Introduction
Renold plc is a global manufacturer of industrial chains and engineered power transmission products for escalators, factories, theme parks and more. Over its long history, spanning almost a century and a half, the business expanded in a fragmented way with multiple ERP systems across its sites in the UK, US and Australia. To deliver consistent, reliable business insight and accelerate reporting, Renold needed to unify data across disparate systems. WhereScape was selected as the engine to automate data warehousing, speed up delivery and make trusted information accessible enterprise-wide.
Pre-WhereScape Challenges
- Fragmented ERP landscape: 13 different ERP systems hindered consistent reporting and analysis.
- Slow, error-prone processes: Sales and order reports depended on bespoke Excel exports and manual reconciliation.
- Lengthy reporting cycles: Daily reports took up to an hour and were often inconsistent.
- ERP migration delay: Standardising ERP across the group would take up to four years; far too slow for business needs.
- Lack of reliable intelligence: Sales staff lacked accurate market insights to inform decisions on pricing and products.
Why WhereScape?
Renold needed an agile, source-agnostic platform to automate data integration, design and delivery of a scalable data warehouse that could bring together data from multiple legacy systems quickly. WhereScape RED and WhereScape 3D provided automated scoping, planning, prototyping, loading, documentation and metadata; unlocking consistency, speed and visibility without being tied to a specific ERP platform.
The Solution
Proof of Concept and Early Wins
On day one of the WhereScape proof of concept, Renold’s BI team had access to reliable sales intelligence for the first time. Within three months, a working invoicing cube revealed data inconsistencies that could then be fixed.
Automated Data Integration
Using WhereScape RED and 3D, Renold built an agile data warehouse integrating data from its legacy systems and ERP sources. The solution made data catalogued, visible and ready for reliable reporting.
Streamlined Reporting Platform
WhereScape enabled interim reports and analytics early in the project, removing dependency on bespoke Excel reporting.
“I thought it must be marketing spiel, it couldn’t be that easy. … On day one of the proof of concept, my jaw literally hit the floor. We had sales intelligence for the first time since I joined Renold.”
– Andrew Guy, Business Intelligence Consultant, Renold plc
Results
🚀 Dramatically Faster Insight
- Data download, enhance and reconcile process reduced from 3.5 days to 30 seconds – an incredible 560x faster.
- Daily sales reports now run in 30 seconds, compared to an hour previously.
- Month-end commercial reporting reduced from 4 days to 3 hours.
🚀 Greater Data Reliability
- Clean, consistent data replaces fragmented Excel reports.
- Sales teams can now access trustworthy data daily.
- Cube-based analytics enables tailored regional reporting.
🚀 Deeper Business Intelligence
- WhereScape automated documentation and metadata revealed errors in source data and business processes, enabling correction.
- Interim reports produced routinely and reliably.
- Managers gained the ability to explore data without predefined parameters.
“The secret of business intelligence is to leave a percentage of the questions to be asked by those closest to the data… WhereScape is agile and really easy to change your requests as often as you like.”
– Sarah Cobb, Business Systems Director, Renold plc
Operational Excellence Through Automation
Before automation, Renold’s ERP landscape created data bottlenecks and reporting silos. WhereScape’s automation transformed this by orchestrating end-to-end data processes: extracting, transforming and making data available with minimal manual effort.
Enabling Decentralised Decision Making
With fast, reliable data at their fingertips, sales staff and regional managers can make informed decisions quickly. Interim reports and analytics are no longer reserved for post-facto review but become actionable insight.
Preparing for Growth and ERP Standardisation
Renold plans to incorporate IBM Cognos on top of the new Data Warehouse, expanding reporting into production areas like inventory visibility. WhereScape has enabled BI to be built into future ERP rollout plans: historic data now migrates into the warehouse as part of go-live.
Ready for Acquisition-Led Expansion
As Renold enters an acquisition phase, the ability to quickly standardise disparate data into a common platform will accelerate integration and drive value from day one.
“It’s my belief that systems are an enabler of business transformation. … Now that WhereScape is essentially gluing our ERP systems and our Data Warehouse together, Renold can fulfill its true business potential.”
– Sarah Cobb, Business Systems Director, Renold plc
