Case Studies

Schwarz Pharma Inc to promote their sandbox analytics project into production required the help of Skura Corporation for a period of two months to make changes to their OLTP system and create a series of reports to extract and deliver improved customer information to their sales force.

The following objectives were the goals of the project:

• Improve data export functionality
• Improve OLTP data visibility
• Automate report generation and distribution within the Siebel OLTP system for Reps
• Modify ETL scripts to extract syndicated data from a staging area as opposed to the OLTP system
• Assist in developing a methodology to report call activities on the day they occur irrespective of time zones.

The Challenge & The Skura Solution

Skura Corporation implemented solutions to the following business challenges upon engagement with Schwarz:

Challenge--Schwarz USA had worked with Siebel and Bearing Point (formerly KPMG Consulting) which had resulted in the use of different approaches and methodologies for implementation.

Solution -- Since Skura and Siebel use similar methodologies, Skura was able to convince Swartz to standardize on Siebel’s best practice methodology.  In addition, Skura’s extensive experience with Siebel as well as their deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry, allowed the project team on site to quickly understand Swartz’s requirements and gain the maximum benefit from the Siebel Analytics product.  As a result, Skura was rewarded an additional project.

Challenge—Skura was also faced with the impacts of the transactional system on the analytics solution. Customizations in the transactional system (OLTP) were not being reflected in the data warehouse (OLAP) using the out-of-the-box ETL scripts.  Customizations had been made with little understanding of the impacts on the Analytics solution.

Solution – Skura took the time to understand the customizations in their current SFA system and their underlying business reasons.  Modifications were made to the data warehouse and the ETL scripts to accommodate for these important modifications.

Challenge--In addition data integrity proved to be a challenge specifically with the inconsistencies in the spelling of Professional and Account Addresses.

Solution – Data was cleansed in the OLTP system. Those problems that seemed inconsequential, were magnified and were glaringly obvious in the OLAP system.

Challenge – An additional cause of concern was over the improper load of data in the OLTP as a result of not following Siebel’s best practices and understanding the impact on the Analytics solution.

Solution -- Data was reloaded in the OLTP using Siebel best practices and modifications were made to the ETL scripts to accommodate for the improperly loaded data.

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