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by Joel Klebanoff
Published 11/14/2006
Businesses are inundated with reports, but turning that data and information into knowledge and value can be difficult. Managers and analysts want the ability to perform value-enhancing
activities—such as sorting, searching, and performing "what
ifs"—against the data quickly and easily.
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These tasks are best performed
with spreadsheets, not reports. The challenge for Eljer, Inc. was to find a way
to transfer data in existing spooled reports into Excel spreadsheets, where it
can provide the greatest value for the company. Eljer now meets that challenge
with SpoolFlex from DRV Technologies, Inc.
Founded in
1904, Dallas, Texas–based Eljer, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of
residential and commercial plumbing products, with sales of approximately $150
million. Its products include toilets, bathtubs, sinks, lavatories, whirlpools,
bidets, shower bases, and commercial restroom fixtures. Previously owned by
Jacuzzi Brands, Eljer is now a private company owned by an affiliate of Sun
Capital Partners.
Eljer uses System i servers for most of its IT
requirements. Its ERP software includes many useful reports, but the company
needed to give users a way to work with the data in those reports in order to
increase its value. Eljer considered a PC-based package that would fulfill the
requirement, but the cost was too high. A separate license would have been
required for each user who needed the functionality. What's more, those users
would have required training in the new software. Eljer wanted to avoid those
training costs by allowing users to employ a tool they were already familiar
with, Excel.
In Search of an Easier Way
As at all but the smallest of companies, audits are a
fact of life at Eljer. In addition to regular internal financial audits, it must
also occasionally submit to bank, municipality, and other tax audits, not to
mention the SOX audit that was necessary until it became a private company. Most
of the data that auditors need is available in the ERP-generated reports, but
auditors don't want printed data or even electronic copies of reports. They
insist on receiving data in spreadsheet form. Eljer wanted a way to meet this
requirement without having to write customized programs to extract and convert
the necessary data.
Mike Gleason, director of IT at Eljer, kept his eye
out for a solution. One day, an ad for SpoolFlex arrived in the mail. Gleason
checked it out and found that SpoolFlex would easily meet his needs at an
affordable cost. SpoolFlex V3 allows complete reports or selected pages to be
converted to any e-format, including Excel (XLS), Acrobat (PDF), plain text
(TXT), rich text format (RTF), comma-separated values (CSV), HTML, and XML. The
resulting files can be emailed, printed, faxed, or placed directly on a System i
server.
Some products that claim to generate spreadsheet files offer only
CSV format for that purpose. If the file is set up properly, Excel can perform
the conversion, but the process is not foolproof and typically requires manual
formatting and close examination for conversion errors. SpoolFlex's support for
native Excel format (XLS) automates the conversion and makes the results
available for immediate use without errors.
Eljer appreciates the fact
that SpoolFlex is resident on System i. "In a small IT shop like ours, it's
paramount to be on the 400. If the data is on one box, I want all of the tools
on the same box." That reduces the number of skills required and eliminates the
need for cross-platform interfaces.
Gleason found SpoolFlex easy to
install. "DRV support was phenomenal. When I had a question, I connected with
the support guy through a Web meeting and he answered it quickly. That saved us
a ton of time."
SpoolFlex is also simple to learn. "There are a lot of
wizards that make it very easy," explained Gleason. "DRV just walked me through
it once, and I was able to use it after that."
Saving Time Across the Board
To provide users with Excel files from spooled data,
Gleason creates a SpoolFlex definition. Within the first few days of installing
the software, he had four or five definitions up and running. The company now
has about 15 definitions. When users want an Excel file, they go to SpoolFlex
and select what they want from a drop-down menu of available spool files. Then
SpoolFlex emails it to them. Using the same process, creating Excel files for
auditors is equally easy.
Eljer has received substantial tangible
benefits from SpoolFlex. For example, one person in the credit department used
to key data from a weekly report into a spreadsheet—a task that took about
eight hours. Now it takes him about three minutes to get the spreadsheet
directly from SpoolFlex.
SpoolFlex has also allowed Eljer to eliminate
considerable tedious programming. "The reports we have are good; they just
weren't in the format our users wanted," said Gleason. "With SpoolFlex, if we
already have a spool file, we don't have to spend any money rewriting the
reporting programs to create the spreadsheets."
SpoolFlex provided Eljer
with a benefit that Gleason wasn't expecting. He originally installed it solely
to create Excel files, but then he learned that it could also produce PDF
output. Eljer runs five e-commerce sites. It now uses SpoolFlex to present
customers with purchase orders and invoices in PDF format through the Web. This
has increased the value that customers receive from the e-commerce sites.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line for Eljer is improved productivity
for users and the IT department, more valuable data, and enhanced customer
satisfaction. "In all my years of IT, moving data out of the 400 and into Excel
or Access, where users can make better use of it, was the last piece of the
puzzle," concluded Gleason. "SpoolFlex makes that migration fast, easy, and
affordable."
See below for DRV
Technologies' contact information.
Joel
Klebanoff is a consultant, a writer, and president of
Klebanoff
Associates, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based marketing
communications firm. Joel has 25 years experience working in IT, first as a
programmer/analyst and then as a marketer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in
computer science and an MBA, both from the University of Toronto. Contact Joel
at joel@klebanoff.com.
DRV Technologies
3250 Peachtree Industrial
Boulevard
Suite 105
Duluth, Georgia 30096
USA
Web: www.drvtech.com
Email: info@drvtech.com
Tel: 678.417.1521 or
866.378.3366
Fax: 678.417.1521
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