOCUS query

• Conversion of key figures into KPIs through WebFOCUS 7.6.5 automated and scheduled jobs

• All business reporting systems performed using WebFOCUS 7.6.5 on Strip Product UK’s Data Warehouse server

11 January 2012 21

What’s New ? (to us, at least)

• Rapid iterative development cycles, with continuous feedback between user and developer

• Quasi-independent side-by-side development of data layer and reporting layer

• Dimensions enable consistency between different levels of the reporting system through roll-up within Single Source

• Built with expansion in mind

Use in other sites within Tata Steel in Europe

Use in different reporting environments• By default, data are visible to everyone (unless there’s business case for

hiding the information from the general viewer)

11 January 2012 22

Our brand of “Agile”

• Always keep track of the end goal (central resource of certified data in the public domain)

Allow diversions from the direct path to the end goal, but always remember to return to the true direction

• “Soft” planning for activities in the more distant future, hardens into more concrete actions as they come closer to implementation

• Continuous user interaction

From an early stage the user is a constant beta tester

Plan for user requirements that grow / morph over time

Developer should try to think as a user, and plan for future extensions

11 January 2012 23

Benefits to the Business

•

Single Source

has enabled the Engineering Excellence Program to effectively communicate with all levels of the organisation

• Having data available while developing the business process helped determine the true requirements

• The cross-functional team were able to create a common approach supported by business leaders and engaging local users

• The successful implementation of this project has led to it being rolled out across other Tata Steel businesses in the UK

•

Single Source

is now working towards applying the lessons learnt in the Engineering Excellence project in a similar strategy deployment programme for other business areas

11 January 2012 24

The Future

• Continued application of Single Source in new applications, thereby making the separate data collection step for feeding the applications superfluous - e.g. AMP³, RPM, Lowest Cost Route …

• Where there is a common business reporting need, use of Single Source to bring the joint data for all sites together

• Creation of a Data Factory (which would incorporate the Single Source key figures) to support reporting, data mining and ad-hoc queries (of which Single Source dashboards are a special case)

Any Questions ?