Enterprise data warehouse initiative integrates disparate information, improves operational efficiency
Westboro, MA October 24, 2003 Enterprise data integration solutions provider Ascential Software Corp. this week announced that MicroStrategy Inc., a provider of business intelligence (BI) software, has selected Ascential DataStage to help deliver transparency to all aspects of business performance.
DataStage, which is part of the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, will automate the data transformation and movement from more than a dozen enterprise applications into MicroStrategy's enterprise data warehouse, called Aqueduct, according to the company. With DataStage, Ascential said MicroStrategy would be able to update warehouse information on demand, rather than once per day.
As a result, MicroStrategy said it would be able to more efficiently perform monthly and quarterly financial closes, better serve its customers and provide every employee with more frequent updates on performance metrics for which each individual is accountable.
Metrics include business unit profit-and-loss, personal sales achievement and customer relationship management. In addition, MicroStrategy said automating data transformation would enable IT staff to spend less time developing, maintaining and fixing hand-coded data transfer applications so the department's small applications team can spend more time on projects with higher returns.
"Timely access to corporate data is critical for any company's performance," said MicroStrategy's chief operating officer Sanju Bansal. "The more up-to-date and complete our enterprise information, the better decisions we can make to help ensure our success. DataStage helps us accomplish this by extracting data from myriad sources in an organized and well-managed process. The data can then be transformed into an Aqueduct-format, allowing us to load it on demand, translating into improved service and performance."
MicroStrategy frequently uses Aqueduct as a case study when selling its own business intelligence software, according to Bansal. He said that Aqueduct is an example of how business intelligence can allow a company to plan and manage results by viewing information that can be sliced for every business unit, manager, line of business, product and customer.
In addition to being a customer, MicroStrategy said it is also an Ascential Software business partner the two companies work together to deliver BI solutions.
