AbD Serotec Business Intelligence System (PIMS2)
AbD Serotec is the research antibody division of MorphoSys, one of the world's leading antibody technology companies. The AbD Serotec brand was created in early 2006 and markets more than 13,000 antibodies and immunological reagents. AbD Serotec has a strong position in the global market for research antibodies with direct sales operations in the UK, USA, Germany, France, and Scandinavia and distributors in more than 55 countries.
Running AbD Serotec requires the sort of business intelligence (BI) systems that could give higher management a flexible unified view of complex international multi-product sales.
Intelligence gathering & designing the solution
OCC worked closely with AbD Serotec executives, listening to their requirements and defining appropriate solutions. We agreed that Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) offered the best approach: it met the business needs and integrated with familiar office tools, such as Excel, so the training burden was light. To take advantage of SSAS as a business intelligence solution first integration software was set up which copies and merges sales data across the separate national companies into a single source called a multi-dimensional cube or hypercube.
Hypercubes allow SSAS to easily and dynamically present its results and means the business intelligence is always working on a copy of the data, so the performance of the business critical sales databases is unaffected. Using online analytical processing (OLAP) users query complex sales data with no more technical knowledge than is needed to use Excel.
How AbD Serotec use the PIMS2 business intelligence solution
OCC developed and delivered just this solution which is used by AbD Serotec management every day in the management of their complex business. SQL Server Integration Services run each night, copying international sales data, converting on to a base currency and formatting the whole into a hypercube. A secure intranet allows only higher management to browse through this data using Internet Explorer, with OLAP behind the scenes changing the view as desired. When an interesting view is found it can be exported to Excel and included in an email or company sales report.
