Implementation of a datawarehouse and reengineering of the management reporting system
The Issue
A major Luxembourg based insurance company had decided to replace its main insurance policy management system, on which the whole management reporting system was based. This project was also seen as a good opportunity to reconsider the whole management reporting environment and evaluate whether the set-up of a datawarehouse(1) coupled with a flexible reporting system would be appropriate and effective.
The scope of the Company’s project included issues such as:
- Getting a clear picture of current and future management reporting needs (either for internal purposes or for external clients);
- Dealing with a significant number of reports;
- Implementing a structured approach for continuous improvement of the management reporting system;
- Selecting the most appropriate technical architecture, platform and associated tools;
- Ensuring efficient project management, organization, communication and training of future users.
Our Approach
This project was performed by a multi-disciplinary team combining competencies and expertise in insurance products, process improvement, data management and project management. The project included:
- A current and future needs analysis to assess from a bottom-up and top-down perspective the operational and analytical reporting requirements;
- A technical analysis reconciling the identified requirements with current and future systems capabilities (including architecture and platform selection);
- A business case development for top management and project sponsors;
- The definition of baseline plans and budgets;
- The implementation of project management processes for the specific project;
- The rationalization of available reports;
- The selection of external providers for the design of the datawarehouse and implementation of the new management reporting system;
- The users training organization and communication to stakeholders.
The Outcome
- The number of relevant reports was reduced significantly;
- The management was able to design new reports to support their operational and business decisions;
- At the end of the project, the Company had a basis of technical infrastructure in place, a first complete set of data available in the datawarehouse, a reduced number of pre-defined reports ready to run, and a number of users trained on a tool allowing them to define and develop reports by themselves;
- A complete transfer of knowledge was ensured enabling the Company to take complete ownership of the project.
(1) Datawarehouse: Data storage of consolidated information dedicated to easily and quickly provide simple or pre-aggregated data for analysis
