International Truck and Engine Accelerates Corporate Performance With Ascential Software Enterprise Data Integration Solution
Monday August 25, 9:03 am ET
Ascential Software Helps World-Class Manufacturer Give Managers Near-Zero-Latency Access to More Than 100 Key Business Indicators
WESTBORO, Mass., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ascential Software Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCL - News), the enterprise data integration leader, today announced that International Truck and Engine Corporation has deployed Ascential(TM) DataStage® to improve its competitive position and market responsiveness amid rapidly changing business conditions. Using Ascential Software's enterprise data integration software, International created and deployed a Key Business Indicator (KBI) portal that for the first time provides managers with near-zero-latency, consolidated business information on company performance. The KBI portal provides information about order status, budgets, suppliers, employees, dealers and more than 100 other performance metrics.
International, the largest producer of medium-duty trucks, school buses, chassis and mid-range diesel engines with $6.8 billion in sales, is using Ascential DataStage to transform data from a wide variety of International systems into a consistent format and load it into International's IBM Informix enterprise data warehouse. The warehouse feeds a business intelligence portal application that provides more than 450 employees with customized sets of key business indicators at a glance.
"The Key Business Indicators portal project was a strategic initiative we undertook in large part to transform our business monitoring and reporting from a slow, labor-intensive, paper-based process to one that's automated and highly accessible," said Jim Rappe, the company's enterprise data warehouse group leader.
"Ascential Software solutions provide near-zero-latency data in the formats we require, ensuring our business intelligence is current, accurate, timely and a true reflection of how the company is operating," added Mike Gohl, International's enterprise data warehouse team leader. "The result is better decisions made earlier, smoother operations, less waste, tighter cash management, more responsive customer service and continuous improvements in manufacturing."
To obtain these benefits, the 101-year-old company used Ascential DataStage to efficiently and effectively meet the challenge of integrating data from legacy systems and enterprise applications - many older than 15 years, some as old as 28 - from across the company's truck, engine and financing divisions. The Ascential DataStage extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tool connects warehouse data to key business performance metrics for all end users, from the executive level to line of business managers and analysts.
For example, the KBI portal provides analytics that let International employees drill into details on any truck in dealer inventory, revealing which configurations sell the best. Project managers now have timely access to engineering cost breakdowns, supplier performance metrics, materials management information, individual employee performance and safety. Individualized employee portals include green, yellow and red "traffic light" indicators to advise employees about the status of important business goals. Each metric is hyperlinked to launch an AlphaBlox online analytical processing (OLAP) application, fed by the data warehouse, that lets employees view, "slice" and "dice" the underlying information.
In the process of creating and deploying the KBI portal, International eliminated complex, manual data searching, validation, certification and double checking. Financial analysts and other professionals now spend more time applying their specialized business knowledge and less time on administration. International plans to further rely on Ascential Software as the manufacturer phases out legacy systems and replaces them with improved systems and architecture.
"International® trucks are an icon in the transportation industry because of the company's exceptional global business management practices," said Mike Cassettari, Ascential Software vice president and chief marketing officer. "Today, global business management means tightly linking technology to business processes to ensure valuable, accurate business information gets to the right people exactly when they need it. International is achieving this with the assistance of Ascential DataStage."
Ascential DataStage is part of the Ascential(TM) Enterprise Integration Suite, which combines Ascential Software's industry-leading solutions for data profiling, data quality and data transformation on a shared platform of software services for unlimited scalability through parallel processing, management of meta data, any-to-any connectivity and real-time data integration.
About International Truck and Engine
International Truck and Engine Corporation is the operating company of Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV - News). The company produces International® brand commercial trucks, mid-range diesel engines and IC brand school buses and is a private label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. With the broadest distribution network in North America, the company also provides financing for customers and dealers. Additionally, through a joint venture with Ford Motor Company, the company builds medium commercial trucks and sells truck and diesel engine service parts. Additional information is available at www.internationaldelivers.com.
About Ascential Software
Ascential Software Corporation is the leading provider of enterprise data integration solutions to organizations worldwide. Customers use the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite to integrate and leverage data across all strategic analytic and enterprise applications with confidence in the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of critical information. Ascential Software's powerful data profiling, data quality, data transformation, parallel processing, meta data and connectivity solutions enable customers to reduce total cost of ownership and increase return on IT investment. Headquartered in Westboro, Mass., Ascential Software has offices worldwide and supports more than 2,200 customers in such industries as financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer goods, retail, and government. More information on Ascential Software can be found on the Web at www.ascential.com.
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Source: Ascential Software Corporation |
