Customer Solution Case Study
/ Business Intelligence solution gives boutique hotel real-time view and multiple flexible reports.
“The general managers love the new reporting system – they get all the information they need while there is still time to act on it.”
Sue Christie, Manager – Reservations and Yield, Heritage Hotel Management
A legacy system of Oracle generated Excel spreadsheets meant Heritage Hotel Management had limited options when it came to reporting on each hotel’s performance. With multiple groups, including external customers to report to, the company's requirements had outgrown the existing system. Heritage Hotel Management required a fully comprehensive Business Intelligence solution to cater for multiple reporting options, such as automatic report generation, report design and dynamic drill-down functionality – all of which was provided by Microsoft SQL Server.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published June 2011
Business Needs
The legacy reports were in a fixed format with little or no flexibility, and the management team received information too late to act on. Although thousands of transactions were processed daily, the only reporting available was in the form of Oracle generated Excel spreadsheets delivered at the end of each month.
“Retrospective information that is already a month old when we received it simply didn’t do the job for us anymore,” says Sue Christie, Manager – Reservations Development and Yield for Heritage Hotel Management.
“Each Hotel has its own property management system and information from each location was imported into an Oracle database and consolidated at the end of
the month as a series of Excel spreadsheets. What we really needed was daily information, and a system that was easy for everyone to use and could provide flexibility, with the ability to click on a figure in a report and instantly see what made up the total.”
Solution
Heritage Hotel Management has a long-established relationship with Theta Systems Limited, so when looking for a new system the team went straight to their trusted partner. Theta worked with Heritage Hotel Management to create a Proof of Concept which clearly identified the needs of the organization and created a plan to achieve its goals.
Theta proposed a Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing solution made up of a combination of Microsoft SQL Server tools, such as relational database management systems and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) functionality.
“Heritage Hotel Management used Fidelio property management system and the database tables were all written in German, so it was very challenging for us to ensure that the new reporting system accurately recalled records from the database,” says Dan Mandich, Relationship Manager for Theta Systems.
“Theta was very thorough in their approach, constantly checking and double testing throughout the project,” says Sue.
The fact that Heritage Hotel Management are also in the process of migrating each hotel from Fidelio to the new version of the system called Opera added a further level of complexity. Theta had to provide a Business Intelligence solution that could provide consolidated reports across both systems simultaneously.
The project was undertaken in a phased implementation over a period of several months, starting in Feb 2009, with the first major milestones reached in November 2010 and completion of phase one in March 2010. This project is ongoing with plan to upgrade each hotel to Opera.
Benefits
Heritage Hotel Management has seen many benefits from the new Business Intelligence solution including:
· Consolidated daily reporting
· User friendly system
· A real-time view of the business
· Report scheduling capabilities
· Multiple, flexible reporting options
· Enhanced and timely trend identification
· Cube functionality to slice and dice data as required
· Self-service business intelligence capabilities
· Increased productivity
The benefits for Heritage Hotel Management were realized instantly. The ability to create subscriptions means reports can be generated automatically and scheduled to go to the right people at specific pre-determined times.
A user friendly system allows employees, with minimal training, to generate their own reports whenever they are required, providing staff with the information they need to perform their roles more effectively.
“If staff have the tools to generate their own reports when they need them, they are more likely to use them, resulting in more effective decision making because people are working with real-time information,” says Sue.
“It also means that they spend less time trying to get hold of data and more time analyzing the information, increasing productivity.”
Providing staff with access to regular reports can alert them to situations that require attention – for example, if a regular client’s bookings have decreased. This allows Heritage Hotel Management to have a proactive response to customer service; these situations can then be investigated and explained or resolved.
“The general managers love the new reporting system – they get all the information they need while there is still plenty of time to act on it,” says Sue.
The functionality of the digital dashboard feature allows Heritage Hotel Management to focus on targeted productivity. Declining accounts can be easily identified and then managed to improve performance. Key performance indicators, such as percentage of occupancy, average rate and revenue per available room (REV PAR) are constantly monitored to ensure targets are met by each individual hotel and across the business as a whole.
Information gathered by different parts of the business, including industry sector and room types, provides Heritage Hotel Management with invaluable data for strategic planning and targeted sales campaigns.
Having instant access to the latest information also gives Heritage Hotel Management the opportunity to provide constructive feedback in a timely fashion to their staff.
“When a staff member wins a big account we can see it straight away and make sure that person is duly recognized for their achievements. This is highly motivating for the team and something we have been unable to do as easily in the past.”
Heritage Hotel Management has implemented a future proof solution which has increased the organization's Business Intelligence capabilities, allowing its hotel managers to respond quickly to trends and issues, and have a real-time view of the business.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published June 2011