Daman Provides VITAL Solution for Food Processing Giant

Data warehousing to complement SAP R/3

A multi-national, food processing leader located in the upper Midwest was thoroughly committed to implementing SAP R/3. Management realized that the sophisticated ERP application could bring together a wealth of data from the company's financial, sales and distribution systems, enhancing decision support across the enterprise.

However, the company also wanted to develop a data warehouse that would be populated with data from both legacy files (IDMS, DB2 and mainframe flat files) and SAP files- even while the SAP application was being implemented. The data warehouse would not only produce an integrated, cross-functional view of data but also help complement SAP reporting for high-level decision making.

The data warehouse project was extremely complex, and time was a critical factor. The company needed a special kind of consultant to help ensure success. A consultant which offered a profound knowledge of both data warehousing and SAP R/3. The ability to work fast by working smart. And a deep commitment to finding the best solution based on hard-won experience from the field.

With a record of over 65 data warehouse projects to its credit and deep experience in SAP implementation, Daman Consulting was chosen to design and develop the warehouse.

The VITAL approach — proven in the field
Daman used the VITAL Step-by-Step Lifecycle Approach to help implement the data warehouse. Co-developed by Michael Haisten, Daman's Vice President of Information Architecture Services, the VITAL Approach is a proven methodology, based on successful implementation experience since 1989.

With the VITAL Approach, a data warehouse project is divided into six, clearly organized stages: establishing the program ... preparing the project ... initiating the database ... exploring the data ... implementing the deliverables ... and expanding the environment.

Each of these stages, in turn, is divided into carefully managed steps ranging from developing a rationale and targeting opportunities to establishing an infrastructure, designing the database, training the consumers, and synchronizing the project with evolving business needs.

A Rollout in Six Months
Using the VITAL Approach, Daman was able to accelerate the data warehouse implementation based on careful, strategic planning.

Productivity was also boosted through Daman's use of the ETI Solution® Tool Suite. Provided by Evolutionary Technologies International, ETI Solution is a premier data movement tool that helps streamline and accelerate the implementation process.

With ETI Solution, Daman consultants were able to cut development time by as much as 70%.

Immediate Benefits
Daman Incorporated was able to provide the company with —

• Rapid, efficient development of an enterprise data warehouse
• Successful consolidation of data from a number of disparate sources
• Continual SAP reporting, even while the application itself was being implemented
• An additional range of reports, for a richer level of decision support