Optimizing the Trade Ecosystem: Improved Data Modeling for a Confectionery Company
A client recently engaged Clarkston Consulting to improve their data model which would help with optimizing the trade ecosystem. Read a synopsis of the project below or download the full case study.
Download the Optimizing the Trade Ecosystem Case Study Here
A leading global consumer products company with a focus on confectionaries was seeking to improve its current data model to enable usability across systems and improve data accuracy and access for its users. The client needed their data-centric ecosystem to produce insights and best-in-class reporting from day one of implementation as well as enable access and usage from all their key stakeholders across departments and teams.
The client had previously been using individual systems for planning, execution, and reporting. This new ecosystem would include forecasting, trade promotion management, trade promotion optimization, and reporting. In order for this new world to operate properly, its foundational data needed to have an improved structure – one that was stabilized for quality data and reporting. The overarching goal of the changes was to have the client’s sales team spend less time managing data and more time leveraging analysis to drive profitable business.
Clarkston worked closely with the client’s business team, helping to define and communicate business requirements during system design. These requirements defined how the customer and product hierarchies should be enhanced and changed to best support the planning and analyzed to grow the business. Clarkston’s subject matter experts partnered with both the business team and the technical teams to ensure that master data was properly cleansed, hierarchies were built, and cutover was successful for an on-time product launch.
Along with existing data, Clarkston was responsible for working with the business to develop business rules for consumption data in the Forecasting, TPM, and TPO environments. This will enhance their current system by allowing sales to plan and evaluate performance with sell out actuals. All of the enhancements and new contributions were developed in a way that could be scaled, should the client decide to take this design global for all of its business units.
Clarkston’s work over the year-long design, build, and implementation contributed to the client’s development of a highly anticipated data-centric system. The cleansing and creation of new hierarchies have led to an integrated, high-quality data set that can be used as a template for other countries globally. The ability to centralize what had been a previously separate and often manual process to synthesize and report across systems was a huge success for the organization. Additionally, the ability to hit key milestones on time helped ensure the larger timelines for the entire project were achieved. This was all done with the existing strength of the client’s team and data experts, which allowed the Clarkston team to help set the framework for the client’s long-term success.
