Business Challenge: Over the past decade the business intelligence (BI) technology needs at Lipman evolved and became more sophisticated in order to keep up with the constant influx of requests generated by members of the sales organization. Lipman was using Dimensional Insight's business intelligence technology to provide its users with Web-based and e-mail access to reports on sales for the month including what brands were being shipped to which accounts, or data on how each of its brands or divisions were performing. However, it became clear that users needed not only better access to information, but also customized, role-based information delivery.

"We used to have trouble pulling together the different aspects of our business into reports. Our users needed better access to information so that they could navigate through sales and inventory data on their own to get the answers they needed," notes Luci Cain, sales technology coordinator at Lipman.

Lipman Brothers' Information Delivery Needs: The vision at Lipman was to transition members of the sales organization from multiple report views in various formats to a single dashboard view that housed data on sales incentives, volumes and goals for each individual. Lipman wanted users to have the ability to quickly filter information by customer, brand, supplier or other key dimensions to reveal detailed insight on the data presented, instantaneously. One crucial component of the plan was to ensure that the information in each dashboard had the ability to roll-up to a more consolidated view for higher-level managers allowing for streamlined communication and rapid decision-making.
Specifically, Lipman wanted to:

• Create role-based dashboards for three different types of sales managers
• Provide executives with a holistic view of sales operations at a summary level with access to relevant detail
• Provide users with improved access to sales goals and incentive information in a timely manner
• Customize sales performance dashboard views based on user preferences
• Establish a self-service reporting environment to support ad hoc requests

Solution: With Dimensional Insight's newest release, The Diver Solution 6.2, Lipman Brothers is automatically providing that information to them. With Diver 6.2, Lipman has flexibility over page layout and the ability to access detail data directly from dashboard views. Diver 6.2 also incorporates redesigned dialogues to ease set-up and maintenance for deployments that involve multiple, customized dashboards for different users.

One of the most tangible benefits associated with version 6.2 is reducing ‘time-to-information' for Lipman's key users from the COO down to individual market managers. Enhanced data visualization options have been incorporated into version 6.2 that facilitate the creation of performance dashboard views that pair graphical indicators with contextual information that guide users in the decision-making process. Users are instantly alerted to areas of concern and then have the ability to ‘dive' into detailed information directly from the main dashboard page to see supporting information on sales incentives, specific accounts, inventory or any other number of key areas. The ability to access the information on-the-fly without requesting additional reports from Lipman sales administrators allows users to quickly get the information they need.

"The new Diver 6.2 version has made it much easier for our sales organization to see how they are performing, what needs to be improved upon and where the opportunities are for that improvement – and it's all instantly available," says Cain. "Our managers aren't going to have to continually request reports in search of a few numbers because we've made it available to them via dashboards. Our users are excited about how much information they now have access to and how easy it is to find what they are looking for."

Key Benefits: By partnering with Dimensional Insight for its business intelligence technology needs, Lipman Brothers was able to implement a business intelligence tool capable of supporting the reporting and information delivery needs of its growing enterprise. As a result, Lipman Brothers was able to:

• Reduce the ‘time-to-information' by providing instant access to sales volumes, account-level detail, inventory and monthly sales incentives by supplier or brand
• Enhance data visualization options
• Facilitate user adoption
• Consolidate data views to be customized and rolled-up based on Lipman's organizational structure
• Improve maintenance and administration of Web-based views, allowing managers to focus on trends within the account, brand or division level

"Diver 6.2 gave us the flexibility to roll-out customized dashboards and empower our sales managers with the flexibility they need to manage their people and run their accounts better," Cain says. "With information now truly at our fingertips, we can run our consumer products business even better and continue to grow and excel."