The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (E1) system is bringing many changes to MFA Oil and the company’s approach to analyzing its data. Technology leaders within the company expect the new system to provide valuable data that will provide insight into company operations and offer crucial business intelligence.
“The E1 system is going to change up everything we do in every line of business,” says Gary Tinsley, director of internal audit and process reengineering. “Employees from across the company will benefit from these changes. From Big O Tires and Jiffy Lube to the field and the home office employees, everyone will be affected.”
MFA Oil formed the Business Intelligence Team about a year ago, incorporating business analysts and information technology members, to research ways the company can best make use of all the data E1 will provide.
“The new technology will allow us to figure out not only what problems are currently occurring in the company, but we will be able to analyze trends to understand issues that may arise in the future,” says Matt Boyce, senior development operations manager. “This will help us in many aspects of our business, while also allowing us to better understand the reasons behind any inconsistent data.”
In addition, E1 will provide a simpler process for MFA Oil employees to find answers to their questions through data analysis.
“With our old data distribution system, we would release static reports,” says Boyce. “We will now have data available in many cases instantaneously online, and eventually on a mobile platform, for employees to find answers to any data questions they may have.”
While the Business Intelligence Team analyzed possibilities with E1 data, the Business Intelligence Committee was formed for a different purpose. The committee, incorporating members from all lines of business in the company, hopes to present the data obtained from E1 in a visual manner that improves and adds value to every department’s approach to work.
“Eventually, departments will be able to move away from reactionary, emotional and/or instinctual decisions, in favor of choices based on data which reflects their best option,” says David Swinburne, senior enterprise resource planning/analytics strategy manager.
The committee has recently finished researching options to display the data received from E1 and will be moving forward using the Microsoft Power BI visualization toolset. Among other things, the system will provide the company the ability to analyze gross profit margins and understand which sales orders are most profitable.
“There’s no doubt E1 is going to create a big culture change in our company,” says Jeremi Rowland, director of information technology services. “The program will allow the company the new option of analyzing data based on individual transactions, as opposed to the end of the month looking back.” Sorting data by transaction will paint a more accurate picture of the financial state of the company by allowing employees to identify errors in the data on a case-by-case basis.
While understanding how to best make use of the new system is sure to involve training, the committee expects the benefits of the system will improve MFA Oil’s competitive position with other companies which have already embraced business intelligence.
“Taking all the data from E1 [and other systems] and putting it into a data warehouse where it can be governed and modeled for us to make better decisions is what the Business Intelligence Initiative is all about,” says Rowland. “The objective of this initiative is to provide our key stakeholders visibility into their respective business areas at a level that is much more in tune with the rest of the industry and as a result strengthen our competitiveness.”