Design/Development of National Sales Tracking System
Business Question/Need
The client’s national retail sales group desired a centralized, web-enabled tracking and reporting system to provide 33,000 national sales representatives access to detailed sales information and other customer account information on a national level. The business goals included comprehensive reporting, analysis, and querying of sales data by customer, product, geography, period of time, sales rep, sales team, etc.
Technical Solution
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The project included multiple areas of concentrated technology focus including:
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Data sourcing and ETL (Extract Transform and Load) using Microsoft SQL Server DTS utility.
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Comprehensive data modeling across multiple database instances
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Reporting database development and schema design
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Middle-tier business rules layer supporting OLAP through MS SQL Server analysis services
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Client-server interface development using .NET platform
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Web-based access and report delivery layer using ASP.NET.
The application was designed to read data from multiple sources to compile and generate reports from custom OLAP cubes, all of which was to be supported through a consolidated data warehousing infrastructure with real-time business analysis capabilities. As part of the initiative, Pinnacle also created report generation and administration tools, .Net Windows Forms applications that resided on the users' desktops, an Analysis Tool and a .Net Web Forms utility. The user interface dynamically rendered reports on demand through a customizable web portal that performs authentication using personalization settings to determine access permissions. The system was originally designed to support approximately 33,000 sales representatives.
Technology: .NET, SQL Server DTS and Analysis Services, ASP.NET
Project duration: 3 months
PTR Resources: 18
Benefits to Client
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Comprehensive reporting and coordination of sales initiatives and customer opportunities
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Real-time analysis of sales data for decision support dynamics
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Consolidated sourcing and storage of sales information from multiple system feeds into a central data warehouse
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Slice-and-dice analytical support using an intuitive, user-friendly interface