The Challenge
A medical device manufacturer’s financial team was using manual tracking and processing to manage the commission process for its sales division each quarter. Because the commission structure changes 1-2 times per year and features multi-tiered incentives with individual, regional, area, and company levels, manual tracking with Microsoft Excel proved to be risky and unmanageable. Another complexity in the process was historical data; if a new sales representative took over a pre-existing account, his or her commissions were impacted by the previous purchases on that account.
The client needed an experienced, proven vendor to help reduce the margin of error, reduce the time required to track commissions, and increase the speed with which checks were delivered to its sales team. They engaged Magenic for a business intelligence solution that fit the bill.
Multiple variables, manual tracking.
The Solution
Magenic added to the client’s data warehouse (originally developed by Magenic) and ETL (Extract, transform, and load) process for the client by leveraging Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server Integration Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and T-SQL. The new data warehouse’s scalable design tracks and stores monthly historical data and features customized reporting, making for a better overall user experience.
Designed with flexibility, the dynamic solution allows for frequent changes to the commission structure and also features re-designed data tables. The new, customized reporting functionality allows the client to generate reports specific to its multiple incentive tiers, providing data on an individual, regional, area, or company-wide level.
Dynamic, scalable data solution.
The Result
Magenic’s Microsoft solution provided a reporting solution built for business rather than IT and saved the client millions in licensing fees. The SSRS solution improved the user experience thanks to a short learning curve from its similar look and feel to other Microsoft applications. As a more flexible and web-friendly application than the previous out-of-box solution, SSRS provided users with easier, faster access to the data they needed. The added visualizations served as an extra element to extend reporting capabilities beyond what the old system could offer. Magenic’s assistance in training accelerated what was already a smooth transition to the new technology.
Magenic went above and beyond the client’s expectations by not only converting legacy reports and re-writing their code; our principal consultant created new reports for the client. The solution proved to be so successful that other divisions of the company expressed a desire to move over to the same platform.
Knowledge transfer positioned client for future growth.