Opsdata™ data warehouse

Opsdata™ is a data warehouse solution that integrates information from multiple systems across the business and makes this available to all users through a single interface.

The system is designed to eliminate the need for business data to be stored in spreadsheets, which often results in duplication, inconsistencies and conflicting data. Microsoft Excel is great for creating business reports, but is not designed to be a data store for important business information.

The system maintains “one version of the truth” for everyone in the organisation to readily access and report off.

Some of this information will originate electronically from other systems and data sources in the business, some of it may need to be manually captured in OPSDATA, and other information will be calculated or derived in OPSDATA based on pre-defined or standard business rules.

All of this business information will however be available to all users in the organisation from a single interface, with a full audit trail of where the data came from and any changes that were made to the data.

The system provides for multiple versions of budget, plan or forecast data to coexist alongside actual values, using the same business logic as the actual data, and able to be incorporated into any reports or charts alongside actual values.

The OPSDATA client software that is installed on each user’s workstation allows for quick ad-hoc queries to be run, including short term and long term visualisation of trends.

Standard reporting from the data warehouse is primarily done through Microsoft Excel with direct links from the spreadsheet to the underlying data, automatically updated as the file is opened or when a different time period is selected.

A report wizard in Microsoft Excel allows users to create their own OPSDATA spreadsheet reports with minimal training, in addition to the pre-defined standard reports that are available to them. OPSDATA is primarily aimed at process engineers and line managers that need to reliably track and troubleshoot production performance in a manufacturing facility.

The system can however very easily be extended to not only include production information, but also cost reporting, labour reporting, safety reporting and even high level financial reports for the business, once linked to the systems that can provide the underlying raw data.