CASE: LVI-DAHL

Reporting pipeline with no clogging

LVI-DAHL

WebFOCUS brought improved efficiency to LVI-Dahl Oy, as unified reporting now covers the entire organization from sales to finance management and from procurement to clients. An unlimited number of different reports can now be generated based on who needs information and in what format.

– The old system generated a few reports that were then edited by users to make their own versions by, for example, adding information from Excel. This caused discrepancies within the information, says Kirsi Granqvist from LVI-Dahl’s IT department.

– We started out to modernize the reporting and to make it smarter to better serve everyone’s needs. And we also needed a comprehensive and clear system for management reporting. We also wanted to have a unified solution for our client interface, says IT manager Jukka Silander.

Significant time savings

The new system has only been in use for three months, but we already have 54 ready-to-use report templates. In the old system, running a report used to take half an hour per report. In three months, we have run 4,404 reports, which would have taken 14 months of working hours in the old system.

With WebFOCUS, we can do things that would have been incredibly difficult to do in the past, Kirsi Granqvist continues.

– Reports are compiled by 100–150 people, and with time required per report cut down to one minute from 10–30 minutes, the time saved is really impressive, Jukka Silander says. Information is maintained in the main system, from which WebFOCUS collects and reports on it based on the needs of sales, procurement, finance management, upper management and clients. When all required information is easily available in one place in a unified format, decision-making becomes easier. The system also reduces duplicate and manual work considerably.

”A great system”

Procurement has also been very satisfied with the new reports.

– In the past, we were tracking incoming pipe batches product by product, with information input manually. Now WebFOCUS provides information both by supplier and by batch, procurer Anu Streng says.

– Now I have time for actual work, such as comparing suppliers and organizing competitive bidding. Easy tracking of supplier history improves our ability to respond and makes it easier to decide on what to buy and where. This tool is a keeper, Anu Streng notes.

– We are just getting started, but this is going to be a big and wonderful system, Kirsi Granqvist adds.

Enthusiastic reception

– Reporting was a big problem for us, simply because we had no suitable system for it. When we saw how other clients were using WebFOCUS, we realized that Infobuild not only offers us a solution for today but also allows us to prepare for the future. Going forward, we can keep developing the system ourselves, says sales manager Markku Laitio.

– We had a few other options we were considering. We had WebFOCUS under trial use, and it seemed the most reliable and long-term option available. It was important for us to find a long-term solution to avoid doing this all over again every few years, Jukka Silander says.

– It is important for clients to get the reports in the format they want. With WebFOCUS, we can generate exactly the type of report we want from all data available.

– WebFOCUS is an incredibly easy software to use. People only see what their permissions allow. We have not had to organize training so far – what we have available on the intranet has been enough, Kirsi Granqvist says.

– We have received nothing but positive feedback, people are very excited. The feedback has included comments like “a good tool”, “easy to learn”, and “great for generating visually impressive material fast”. Our financial management in particular sees the benefits of the software, as it is now easy for them to get just the type of reports they need, Kirsi Granqvist continues.

– Cooperation with InfoBuild has been very smooth, and their people are true experts and professionals. In the future, we can manage updates and report template creation ourselves, Kirsi Granqvist says.

Increasing sales efficiency

– We’ve grouped our clients into different categories that we call peer groups. WebFOCUS will improve the accuracy of analyzing purchasing behavior of companies of a particular size. It will be a good tool for sales as well, since they can now ask clients why they are not using something that other similar companies are. Also, if a product is obsolete or no longer needed, we have quicker access to this information. Knowing what products are selling streamlines decision-making related to alternative products, Markku Laitio says.

With salespeople updating and printing the reports themselves, WebFOCUS has saved time for me, the secretary and the IT department. On the other hand, when a salesperson goes for a client visit, it is easy for them to bring along the client’s background information and purchase history. This was not possible before, Markku Laitio says.

A broad selection near the client: The Dahl group is the largest wholesaler of HPAC products, public utility technologies and industrial piping products in the Nordic countries.

Dahl is a leader in the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Polish markets. The Dahl group’s shared business idea is to be the most cost-effective & affordable option for all clients and suppliers. The group’s goal is to have the best service level, reliability and expertise in the market. LVI-Dahl Oy has been operating in Finland since 1995. During this time, it has become one of the leading wholesalers in the industry. With a reliable Nordic background, LVI-Dahl Oy operates as a Finnish HPAC wholesaler in 24 regions.

With WebFOCUS, access is available to the entire range of 18,000 products and 400 discount groups. The system will be implemented in all locations in Finland.


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