Precision parts manufacturer improves its business efficiency
Challenge
Our client, a leading precision parts manufacturer that supplies to defense, aerospace and other high-tech industries wanted to use Microsoft Data Services (MDS) as an enterprise level master data management (MDM) tool to manage their reference data and master data. However, MDS has its limitations with respect to advanced MDM capabilities. In addition, the client wanted to evaluate a combination of capabilities to extend their MDM application for golden record management, master data/reference data workflow management process and usage of Excel to bulk update master data.
Solution
The solution architected by Trinus used MDS for basic MDM. For advanced MDM capabilities, Profisee was implemented while retaining MDS as the back-end of the overall MDM solution. The solution evaluated MDS and Profisee for various use cases. The first use case implemented item master and item primary site MDM processes using SSIS, SQL Server, DQS, MDS and Profisee. The MDS web application was used as a data steward tool for master data and reference data management. DQS was integrated with SSIS and MDA as a data quality tool. Master data was bulk loaded and corrected using an Excel add-in for the first use case. Subscriptions of master data were created to end users within the organization, including their manufacturing units in the US and Europe. Profisee as used for golden record management.
Results
The solution allowed data stewards in the end user community to manage item master and item primary site entities directly through the application. A single, consolidated entry point for master and reference data was created, which applications such as Oracle CPQ and Oracle 12c subscribed to. Uses that were not met by MDS were fulfilled by Profisee. The application set up a solid, scalable MDM platform for extending the solution to customer and supplier.
As a result of the MDM solution, business efficiency as measured by operational efficiency improved by approximately 55%. Additionally, subscribing applications reported data completeness index at 4.7/5 compared to a previous score of 3.2/5. These improvements resulted in a considerable drop in business processing costs, reduction in rework, and gains in inventory management expenses.