Mediengruppe Oberfranken uses DeltaMaster to manage media sales
Mediengruppe Oberfranken uses DeltaMaster for media and subscription sales and controlling in particular. It is used by around 30 employees.
Less complexity – better visualization
The business intelligence solution the media group had previously used was too complex for the end-user departments. According to Thomas Paul, System Integrator at Mediengruppe Oberfranken, system instability, long development times, and a lack of flexibility when it came to cube development were the main points of criticism. Moreover, reporting using an Excel add-in was failing to meet Mediengruppe’s requirements in terms of presenting key figures and analyses in a way that could be quickly and easily understood. The DeltaMaster business intelligence suite from Bissantz won a tender thanks to its high degree of technical maturity.
The DeltaMaster business intelligence suite from Bissantz won a tender thanks to its high degree of technical maturity. “DeltaMaster also stood out because it allows users to prepare reports autonomously and very quickly without any IT support,” Paul adds. “For me, visualization using elements such as Sparklines was a key aspect,” says Carina Werner, Controller at Mediengruppe. “I can only second that,” says Petra Bayer, also responsible for Database Management for media sales. “Sparklines and the red and blue colors make it immediately obvious where positive and negative developments are taking place.”
Advertising behavior and discount
rates at a glance
One of the key areas of application for DeltaMaster is in media sales. It is used to analyze print and online products as well as customers (e.g. top/flop, development of advertising behavior). Discount rates can also be examined in terms of their development and the reasons for the amount of the respective discount, for example. “Before introducing DeltaMaster, we had no absolute values for determining discount development in media sales or identifying the markets in which discounts are granted. Now we have the values we need and can respond immediately,” explains Petra Bayer.
Evaluation of production and subscription data
The analysis of subscription data is another important area. How many new subscribers have been added? Via which channels/campaigns? How many have failed to renew and why? These are some of the typical questions that can be answered by using DeltaMaster. Production figures are analyzed by customer, order, and time period in order to establish the revenue generated and the corresponding costs.
“Working in media sales, the biggest advantage of DeltaMaster for us is its flexibility. We can examine our data from any perspective and in any depth.”
Petra Bayer, Media Sales, Mediengruppe Oberfranken
Variance analysis
Controlling uses DeltaMaster mainly for analytical tasks such as visualizing the causes of variances. Carina Werner offers an example: “When we have increased personnel costs for delivery, we can analyze the reasons why – from higher sickness rates requiring additional temporary staff to increased waiting times for delivery staff due to delays in production, for example.” Controlling also uses DeltaMaster to present cost center and contribution margin reports and investment status.
Bissantz scores thanks to reporting and visualization expertise
“We felt extremely well looked after throughout the project,” Paul says. “I can clearly recall a ‘live hacking’ session with two developers from Bissantz: Under the eagle eyes of company management, they came up with a subscription cube in just two days. It’s fair to say we were impressed! The employees are truly proficient, including when it comes to the architecture of thirdparty systems – in our case, that means Microsoft SQL Server and other databases. When our users have questions about working with DeltaMaster, they contact the Bissantz support team directly, and that works perfectly. Bissantz can immediately view their screens and provide assistance. We have a very collegial relationship with Bissantz.” Carina Werner adds: “Bissantz’s content expertise also won us over. As part of the project, a Bissantz employee not only set up reporting within our Controlling organization, but also took on the completely different area of media sales a few months later.
Our colleagues were no less delighted by the rapid, solution-focused implementation and the ease of comprehension of the visualization using Sparklines and presentation in red and blue. You can tell that Bissantz benefits from its extensive experience in the fields of brain research and perception.” Bayer confirms the same positive experiences: “The Bissantz employee looked at the existing media sales reports and offered some excellent tips for how we could improve their presentation structurally – for example, making additional information visible by using a key figure as a springboard to more detailed reports, allowing us to get to the bottom of any variances.”
The future
Mediengruppe Oberfranken has the stated aim of becoming a data-driven company. “DeltaMaster will remain an important companion as we continue on this path,” Paul says. In the future, Media Sales also intends to integrate planning figures in DeltaMaster. In the long term, the aim is to present the development of the individual products in real time, including comparisons. Dashboards are being set up in a further project step.
Highlights
- Quicker report provision
- Autonomous, IT-independent report setup in the end-user departments
- Positive and negative developments identifiable at a glance
- Bissantz offers strong professional expertise as a service provider
Mediengruppe Oberfranken
- Second-largest media group in northern Bavaria with around 1,000 employees
- More than 50 individual brands
- 5 local newspapers, 9 advertisement supplements, local online offerings, Germany-wide print shops and specialist publishing houses
- More than 130 editorial staff
What our customers of sales controlling are saying
“I was impressed! I never thought implementation could be so quick.”
Egbert Veit, Sales Director, Deuter Sport GmbH
“DeltaMaster gives me the freedom to work with the figures instead of spending my time preparing them.”
Melanie Rosenberger, Business Intelligence team leader at Scherdel
“The time and effort required for optimal reporting has been reduced significantly and the accuracy of planning has increased.”
Dietmar Quatember, Head of IT, Salinen Austria
“The entire management team is impressed by the reports.”
Thomas Rieß, Senior Controller, Schwartau
“Automatic analyses allow us to focus on what really matters.”
Heike Wüsthoff, Controlling, Gustav Alberts
“We can calculate our items reliably – for intelligently developed prices that we also use tactically.”
David Harms, Head of Procurement and Controlling, Motea GmbH
“DeltaMaster allows us to tweak our tariffs in a targeted manner and identify trends at an early stage.”
Marcus Kresin, Group CIO, INTRO Aviation
“Before DeltaMaster, our data was downright chaotic. Now we have achieved greater revenue awareness and a better understanding of the figures.”
Johanna Gärtner, Commercial Director, Wenco
“Now we can see what is happening more accurately and more quickly. We can see how successful our customer business has been for each product segment at the touch of a button.”
Mirco Lischka, Controller at Conmetall Meister
“DeltaMaster allows variance analyses to be carried out extremely quickly and easily.”
Egbert Veit, Commercial Director, Deuter Sport
“DeltaMaster shows us the data from any perspective and in any depth. This is incredibly useful for us.”
Petra Bayer, Media Sales, Mediengruppe Oberfranken
“All in all, we have reduced eight man days to just half a day. That’s what I call effective!”
Thomas Rieß, Senior Controller, Schwartau
“High performance, high flexibility, high implementation speed – that’s why we chose DeltaMaster.”
Oliver Kissel, Sales Manager, Daimler
“DeltaMaster is my most important tool for daily reporting and analysis. Once you understand the logic, the possibilities for analysis are almost boundless.”
Michael Jungmann, Pricing Manager, Bürkert
“Without the DeltaMaster solution, answering certain time-critical inquiries from the managing directors or fund and risk managers would require significantly more time and effort.”
Dr. Sebastian Brandt, Head of Controlling, HANSAINVEST Real Assets
“DeltaMaster is a phenomenal analysis tool!”
Harald Huber, Head of Accounting and Controlling, Media Markt Switzerland
“DeltaMaster gives us undeniable business benefits thanks to its reliable figures, clever analysis options, and first-class support.”
, Commercial Director, Deuter Sport
Egbert Veit,