Using DeltaMaster, the customer service department of VELUX Germany has transformed its rather passive style of reporting to an (inter-)active management information system that enables fact- proven management.

VELUX is the world’s largest manufacturer of roof windows with manufacturing companies in 11 countries and sales companies in 40 countries. Technical customer service, which is performed by its own technicians as well as partners, plays a key role in the company. Typical tasks of the customer service team include repairing all VELUX products, replacing window panes, checking windows, and training.

VELUX Germany was searching for instruments and techniques to gain detailed insight into internal processes and plan service orders more effectively. It initially used a solution based on Excel. “But we quickly reached our limits,” as Soenke Stange, Project Manager and Service Controller at VELUX, recalled. The department decided to deploy a comprehensive solution for analyzing and reporting service data. The objective was to connect different operational source systems, including the email and fax software for incoming orders, SAP ERP, Click Schedule for planning resources and staff, as well as mobile systems and a damage registration system used to process orders on site. VELUX chose DeltaMaster.

“Our customer service managers can now directly analyze their numbers on their own – without needing support from IT or controllers,” Stange continued. “By linking KPIs and attributes in a data model, we can share expert knowledge across the company.”

The data model includes 230 base measures and over 100 dimensions. The data, which encompasses approximately 10.6 million invoice records and 1.2 million data records on on-site maintenance, is consolidated into Microsoft SQL Server, where users can access it in order to report and analyze it in DeltaMaster.

Since the initial implementation of DeltaMaster, VELUX has expanded the scope of its analyses beyond costs, revenues, orders, and damage claims. It has developed a management information system that unites all operational KPIs in a single overview. From here, users can delve into further analyses on service volumes, process quality, or finances. They can also examine the time needed to complete individual tasks – for all orders or in a team-by-team comparison. The company also regularly calculates and assesses the first-time fix rate. Thanks to DeltaMaster, they can quickly detect the reasons for follow-up visits such as bad weather, wrong replacement parts, or insufficient time. Through predefined links, users can further analyze this data based on the individual causes. “With that feature, we could convince our management team,” added Stange.

VELUX has drastically reduced the amount of time and work needed to determine operational KPIs. “In the past, our management rarely used that type of information,” he added. “The more work that was involved in determining a certain KPI, the less we examined it. Determining the costs and profit shares of individual service orders, for example, was extremely difficult and time consuming in the past. Today, calculating costs per maintenance visit, gross margin, or even a service EBIT is no big deal.” With DeltaMaster, users can now detect cost-intensive service orders very quickly. That sparks new ideas within the management team on how to redesign the processes to complete these service orders.

Users at VELUX can also analyze their data ad hoc to answer arising questions. A geo analysis, for example, shows the breakdown of a given KPI by region, for example, to show the regions with the highest costs per maintenance visit. “We can run a geo analysis on any measure we wish,” added Stange. Many new questions often arise during these analyses. The users at VELUX can answer them and conduct even deeper investigations using the Threaded Analysis Technology of DeltaMaster. With this function, they can explain variances down to the finest detail.

Good analyses depend on a high level of data quality, which requires a well-designed data warehouse and clean ETL processes. This obviously takes a certain amount of effort – but it is well worth it in the long run. The good cooperation between VELUX and Bissantz also played a key role in the project. “The attendance from Bissantz was almost just as important for us as the software itself,” added Stange.

• Interactive management information system
• Analysis of service volumes, financial KPIs, cycle times, process quality
• Selfservice-BI
• Complex data model with 230 base measures and over 100 dimensions In-depth analyses using the Threaded Analysis Technology
• Sharing expert knowledge

• largest manufacturer of roof windows and sophisticated roof window solutions for pitched and flat roofs, sunscreening products, shutters, and installation accessories
• more than 10,000 employees in around 40 countries
• almost 1,000 employees in manufacturing and sales in Germany