Transform JDE data for manufacturing analytics
A large manufacturing company was hoping to use their business intelligence and analytics tool, Power BI, to find data insights for optimizing their supply chain. The company was struggling to get the insights they needed from source systems like JD Edwards (JDE) due to its confusing data structure.
This company turned to Ollion’s manufacturing data and analytics consultants to apply their experience ingesting, transforming and preparing JDE analytics using a modern cloud environment.
Overview
THE CHALLENGE
An equipment manufacturer transforming their inventory tracking was struggling to integrate and analyze JD Edwards data.
THE SOLUTION
Ollion ingested JDE data into a data mart, transformed the data to have a consistent format, designed user-friendly dashboards and documented best practices.
THE OUTCOME
The client is now able to easily access and analyze data from all sources, including JD Edwards. The solution is also scalable for future needs and company growth.
The challenge
Talk to any manufacturer who’s tried to analyze JDE data and you’ll likely hear the same frustrations: JDE’s cryptic backend with non-standard table names makes analyzing the data nearly impossible. The problem gets worse when combined with the desire to centralize data into a modern data warehouse like Snowflake and/or use business intelligence tools like Power BI, Looker or Tableau.
This was the problem for a Pennsylvania equipment manufacturer transforming their inventory tracking to become more data-driven. They were well on their way with investments in leading technologies, including Snowflake and Power BI, but hit a major roadblock when it came to integrating and analyzing JDE data.
Their goal was to enable their team to access and analyze all relevant data from source systems across their organization, including JDE data from their ERP, in user-friendly Power BI dashboards.
The solution
This manufacturer turned to Ollion after learning about our experience making JDE data analytics-ready in a modern cloud environment using Snowflake and Power BI.
Our solution was broken down into four key parts:
- Ingest JDE data into a data mart within the data warehouse.
- Transform the JDE data in the data mart to have a consistent format with data from other sources. JDE data was transformed from names like “ABAN8” to a more descriptive name like “Address.”
- Design user-friendly Power BI dashboards that pull the correct datasets from the data warehouse.
- Document best practices for support and future expansion of the new Snowflake business layer.
Ollion used our proven methodology for loading a business layer and connecting Power BI by generating an initial data mart focused on JDE inventory. We developed orchestrated jobs that transform JDE tables into an architecture that is high-performing, friendly for report users and scalable for future development. This included:
- Job scheduling for Snowflake/JDE business layer (using Matillion)
- Deploying physical models and SQL scripts for loading an inventory data mart with about four dimensions and one fact table
- Referencing a Power BI composite model, building crosstabs and visualizations to verify data is functional for generating reports in the context of inventory health
Once the technical solution was in place, Ollion trained our client’s team and provided documentation they could reference as their organization expands and reporting needs evolve.
The outcome
Upon completion of this JDE data transformation project, our client is now able to easily access and analyze data from all sources, including JD Edwards. User-friendly Power BI dashboards with consistent data allow them to find insights such as:
- Manufacturing output vs. goals
- Inventory outflows forecast
- Potential out of stock
- On-hand quantity
- Quantity in transit
- Quantity on order
- Available stock
- Demand
- Inflow quantity
- Product count
- Weeks of supply
- Production plan forecast (actual vs. target)
The solution was also designed to be scalable to account for future needs and company growth. The client’s users and IT team received training and documentation to enable continued success with the solution.
If you’re struggling to incorporate JDE or other data types into your reports or BI tool, Ollion’s manufacturing data and analytics consulting team can help. Contact us for a no-cost, risk-free manufacturing data strategy session. These sessions will help you build a roadmap to your future state, including time, costs and technologies involved.
