WebFOCUS Optimizes Project Management at Belcan

• Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Belcan Corporation, a provider of engineering, staffing, and other innovative outsourcing solutions to the manufacturing industry, was facing a challenge in improving access to critical business information contained in JD Edwards systems running on an IBM i platform. The company had received a request to provide access to information residing in its JD Edwards World systems. Although the requests were met, the implementation did not provide the flexibility end users needed, nor did it support all platforms required in today’s changing technology environments. The company needed a solution that could streamline real-time data access across multiple platforms.

Belcan Corporation is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that provides engineering, staffing, and other innovative outsourcing solutions to the manufacturing industry. The company has been providing services to a diverse, worldwide customer base for more than 50 years and has a history as a trusted partner that makes valuable contributions to each customer’s business success. Belcan’s technology infrastructure is made up primarily of JD Edwards World applications running on an IBM i platform. These systems support a variety of core business functions across the company.

Belcan Corporation chose WebFOCUS from Information Builders as their business intelligence (BI) platform. WebFOCUS was used to create a robust project management dashboard, providing project managers in the company’s heavy machinery division with complete, real-time visibility into all aspects of the projects they oversee. This real-time insight has facilitated smoother project planning and execution. Information Builders Professional Services team helped Belcan create a Project Management Dashboard to access, sort, and visualize data according to the criteria of their choosing. Reports can be output to HTML, PDF, Excel, and other formats. Color-coding alerts users to the status of crucial conditions, such as if costs are falling within budgets. If users want more information, they simply click on links embedded in the reports to see supporting details and documentation stored directly in the real-time JD Edwards databases.

• Managers can more effectively track and manage their projects, ensuring they are completed on time and within budget, so they can better meet client expectations.
• The dashboard and associated reports are now being used to analyze critical project-related information, such as proposals, costs, purchase orders, invoices, and change requests, helping to eliminate cost overruns due to cross or duplicate charges.
• The dashboard has also helped project managers to more rapidly respond to customer demands, which in turn increases satisfaction.