Project
Product Information Management System (PIMS)
Client
Summary
Europa Sports was challenged with disparate product information that also was not stored in any standardized format. Siloed information resided in Excel spreadsheets, ERP systems and Access databases and was impossible to access by all who needed to use it. This caused frustration and gaps in business data because users didn’t know what information was available or where they should go to import new data or access existing data. There was a definite need to centralize all data into a product information management system (PIMS) that could be accessed by all users and managed as a unit. The unique requirements and sheer volume of Europa’s product information compounded their challenge.
The question: How can a centralized data structure be implemented that accommodates all of Europa’s requirements? Can data for more than 5000 products that is stored in multiple formats be standardized without losing data or compromising its integrity?
Used By
Internal Europa Employees
Problem / Opportunity
NTCIC needed a web-based application for their Asset Management and New Market Tax Credit groups that incorporated existing information into a web-based system that would function as the central source of financial and property information on all closed and potential projects. NTCIC’s existing application was client-based and didn’t meet requirements to be modified for future needs, however, there were some aspects that would be necessary to incorporate into the new web-based application. The organization needed updated technology to keep staff from being buried by Excel spreadsheets and information requests from clients.
The question: How do you build a web-based application that is robust enough to act as a data hub, yet simple enough for all levels of employees and clients to use?
Solution / System
Europa’s PIMS was built by INSite as the central data resource for comprehensive information on all of Europa’s products. Europa selected INSite as the best fit for the job because of characteristics that included:
- Familiarity with Europa’s system
- Experience with JD Edwards
- Expertise in developing heavy-lifting data infrastructures
- Recent work with SQL web-based interface with similar features
Before design or development of the data infrastructure could begin, clean-up and standardization of the data was necessary. A Product Information Committee was created so that such issues as duplicate information and missing data fields could be addressed and resolved while project communication policies and the project escalation plans were put in place
Europa’s IT department began building the SQL database as INSite provided input into the requirements they would have for the database as their work began on the interface that would sit on top of it.
Europa found that communication flow with the INSite team was easy and their responses immediate. The resulting product information management system (PIMS) is internally accessed by five or six business analysis groups that do exports for vendors.
Prior to the PIMS project, business analysts had to pull product information from multiple locations and formats and hope that they included complete information for all requested products. Depending on the size of the vendor, this aggregation process could consume anywhere from one hour to an entire day. Today’s process uses the PIMS to eliminate the manual data aggregation, radically reducing the time required for business analysts to procure and deliver accurate and complete product information to vendors. After the initial vendor profile is set up, business analysts simply request the needed product data which is pulled into one document that is formatted for use by the vendor.
Today’s PIMS provides exactly what Europa expected:
- A central system that easily manages the comprehensive details of more than 5000 products in 269 product lines
- Standardized data from across a myriad of data formats and systems
- No data loss or impact to integrity
- An easy to use interface that enables vendor product information input and export
- Resulting data exports that are provided in a concise and usable format
The bonus for Europa is that their new PIMS also provides some perks they were not expecting:
- A system that is poised for a long-term roll-out to 250-300 vendors
- A foundation for new ecommerce, business intelligence, inventory and marketing tools
- Streamlined processes that set the stage for getting business analysts out of the data export business
Europa’s PIMS is its game changer.
There are opportunities provided by this powerful data foundation that Europa has never even considered - including the ecommerce, business intelligence, inventory and marketing tools noted above. Beyond these strategic business improvements, Europa can also implement programs that leverage the database to open up new opportunities for revenue generation by providing additional valuable services and options that will help vendors be more profitable more quickly.
Features included in the Product Information Management System (PIMS)
Centralized Master Database
A centralized master database will be used to store data for products, vendors, and customers. It will reside on a database server running SQL Server 2008 R2 and be easily accessible to the other system components.
Master Data Quality
Data quality is the reliability and effectiveness of data. Data quality assurance (DQA) is the process of verifying the reliability and effectiveness of data. Maintaining data quality requires going through the data periodically and scrubbing it. Typically this involves updating it, standardizing it, and de-duplicating records to create a single view of the data.
JDE Data Feed
JDE is an application that ESP uses to manage their product inventory. Data for JDE resides in a SQL database. JDE is updated manually by Inventory/Purchasing staff. A process will be created to copy designated product information in JDE into the master database. The process will be scheduled to run daily.
Product Information Portal
The Product Information Portal will enable a user to interact with the system.
Data File Import / Export
The Product Information Portal must enable the user to transfer product information into the system (import) and get product information out of the system (export).
Confirmation Queue
Change alerts will be sent to users notifying them of changes that must be added to JDE. The user must make the change to either JDE or Gladson and confirm this in the Product Information Portal. The purpose of the confirmation queue is to display a list of changes that must be made in JDE or Gladson and present a way for the user to confirm the changes.
Web Form For All Data Fields
The web form which will reside in the Product Information Portal will enable the user to view and update existing product information directly into the system without the need to go through the file import process. Product information data fields will be grouped and displayed on separate pages for ease of use.
Change History
The change history log will enable a user to view the product information that has been changed.
Change Alerts
Change alerts are designed to inform user(s) that information has been entered into the Product Information Portal. They are sent in the form of an email. For v1.0 there will be three types of emails alerts.
Gladson Data Feed
The current Gladson database contains product information. For v1.0 product information will be copied from the Gladson database to the master database on a daily basis. The master database will not receive updates to Gladson data directly from the Product Information Portal, instead updates will come in from the Gladson data feed. The web catalog will continue to read data from the Gladson database. Gladson is updated manually by members of the Creative department.
Pre-Populate Database with FDM Spreadsheet Data
FDM staff has been storing product information in Excel spreadsheets. This data needs to be moved into the master database.
Customer Specific Data Export
FDM staff has the need to export specific data based on each FDM customer’s needs. The user should be able to setup a “customer” with specific settings, such as name, data columns to include in export, the order of the data columns, and the list of products to include. The system should store these settings to be used the next time an export request is made.
Technology
The Weight Loss and Wellness Clinic EMR was built using the following technology:
Involved Partners
Services Provided
- Business requirement gathering
- Database design
- Programming
- Database development
- Administration