IT controlling with DeltaMaster – Full control for the NORMA Group
The NORMA Group uses DeltaMaster to perform originator-based IT cost allocation for more than 5,100 employees. That ensures a high degree of transparency regarding IT compliance, IT costs, and the quality of IT service management.
The NORMA Group is an international manufacturer of fastening technology. It supplies more than 10,000 customers in over 100 countries, including companies from the mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries. The NORMA Group has around 5,100 employees at more than 60 international production sites and sales offices.
DeltaMaster used by almost every department
The NORMA Group has been using the integrated business intelligence suite Delta- Master for analysis and reporting for the past nine years. More than 600 employees from almost every department use the Delta- Master applications, especially from sales. They access the applications by using the Citrix-based environment NORMA Cloud Connect. The main reason why the company chose DeltaMaster was that it allows combining different data sources in a standardized form. At NORMA, there existed a heterogeneous system landscape that initially comprised eleven different ERP systems. Ease of use, adaptability, and quick application creation were other factors in its favor. DeltaMaster helps NORMA by reducing the number of data sources, simplifying data access, and ensuring the information is extremely transparent and easy to understand, for example.
Challenges of internal IT cost allocation
Transparency was the objective what the Group‘s management wanted to achieve regarding IT costs, particularly with regard to originator-based cost allocation. “We started by developing a DeltaMaster application for analyzing the utilization of application systems such as AS/400 and AX 2009 or the CAD programs with their high license fees. We take measurements on a weekly basis, always on Sundays, by certain criteria obtained from Active Directory. The results are mapped in varying degrees of detail, e.g. at the level of the location or the individual user,“ explains Fabian Winter, internal BI consultant at NORMA. “The locations receive a monthly invoice based on actual consumption as calculated using Delta- Master.“ Other key figures are also calculated, such as the average number of services used per user and location.
Compliance key figures are mapped in a further step. Among other things, these figures provide information on the number of computers using Windows 7 as their operating system or requiring an update or the installation of the latest version of anti-virus software.
“DeltaMaster has established itself as one of our core IT applications. Around 60 IT employees are now using the solution for IT controlling tasks. Reports are prepared up to Management Board and Supervisory Board level.“
Fabian Winter, NORMA
Complex ticket analysis
DeltaMaster was also used to implement an application for IT service management (ITSM). “The aim was to continuously monitor service delivery to provide us with an overview of technical and timing issues at all times and allow us to identify potential improvements – globally across all regions. For this purpose, we run relatively complex ticket evaluations using data from the helpLine software system,“ Winter explains. Typical questions answered with the help of DeltaMaster include:
- How many tickets are there and for which services?
- How long does processing take?
- Are we complying with the service level agreement (SLA)?
- Where are the most tickets generated? At which of the three global service desk locations?
- Which applications have the largest backlogs?
“In the past, it was often the case that a team would process a mailbox by having every team member pick out the ticket they wanted to process at that given moment,“ Winter explains.
“Our reporting means we can now see at a glance when tickets are not currently assigned and hence not being processed. We have established a ‚first in, first out‘ rule, meaning that the oldest ticket must be processed immediately regardless of whether it is a ‚nice‘ job or not. That has allowed us to reduce the number of backlogs significantly. Moreover, we can see exactly why a backlog has built up, e.g. because we are waiting for a change or because of supplier-related delays.“
To permanently present analysis results, DeltaMaster Kiosk is used to visualize information landscapes on large-screen monitors and entire monitor walls with an impressive level of detail. Different DeltaMaster reports with data from various database systems can be combined and presented using a single interface. The display is automatically updated at defined intervals for a near-real-time overview of current developments.
NORMA‘s three helpdesks in Germany, Poland, and the USA use the presentation platform to provide information on the number and type of tickets and the processing status. The data is updated every 20 minutes. The helpdesk in Poland controls the entire day-to-day business of first-level and partly of second-level support using live reports from DeltaMaster visualized on four largescreen monitors.
Predictive analytics and IT budgeting
NORMA also uses DeltaMaster for forecasts, e.g. when determining the necessary software licenses or hardware capacities for the anticipated development. “Our company has an extremely high volume of e-mail: around a million emails a month. Together with the archive, this means a data volume of 14 TB. We can work out what the volume will be in six months from now, taking into account a certain growth in our workforce, and put the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure that we will have sufficient hard drive space, for example,“ Winter explains.
Highlights
- Utilization analysis based on Active Directory data
- Mapping of compliance key figures
- Ticket reporting via complex helpLine data
- DeltaMaster Kiosk used to visualize reports in the helpdesk locations
- Predictive analytics
NORMA Group
- international manufacturer of fasteners and fixing technology
- more than 10,000 customers in over 100 countries
- around 5,100 employees at over 60 international production sites and sales offices
What our sales customers 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,