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Sun World analyzes crop costs and

harvesting efficiency with IBM Cognos TM1

Challenge 

• Improve operating efficiency 

through detailed operations and 

cost analysis 

WhyIBM? 

• Sun World was already using IBM®

Cognos® TM1 for all its financial 

statement analysis, and was very 

happy with the system 

Solution 

• Extend the use of the IBM Cognos 

TM1 system to the Operations side 

of the business when it teams with 

Applied Analytix – an IBM Business 

Partner 

KeyBenefits 

• Improved ability to analyze farm 

production costs; increased 

harvesting efficiency; major 

reduction in reporting time—from a 

full day for three people to minutes 

Overview

Based in Bakersfield, California, Sun

World International grows and markets

fresh fruit and vegetables. Before they

discovered an IBM Cognos solution,

Sun World was manually putting data

into Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets.

With multiple GL systems, this process

would take a group of three people

several hours. Now, data is loaded

from the GL systems directly into IBM

Cognos TM1 with the click of a button.

The process takes just a matter of

seconds.

Case Study

Challenges Faced

Since 1998, Sun World has been using

IBM Cognos TM1 for all their financial

statement analysis. Recently, the

company expanded their system to

address the Operations side of the

house. Sun World needed to look at th

operating efficiency of harvesting and

crops, and be able to do more detailed

cost analysis.

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At the same time, the organization is

always a resource for its customers.

“Applied Analytix is always there for

me, even if I just need a tiny answer,”

says Steve Greenwood, Manager of

Budgets and Report/Project Planning

at Sun World.

After a quick and painless

implementation with Applied Analytix,

Sun World has all the information

that managers need uploaded

continuously to the IBM Cognos TM1

system and available through the Web

for instant access and analysis.

Benefits Realized

After the IBM Cognos TM1 expansion,

Sun World’s system includes the

following capabilities:

• Analyzing farming costs—using IBM 

Cognos TM1, Sun World analyzes

 per-ac re costs in growing each fruit

and vegetable. For example, TM1 can

analyze what it costs to get a box of 

 grapes out of the field into cold storage.

• Analyzing harvesting effi ciency—IBM 

Cognos TM1 allows Sun World to

analyze the per-unit cost of harvesting 

each specific f ruit and vegetable. Sun

World can see what it costs to pack eac h

 product on a per-unit basis , as well as

the revenue per unit.

• Analyzing farming crews by their 

harvest—Sun World analyzes how

many boxes per hour each crew

harvests. This is powerful information

because it means the c ost per box—the

more they pack per hour, the less it costs

to pack the boxes.

2 

Strategy Followed

Sun World realized that it already had

just what it needed to get the job done:

IBM Cognos TM1. The organization

knew it could expand its system to

include Web reporting and build a

very informative portal to analyze key

operational details.

Sun World decided to take advantage

again of IBM Cognos partner, Applied

Analytix, a leading business analysis

solutions provider, focusing on TM1

implementations, has a long history of

transforming vast volumes of data into

useful information for companies and

municipalities. Sun World, a long-time

Applied Analytix customer, had worked

with the organization in previous BI

projects, and appreciates the Applied

Analytix philosophy.

Sun World essentially managed its

original IBM Cognos TM1 system onits own, with little help from the Applied

Analytix staff. That’s just fine with

Applied Analytix, whose consulting

philosophy is to transfer knowledge to

customers to help them achieve self-

sufficiency. As a result, staff ownership,

acceptance and understanding of

the system are all greatly increased.

Applied Analytix has adopted this

philosophy due to knowing far toomany situations in which consulting

companies become permanent

fixtures at the client site. Applied

Analytix seeks to change that dynamic

and to ensure that the client, not the

consultant, determines when outside

help is needed.

“ The time saving is

tremendous. At month

end, to create the first pasof management reports it

would take three people

one day. Now it takes

minutes! It literally saves

days of work each month.

Steve Greenwood, Manager of Budge

and Report/Project Plannin

Sun Wor

Key Components

Software 

• IBM Cognos TM1

IBMBusinessPartner 

• Applied Anlaytix 

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About IBM Cognos BI and PerformanceManagement

IBM Cognos business intelligence (BI)

and performance management solutions

deliver world-leading enterprise

planning, consolidation and BI software,

support and services to help companies

plan, understand and manage financial

and operational performance. IBM

Cognos solutions bring together

technology, analytical applications,

best practices, and a broad network

of partners to give customers an open,

adaptive and complete performance

solution. Over 23,000 customers in more

than 135 countries around the world

choose IBM Cognos solutions.

For further information or to reach a

representative:www.ibm.com/cognos

Request a call

To request a call or to ask a question, go

to www.ibm.com/cognos/contactus.

An IBM Cognos representative will

respond to your enquiry within two

business days.

Steve Greenwood says that IBM

Cognos TM1 is “very intuitive....very

easy for you to learn.”

One of the most important aspects

of IBM Cognos TM1 for Sun World is

the Web reporting functionality. Steve

says, “The time saving is tremendous.

At month end, to create the first pass

of management reports it would take

three people one day. Now it takes

minutes! It literally saves days of work

each month.”

Reports are now being accessed by all

senior management and department

managers, the most active users being

the CEO and the CFO. Currently, the

Web is only being used for reporting,

but Steve is in the process of creating

budget inputs for all of the company’s

operations

 

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009

IBM Canada

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Produced in Canada

June 2009

All Rights Reserved.

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