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SAS in R8 Million Deal with Eskom

Eskom has selected to implement an automated key performance indicator (KPI) reporting solution based on Strategic Vision, SAS Institute's Balanced Scorecard solution for strategic management.

The deal is worth an estimated R8 million.

Grant Ward, business development manager at SAS Institute SA, says: "The solution will be end-to-end and will make use of data accessed from Eskom's SAP R/3 systems. Eskom's decision to implement Strategic Vision was based on the organization's existing situation: a manual BSC environment with disparate data sources, a low level of data quality and integrity and out-of-date Web reporting.

"This environment could not provide Eskom's large user community a single, uniform version of information, with reports taking two to three weeks after period end to compile, and another week to distribute hard copies," he explains.

The SAS Strategic Vision solution will automate the reporting of KPIs within a BSC framework, combining the ERP and OLTP sources and providing a portal for timely and reliable information dissemination and security.

"Strategic Vision facilitates strategy communication, organizational alignment, and provides continual feedback on how well strategy is being executed," says Ward. "With a central information repository fine-tuned for decision-making, Eskom will be able to simplify, organise and audit all enterprise information, while users receive reliable reports on how the organization is performing."

Eskom project manager, Cory Botha, who also managed the procurement process, adds, "The data warehouse acquired as part of the project provides us with the opportunity to further exploit our data management at enterprise level."