Congress of Controllers 2026: Technical contributions from the exhibitors

The Olympus company

Olympus is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of opto-digital high-tech products. As the headquarters for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, Olympus Europe has a total of more than 31,653 employees worldwide, spread across 31 companies in 8 sub-regions. The company previously used extensive, interconnected Excel spreadsheets for the financial planning of the individual national companies. Due to the increasing complexity of the parent company’s planning requirements, these were almost impossible to manage.

Together, we then developed a comprehensive system for P&L, balance sheet and investment planning with the help of the flexible Board software. Today, the new planning system guarantees a significantly higher level of detail and automation.

The challenges of the project

Financial planning in a globally active group is a complex challenge. At Olympus, for example, the individual national companies have to carry out income statement and balance sheet planning several times a year. This is reviewed by regional controllers, for example for the German-speaking countries, and consolidated by the continental subsidiary, in this case Olympus Europe. However, the growing demands placed on the planning process by the parent company resulted in a great deal of effort in versioning and short-term changes and top-down specifications were difficult to map. In addition, changes were often made after the deadline, which meant that several employees at the head office needed a large amount of time to prepare and consolidate the planning over the course of several weeks.

“In addition to this high manual effort and the corresponding susceptibility to errors due to the complexity, there was another problem: as the Excel files became larger and larger over time, up to several hundred MB, they were almost impossible to edit,” says Matthias Ola, Head of Corporate Controlling at Olympus Europa SE & Co.

“In addition, clarity was lost because there were 30 to 50 tabs per country alone. For example, if the head office specified an increase in turnover of 5 percent, the national companies had to make the corresponding changes at the lowest level so that the total amounted to this value.”

The implementation of the project and the change in the company

Accordingly, Olympus Europe was looking for a solution to systematically support the planning process. The new planning tool should not only support financial planning, but also be usable in other specialist areas.

“The overall solution from celver AG based on Board’s flexible software platform came out on top in a tender process,” explains Daniel Zillmann, project manager. “The specialist department, central controlling and IT carried out the POC together and reached a unanimous decision. Above all, celver’s extensive project experience and comprehensive planning and process know-how, as well as the individual, flexible and independent customization of the functions, were decisive factors in the selection.”

Following detailed specification and process modeling, a comprehensive system for income statement, balance sheet and investment planning was implemented. This was followed shortly afterwards by the introduction of a solution based on Board for marketing planning.

The benefits of the solution became apparent as soon as the financial planning system was installed. Around 100 division controllers can now carry out planning much more efficiently. Colleagues at the European headquarters continue to provide support by automatically initializing the relevant actual figures and a default value for the forecast.

“In the past, initialization required a great deal of manual effort, which could result in copying errors. The new initialization process eliminates this source of error,” explains Thorben Sychla, Board Administrator.

“The colleagues in the countries can now also adjust these figures top-down. This means that they can change the turnover for the entire country, for example, and the supply chain costs are then calculated automatically.”

Another important point is the status information. As the European controllers previously did not know whether the file stored on the drive was an interim status or the final version, celver has created its own workflow process for the board platform. This means that the entire planning can now be frozen at a specific point in time so that subsequent changes are no longer possible. This ensures that deadlines are met.

The benefit

“The new overall solution from celver and Board has led to greater automation and a higher level of detail in the planning process at Olympus Europe,” explains Matthias Ola. “Many steps are now automated, which means that data no longer needs to be merged manually. If adjustments need to be made to the process or special adaptation requests come from the specialist departments, we can implement these largely independently and quickly.” Import solutions for upstream systems are also used. For example, the data for personnel cost planning, which is created by the HR department, is imported via a CSV file.

In addition to automatic currency conversion, general costs, such as for IT, can now also be allocated to the individual departments. As a large part of the balance sheet is calculated automatically, the countries now create a comprehensive balance sheet plan from the P&L in just a few steps. Furthermore, only the investments need to be entered. The resulting depreciation is calculated and all values flow into the P&L and balance sheet.

“If the colleagues responsible for the country, region and continent wanted to discuss data together, they previously had to send excerpts from the Excel file,” adds Matthias Ola. “Now they can view the detailed data in Board at the same time, so collaboration has become easier and everyone involved has the same planning status across all dimensions.”

Automatic calculations, a higher level of detail and the flexibility of the Board platform: because of these advantages, Olympus has decided to expand the system further and also use it for supply chain and sales planning in the future.

Download Case Study Implementation of a planning system at Olympus Europe

About celver

For over 20 years, celver has been implementing complex planning and analysis solutions based on smart data architectures for renowned customers from a wide range of industries. The foundation is formed by innovative concepts and technologies that have evolved from traditional on-premises solutions to agile cloud environments incorporating artificial intelligence.

But the goal remains the same: To jointly develop suitable solutions that enable well-founded, data-supported decisions. Whether assessment, boost camp, preconfigured template or the complete implementation of the application – celver offers tailor-made services for every project phase.

The experienced, certified team provides customers with comprehensive support: from technical consulting to process definition, complete implementation and integration into the system landscape through to training, roll-out and change management.

The technology-independent consulting firm is a member of the UNITY Innovation Alliance.

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Manual consolidation of Excel templates as part of budget planning – no longer at DR. KADE Health Care. The Berlin-based pharmaceutical manufacturer relies on the financial planning software from Corporate Planning and benefits from an automated forecast of the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement as the basis for driver-based corporate management. Controlling gains scope for strategic issues and adds value through direct cooperation with the specialist departments.

Highlights

– Automated financial planning: From an Excel-based planning process to an automated, system-supported solution.
– Data integrity: Clear responsibility and easy access for employees from all departments when entering data increase commitment and create transparency as part of driver-based corporate management.
– Introduction of a central, monthly forecast for P&L, balance sheet and cash flow.
– Flexibility in terms of the data sources that can be connected enables seamless software integration into the existing IT landscape.

“We create quality of life”

As a medium-sized pharmaceutical manufacturer, DR. KADE Health Care is committed to improving the quality of life for people worldwide. The independent family-owned company develops, manufactures and markets high-quality medicines and medical products: 11 million packs containing 408 tons of creams, ointments and gels as well as 54 million suppositories and ovules, which are used in 28 countries for prescription and self-medication.

When Controller Christopher Budde and, shortly afterwards, Oliver Matthes as Head of Controlling started working at DR. KADE, budget planning was carried out with the help of Excel spreadsheets using the classic counterflow principle. The manual time required in Controlling led to three months of planning activity under full load in each planning period. This method was also prone to errors, as the data was collected and processed manually. Finally, consolidating the data was time-consuming, meaning that analyses and reports to management were only possible with a considerable time delay.

There was hardly any room for the two controllers to perform their strategic and operational management tasks – such as monthly forecasts, monitoring profit-boosting measures or process analyses and improvements. They therefore quickly made the decision to completely reorganize their corporate controlling with the support of Corporate Planning’s software.

Support with implementation and company-wide roll-out

During the implementation, Christopher Budde was supported by an experienced consultant from Corporate Planning – for example in setting up the database structure, the financial structure and adapting the organization to the authorization structure. “The collaboration was very flexible, customer-oriented and, above all, characterized by a professional exchange at eye level,” says Christopher Budde, looking back with satisfaction.

At the same time, the switch was made from on-premise provision to the cloud environment. “Our goal from the outset was maximum availability and convenient access for all employees at every location and from every end device. The CP Cloud achieves this in an ideal way and also reduces the workload for our internal IT department.”

In the first step, Christopher Budde relocated cost center planning as well as sales and revenue planning to the decentralized data input environment. A further four databases were set up step by step, which map different issues with a direct cost unit reference or investment management and ultimately form a complete forecast data basis for the presentation of the income statement (total and cost of sales method), balance sheet and cash flow statement.

Since then, all data has been provided by the specialist departments: A total of 55 experts in areas such as production, supply chain, marketing and sales, approval and administration now enter their figures independently via a browser-based and easy-to-use interface in Corporate Planner. They are responsible for the accuracy of the data as well as submitting it on time.

Corporate Planner then automatically consolidates the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Christopher Budde only contributes the data for the P&L components below EBIT and the balance sheet changes – a significant plus for data quality and ongoing reporting within the company.

“In particular, the linking of the calculation units with each other is mapped very transparently in Corporate Planner with the help of so-called logic modules. For example, adjustments in the income statement are automatically transferred to the balance sheet planning. In principle, all changes in the income statement and balance sheet are reflected as a result in the cash flow statement. This enables DR. KADE on both a profit and cash basis,” says Christopher Budde, summarizing the main advantages from a corporate management perspective.

“Nobody has to transfer data and do calculations manually anymore. Mathematical errors are a thing of the past,” says Christopher Budde. “Thanks to CP and in conjunction with our BI solution in Qlik Sense, we can provide information at any time – at the touch of a button – both internally and externally to banks, auditors or shareholders. This precision and speed contribute significantly to transparency and credibility.”

Seamless integration enables real-time control

Corporate Planner Finance is seamlessly integrated into the company’s IT system and regularly receives up-to-date data from all areas of the company. While the ERP software provides actual figures from accounting, order processing, production planning and purchasing, HR contributes data such as wages, salaries and social expenses. Hourly synchronization with Qlik Sense ensures that all data is always up to date.

“In addition to the high degree of automation, CP is also very easy to integrate with other upstream and downstream systems, so that we have completely new possibilities for company-wide and cross-divisional planning and control,” confirms Christopher Budde.

In order to be able to carry out extensive driver analyses in Qlik Sense, Controlling processes additional planning components such as sales, cost of materials and procurement volumes in separate CP databases at the highest level of granularity (SKU units). Marketing and scientific costs are also planned using the Corporate Planner Sales software, a multidimensional module of Corporate Planning. It handles cost unit-related cost planning and defines allocation keys.

New scope for strategic tasks

The enormous amount of time that Corporate Planner Finance saves and the freedom it provides is particularly evident in the change from an annual planning phase to a monthly, rolling forecast.

“Whereas the entire controlling department used to be working at full capacity for three months, the forecast can now be easily managed by one person thanks to automation – and we can turn our attention to other things that really add value to the company,” explains Christopher Budde.

“The monthly forecast allows us to make more precise statements on earnings and cash flow from month to month. At the same time, we learn a lot about the drivers of the business model and can track management-relevant measures and delineate their effects,” says Christopher Budde, who enjoys using the time freed up for sparring with the specialist departments and decision-makers at DR. KADE. “We now achieve much more with the same amount of time and can plan in more detail and with greater precision. Our time spent together with the specialist departments results in tangible added value for the company.”

Fit for the future

If there are changes in the company, the cloud-based controlling solution can easily keep up: “The structures mapped in CP can be scaled as required and the software is easy to manage in my role as a power user,” says Christopher Budde. He adapts changes to the product portfolio, organizational structure, account assignment objects or processes quickly and easily on his own.

In the future, DR. KADE wants to further expand its business with over-the-counter medicines. This requires fast innovation cycles and the right operational and strategic decisions. The data required for investment and profitability calculations is provided by Corporate Planner, among others.

Overall, Christopher Budde is completely satisfied with the software from Corporate Planning: “Today we have exactly the flexibility we need. The increasing competitive pressure in the pharmaceutical industry, rising personnel and production costs and changing regulatory framework conditions require us to manage the company’s development in the business model very precisely. The automated forecasting landscape from the combination of Corporate Planner and Qlik Sense for the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement offers us all the options for driver-based analysis of the business model and allows us to make management-related interventions.”

Download Corporate Planning Case Study Controlling at Dr. Kade as PDF

About Corporate Planning

Corporate Planning has been offering user-friendly software for corporate management in SMEs for over 35 years. With Corporate Planner, Corporate Planning provides a powerful controlling and corporate management solution for integrated planning, budgeting, analysis and reporting. Corporate Planner supports operational, financial and strategic processes – including integrated financial, profit, liquidity, sales and personnel planning – and enables consolidated management reporting on a common database.

The multiple award-winning solutions for operational controlling, integrated financial and profit planning and consolidation (certified in accordance with IDW PS 880, IDW RS FAIT 1 and IDW RS FAIT 4) run on a standardized technological platform. Over 300 business management functions, flexible planning logic and automated updates ensure transparent evaluations, well-founded decisions and tangible efficiency gains.

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With IBM Planning Analytics, Volkswagen Group Services has completed the transformation to a central, high-performance and future-proof HR data platform. More than 600 users access reliable data every day. Reports that used to take a week are now produced in seconds. Productivity has increased by 85 percent. Personnel decisions are not only made faster, but are also individually tailored to the needs of employees. And managers have more time and space to devote to strategic tasks. This has created the basis for an HR organization that can adapt flexibly to the challenges of the future.

More room for strategic thinking

How can HR departments adapt to the growing HR requirements? Today, planning, reporting and data-based decisions must be faster, more precise and more flexible than ever before. The answer from Volkswagen Group Services: The introduction of a consolidated, standardized HR data platform.

When data becomes a bottleneck

Volkswagen Group Services is an internal service partner of the Volkswagen Group. The approximately 10,000 employees generate a wealth of personnel-related information every day – from qualifications and absences to deployment planning and training requirements. However, this data was increasingly becoming a bottleneck. Monthly reports were taking up to seven days, one team member was spending almost two weeks a month calculating absences, and different departments were working with divergent data.
“Everyone thought they were talking about the same data, but they were using different databases. Managers and team leaders often asked us for different data about their employees,” says Alexander Beil, HR Controller at Volkswagen Group Services, describing the situation.
The result was uncertainty, countless queries and a lot of manual effort. The new target situation was clearly defined: automated processes, improved data quality and real-time insights for optimized analysis and decision-making processes.

The solution: IBM Planning Analytics

In the search for a suitable solution, HR was able to draw on the experience of its own finance department. IBM Planning Analytics has been used there for many years.
Christoph Hein, IBM Business Partner and consultant at Volkswagen Group Services, supported the implementation of the solution. He accompanied the introduction from prototyping to deployment.
Step by step, an HR data platform was created that not only consolidates the data, but also structures it, secures it and makes it analyzable.
Alexander Beil explains: “With IBM Planning Analytics, Volkswagen Group Services has created a uniform and consolidated database. Today, all users work with the same reliable data sets.”

Added value in practice: days become seconds

This results in a number of practical benefits that lead to significant increases in productivity and efficiency. Alexander Beil gives a concrete example: “Managers can customize daily and monthly reports within seconds, with one-click options to select filters, change dimensions and combine metrics,” and adds: “Thanks to IBM Planning Analytics, we have reduced the time it takes to create monthly reports from seven days to just a few seconds. Our productivity has increased by 85%!”
In addition, managers can now also make better personnel decisions. In the “Auditor” module, for example, team leaders receive individual tips on individual employees, which they can directly translate into qualification and training recommendations.
Thanks to the automation of routine tasks and faster decision-making processes, managers now also have more time for strategic issues. Alexander Beil explains: “I can now concentrate on higher-level management tasks – special tasks that affect the entire company.”
Company-wide solution
In total, more than 600 users in the company – including HR teams, managers and the works council – already access the same maintained, authorization-controlled database. This shows that The solution has long since outgrown its original objective.
Christoph Hein, now Country Manager DACH at INTITO Group, sums up this leap in development as follows: “Thanks to the exceptional flexibility and scalability of IBM Planning Analytics, Volkswagen Group Services has successfully provided managers at all organizational levels with secure, transparent and timely access to important HR data. What started as a modest implementation for a small group of users has now evolved into an enterprise-wide solution that supports hundreds of managers in their daily HR decision-making processes.”

Outlook: A platform that continues to grow

With the new HR data platform, Volkswagen Group Services has created a foundation that not only meets current requirements, but also enables future developments. Automated forecasts, extended analysis functions or new modules for skills and capacity planning can be easily added. The system is flexible enough to grow with the increasing requirements of the HR department.
This not only creates a technological advantage, but also a strategic one: HR data is available in a quality and speed that makes modern organizational development possible in the first place. The transformation is not complete – it has only just begun.

About Volkswagen Group Services

Volkswagen Group Services is a strategic service partner of the Volkswagen Group and offers customized operational services along the entire automotive value chain, including business operations, technology, IT support, technical services, commercial services and logistics. With around 10,000 employees, the company supports the Group’s brands and companies worldwide with integrated, practical solutions.

Intito Success Story Personnel processes reorganized download as PDF

About Intito

Intito was founded in Sweden in 2014 and is an established partner for financial performance management in Europe. The company serves over 150 clients with more than 50 employees at 8 locations.

Intito offers solutions for extended planning & analysis (xP&A), financial and ESG reporting as well as data & AI applications in the finance environment. The portfolio includes integrated corporate planning, consolidation, ESG compliance and AI-supported forecasts.

As an IBM Gold Business Partner, Intito uses IBM Planning Analytics. Controller and watsonx to optimize planning and reporting and make financial processes more efficient.

In addition, consulting services, preconfigured solution modules and a support offer are available via the Intito CARE program.

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“Trust and acceptance are priceless” – From operational management to profit & financial management

For many companies, end-to-end corporate planning and management seems like an almost unrealizable ideal. The influencing factors seem too great, the markets too volatile and the supply chain in particular has been under severe strain for several years. Nevertheless, this goal can be achieved. An integrated approach that combines various specialist areas is crucial. Controllers, divisional managers, executives and management can thus obtain a holistic overview of all relevant company processes on the basis of a uniform OLAP database language and the modular interlinking of business intelligence analyses, different planning models in corporate planning and group consolidation.

What are the benefits of using corporate planning and group consolidation software?

The transition from operational management to profit and financial management requires all areas of the company to work on a common database. This requires a consistent process design in the operational system. The aim is to achieve high data quality, on the basis of which companies can quickly and easily develop customized BI solutions.

One company that elKomSolutions has been supporting for many years is Vetter Pharma from Ravensburg. The starting point for the collaboration was controlling. The previous procedure for creating reports proved to be too time-consuming and not very flexible within Excel. With the support of elKomSolutions, Vetter Pharma now provides the relevant key figures for all areas of the company simply and on a daily basis.

When setting up the operational processes in the ERP system, the control logic, including the data required for this, was considered in the BI world from the outset. Armin Rauch, Vice President Controlling Systems & BI, recalls: “Our approach was always to design the data and processes in the operational system in such a way that really fast and simple BI solutions could be based on them afterwards. This simplifies and accelerates the connection to our IBM environment. It has always been important for us to use an identical and consistent database for profit and financial management as well as operational management.”

Profit and financial management with identical data

In many companies, corporate planning begins with an annual operational plan in the fall of the previous year. However, this is often already outdated by the end of the year, as market dynamics have significantly changed demand. This is where rolling forecasting comes in, in which the next 24 months are analyzed monthly on the basis of current data so that deviations from the plan can be identified. For example, it is necessary to combine Sales & Operations Planning with the earnings view. This provides key information for overall profit and financial planning. The tools of the BI platform IBM Planning Analytics TM1 in combination with elKomPLAN, which obtain their data from the operational, transactional systems, are used to create these sub-plans.

This makes it possible, for example, to identify how changes in the product mix affect a company from the market side. In order to map this development, the information must be analyzed right through to the rolling income statement. With the solutions from elKomSolutions, this operational data is not only provided, but also transferred into a transaction balance sheet with the help of forward-looking accounting. However, annual operational planning is still required. It is created on the basis of target values and a top-down approach. It is crucial to identify the gap between bottom-up forecasting and top-down planning in order to be able to manage efficiently. Here too, functions of the BI solution – such as copy routines for automated data transfer from the rolling forecast and management adjustments – help to create the operational annual plan more quickly and with less manual effort.

Monthly forecasting enables more precise planning as well as retrospective analyses. The respective monthly statuses, for example from Operations Planning, are saved in elKomBI using a corresponding status concept and are available for later evaluations. Recognizing changes in demand on the sales side and being able to track the effects on the production side opens up significantly expanded control options if this data is available month by month and not just once a year.

For rolling forecasting, demand management coordinates market demand, consisting of current orders, customer forecasts and market estimates, by the 20th of the current month in so-called demand calls. This is used to start rough and detailed planning on the supply side, i.e. in production and the downstream value-added steps. This data, which is all based on a uniform basis, is processed and made available to management. Management decides whether to intervene in production capacity or expand resources. Such an integrated sales and production plan extends to material availability planning. If a bottleneck becomes apparent there, the production planner, for example, can intervene in good time, which is particularly important in times of tight supply chains.

Integrated corporate planning & management creates transparency and trust

Consistent process design in the operational system achieves high data quality at an early stage instead of generating it later in the process with the help of analytics and BI functions. The integration of all departments via a common database and the software from elKomSolutions paves the way for uniform corporate management including rolling forecasting. The use of identical figures and a consistent database is of central importance here. Sales management finds exactly the same sales and product mix compositions in its operational sub-plan, which are reflected in the profit and loss account on the sales side. This uniformity ensures transparency.

The high level of integration also promotes acceptance and trust among management. The tools from elKomSolutions also enable further technical developments such as interactive dashboards, which are even more closely aligned with the needs of users in the company. Vetter Pharma has also revised its reporting guidelines and notation concept and introduced an interactive level concept in dashboarding. With success:

“We have almost quadrupled our access figures here. We were able to further increase acceptance among management with this centrally provided control information. In my opinion, the acceptance and trust that transparency creates throughout the company is priceless,” says Armin Rauch.

Integration as the key to success – standardized software for business intelligence, corporate planning and group consolidation

elKomSolutions GmbH has been pursuing an integrated approach since it was founded in 1997. From the very beginning, it has relied on IBM Planning Analytics TM1 database technology and uses a standardized OLAP-based database to connect previously separate departments within the company. The aim is to make work as easy as possible for customers from small and medium-sized companies as well as large corporations. Picking up customers where they currently work also means starting with Microsoft Excel. Around 95 percent of companies continue to use this versatile tool for controlling, sales and production planning, group consolidation and reporting. However, Excel is reaching its limits in terms of efficiency, speed, transparency and integration of these processes.

With this in mind, elKomSolutions has developed modular software components for the areas of business intelligence (BI), corporate planning and group consolidation – and is continuously expanding them. elKomBI, elKomPLAN and elKomKONS are independent solutions for the respective sub-areas. Linked together via OLAP technology, they integrate seamlessly and provide all departments with direct access to all data. They are characterized by extremely fast data processing even with very large volumes, openness to any databases of operational systems – including those from the ERP and financial accounting environment – high flexibility and adaptability without external support as well as a uniform front end for controlling, planning and consolidation. Excel can of course continue to be used, which minimizes the training required for departments that use Excel for data entry, for example.

The solutions form a holistic, modular software platform for analysis, reporting, planning and consolidation – in short, for integrated profit and financial management. Through integration into the operational world, traditional performance management is also standardized in terms of approach, methodology and database. In other words: Planning, forecasting, consolidation and actual reporting interlock seamlessly and come from a single source.

To the case study on the elKomSolutions website

About elKomSolutions

As a specialized IT service provider and IBM Gold Business Partner, elKomSolutions focuses on the development, implementation and support of software solutions for business intelligence (BI), corporate planning and financial consolidation based on IBM’s multidimensional OLAP database technology. The software portfolio comprises three solutions: elKomBI, elKomPLAN and elKomKONS. In addition to its software portfolio, elKomSolutions offers comprehensive services ranging from the design and development of customized software solutions with IBM to user training and post-implementation support. The software solutions can be used as individual modules or as an integrated overall solution for business intelligence, corporate planning and group consolidation.

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CHALLENGE

Challenges of a complex and heterogeneous IT environment

The information systems department of BNP Paribas Personal Finance had the objective of supporting the transformation of the applications and at the same time ensuring precise and structured management of the development projects.

In particular, this initiative had to overcome the challenges of a heterogeneous IT ecosystem, including financial management, capacity planning, regulatory compliance and the overall performance of IT assets.

One of the biggest hurdles was the distribution of key performance indicators (KPIs) across different tools. Although each of these tools worked well in its specific area, they were isolated – which made it difficult to have a uniform, standardized view of the data. However, this unified view is crucial for optimizing processes and making informed decisions.

The IT department saw the need for an innovative solution that could centralize, structure and standardize data while taking into account the local and international requirements of the various BNP Paribas Personal Finance locations.

After a comprehensive selection process, BNP Paribas Personal Finance opted for Jedox. The decisive factors were the flexibility of the solution and its seamless compatibility with existing systems. Jedox also impressed with its powerful reporting functions: The reports are clear, easy to understand and customizable, with integrated authorization management that meets the strict requirements of the financial sector.

SOLUTION

Optimized integration for maximum performance

The integration of Jedox began in July 2023 with the support of experts from Lobellia Conseil. The process was initially validated intensively over a period of six months – particularly in the areas of

• Security
• Regulatory compliance
• Technical architecture

This initial phase was crucial to ensure that the integrated solution met both the high standards of the banking sector and the business requirements of the local and international teams.

Two strategic business areas were prioritized: IT performance management and IT risk management.

In IT performance management, Jedox enabled the creation of multidimensional data models that link information from different reference systems. This led to simplified and more efficient KPI tracking – with the result that the number of KPIs was reduced and their relevance increased. Within a year, 80 reports were created, providing a consolidated view of projects, incidents and IT budgets.

At the same time, risk management was also optimized by centralizing key performance indicators. Jedox ensures full traceability of data with a collaborative approach where all stakeholders contribute to the validation and enrichment of data. This strategy improves data quality, increases reliability and optimizes the use of resources to make informed decisions.

To further increase the effectiveness of the reports, BNP Paribas Personal Finance plans to roll out the Jedox-based reports in all international branches.

OUTCOME

Fundamental digital transformation and a strong data culture

With the introduction of Jedox, BNP Paribas Personal Finance now has a centralized and standardized IT management data repository that creates a single source of truth (SSOT).

This centralization ensures uniform analyses validated by data owners and data stewards, while giving employees more autonomy in the analysis and use of data. The data is certified, traceable and easily accessible and can therefore be used securely and reliably.

One of the most significant successes of the project is the strengthening of the data culture within BNP Paribas Personal Finance. Teams now work together in a collaborative approach that prioritizes data quality and transparency. Jedox has demonstrated how data-driven decisions directly contribute to achieving business goals while ensuring regulatory requirements are met.

The digital transformation is already having a noticeable impact: Greater efficiency, better operational transparency and fewer redundant analyses. Employees can now use data flexibly for their specific requirements as part of an overall strategy.

Looking to the future, BNP Paribas Personal Finance plans to further expand Jedox to drive sustainable internal IT initiatives such as the “Positive IT Program”. This project paves the way for a sustainable transformation based on collaborative and optimized data usage – and prepares BNP Paribas Personal Finance for the challenges of an ever-changing banking sector.

Download Jedox Success Story Data Transformation from BNP Paribas as PDF

About Jedox

Jedox is the world’s most adaptable business planning and performance management platform, enabling organizations to create business plans that exceed past results and expectations. More than 2,900 organizations in 140 countries rely on Jedox to model any scenario, integrate data from multiple sources and simplify planning across the enterprise and across systems.

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About Fortuna Düsseldorf

Professional soccer clubs have developed into complex commercial enterprises. They have to be managed professionally from an economic perspective, find a balance between diverse sources of income and efficient use of funds, while at the same time reacting agilely to changes in the environment and strengthening ties to the local community. Fortuna Düsseldorf shows how this can be achieved successfully with its unique soccer marketing concept.

Fortuna for all” project: The ambitious concept aims to anchor the soccer club in the city on the Rhine in the long term and unite the people of Düsseldorf behind the club. At the heart of this initiative are free home matches for all fans, with tickets available via a

awarded by lottery. This economic professionalization is also significantly supported by the targeted use of digital technologies.

The challenge of financial planning in professional soccer

Fortuna also wanted to benefit from advanced digital solutions in financial planning in order to solve a typical challenge in corporate management: While the organizational structure with clearly defined cost centre managers existed, there was no corresponding mapping of this structure in the IT systems. Collaborative planning was therefore mainly carried out using Excel files. The cost center managers created their own Excel files and sent them back to Controlling. Controlling was then faced with the challenge of merging the various individual plans into an overall plan. Authorization management proved to be particularly difficult in this Excel-based system, as there was no central control over data access. The consequences were considerable manual effort, a high susceptibility to errors due to different file versions and a lack of transparency throughout the entire planning process.

Professional football clubs such as Fortuna Düsseldorf also face particular challenges when it comes to financial planning, as they have to deal with a number of factors that are difficult to calculate. Income is directly linked to sporting success: position in the table and international

Participation determines TV money and bonuses, while league affiliation and fixtures influence spectator income. High fixed costs, particularly due to long-term player contracts and infrastructure costs for stadiums and training grounds, offer little scope for quick adjustments. In addition, fluctuating transfer revenues due to volatile player market values make planning more difficult. Unpredictable events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and cyclical income from sponsorship and ticketing also create uncertainty. The club was looking for a modern, integrated planning solution that would digitally map the club’s organizational structure while managing the complex and fluctuating financial flows of a professional football club efficiently and transparently. The solution also needed to enable cross-departmental collaborative planning. “It was also important to us that external specifications, such as the DFL licensing scheme, could be mapped in the planning structure,” adds Jens Terliesner, Head of Digital Development at Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Qlik Sense and Data+ as drivers of modern financial management

Data forms the basis for precise and efficient financial planning. Qlik’s technology has already been a libero in the Fortuna squad when it comes to data analytics for several years. A merchandise app, a ticketing app for ticket sales and a board cockpit for management are in use. CRM, ERP and WWS data as well as data from the local fan stores are analyzed. A solution for managing sponsors and an online store solution are also connected to Qlik Sense. “All departments have access to the same database and can carry out detailed evaluations, right down to the level of detail. Among other things, we evaluate merchandising sales down to the level of player jersey flocking. Another example is member information such as age, catchment area and number of stadium visits,” says Jens Terliesner.

The various specialized applications were developed by Leitart, an experienced Qlik Elite Partner based in Berlin, which specializes in data-based corporate management and has already helped several Bundesliga clubs to become more agile through Qlik-based analysis solutions. Fortuna therefore also brought the Leitart team onto the coaching bench to master the challenge of financial planning.

“It was clear to us that we wanted to implement financial planning with Qlik,” explains Jens Terliesner. “Data integration as the basis for planning has already been solved there. And an authorization concept for access by cost centre managers can also be easily mapped in Qlik. What we were still missing was the option to enter or write back data.”

This is where Leitart’s development expertise came into play: with the Data+ Suite, the Qlik expert offers a Qlik Extension Suite that provides eleven integrated objects for direct data input and workflow optimization in Qlik Sense. Data+ integrates seamlessly into the Qlik environment so that the extensions are visually almost indistinguishable from native Qlik objects. This ensures a uniform user interface and simplifies operation. The suite is suitable for a wide range of applications such as financial planning, approval processes and store floor management.

Based on the previous Excel structure, Fortuna developed a digital planning process together with Leitart. Data is provided via Qlik as a single point of truth. An authorization concept integrated into Qlik ensures that each cost centre manager can only access the data relevant to them. After two weeks, the extension went live.

Digital workflow

“The ability to extend our familiar Qlik Analytics interface with Data+ so easily that we can map the entire planning process directly in Qlik was ideal for us: a familiar interface and the same database – but even more functionality,” says Jens Terliesner. “We can now work collaboratively on one app – in real time,” continues Jens Terliesner. “With Data+, we don’t even notice that we’re on an extension.”

Cost center managers no longer have to prepare Excel tables. Controlling no longer has to concern itself with data consolidation, but can devote itself to its actual core function: The economic management of the association.

Whereas Fortuna used to plan annually, it now works on a quarterly basis. Best-case and worst-case scenarios can also be easily run through thanks to the integrated planning. Another advantage is that detailed planning for certain objects can be entered and displayed directly in a pop-up window – without having to switch to another worksheet.

Another plus point is the technical flexibility, explains Jens Terliesner: “For example, we have implemented a new online store solution and migrated to a new CRM solution. So that we can continue to use the Qlik applications, all we have to do is plug in a few cables in the background to connect the new data source. Leitart takes care of this for us – as well as the entire care, maintenance and further development of our Qlik application landscape. All it takes is a phone call or an email and our two dedicated contact partners take care of everything. And we can take our time to focus on what we know best: Professional soccer!”

The (digital) future

“Financial planning based on Qlik and Data+ has fundamentally accelerated and simplified our planning processes,” concludes Jens Terliesner. “And we will continue to drive forward our digitalization in the future based on Qlik technology and Leitart expertise. Our next step will be to use the TEAMS integration from Data+. It enables us not only to send messages, but also to make live requests from the extension. Approval workflows and budget requests can be processed directly in the TEAMS chat and are automatically integrated into the existing structure of the digital planning process. The game plan also includes the introduction of rolling forecasting and rolling budgeting as well as the implementation of ESG reporting.

About Qlik

Qlik transforms complex data landscapes into actionable insights to drive strategic business outcomes. Our portfolio for more than 40,000 customers worldwide leverages advanced, enterprise-grade AI/ML technology and consistently high data quality. We excel in data integration and governance, offering comprehensive solutions that work with multiple data sources. Qlik’s intuitive, real-time analytics uncover hidden patterns and enable teams to overcome complex challenges and capitalize on new opportunities. Our practical and scalable AI/ML tools lead to better and faster decisions. Our platform-agnostic technology and expertise make our customers more competitive.

Download lead type / Use Case Fortuna Düsseldorf as PDF

About Leitart
Leitart is a leading company for data-based corporate management that operates under the motto “Data in Action”. Founded in the manufacturing SME sector, Leitart developed from an internal digitization project into one of Germany’s leading Qlik partners. For over 10 years, Leitart has been helping companies to increase their effectiveness through digital solutions and data-driven management. Since 2024, Leitart has been focusing on sustainability with its own solar plant at the company’s site in Berlin Adlershof, the output of which is visualized via a Qlik app developed in-house – a clear sign of its commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

With over 300 projects and 500 Qlik applications developed, we have in-depth expertise in the areas of financial planning, controlling, supply chain and sales management. Our Data+ Suite extends Qlik Sense with powerful functions such as data entry, process automation and collaboration – directly in the app. Whether with Data+ Table, Forms, Gantt or Process Chain: we turn analysis into real action. In addition to customized solutions, we promote innovation and networking through events such as Data+ Days and partner formats.

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Company profile

500 marks in start-up capital and a simple typewriter: that’s all it took for the two founders Carl-Wilhelm Edding and Volker Detlef Ledermann to lay the foundations for today’s edding AG in 1960. The only product at the time – and an immediate number one hit – was the “edding No. 1”.

The success of edding AG has continued ever since, and the company is growing continuously. Today, edding AG is a globally active and listed company with over 700 employees and a consolidated turnover of around 160 million euros per year. The product range now includes countless articles. However, the best-selling permanent marker remains the well-known “edding 3000”.

Initial situation

edding’s sales reporting was previously based on SAP BW. The data from this was processed manually on a monthly basis using an Excel add-in for the reports. For technical reasons, however, this was only possible for a subset of the company’s data (SAP CO-PA only). Data from other sources could not be processed.

The financial data, on the other hand, was processed in LucaNet and represented the monthly BWA.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown that markets can change surprisingly quickly. Sustainable companies must be able to recognize such changes at an early stage and act proactively. edding AG also recognized this. True to the motto “change before you have to”, edding developed a company-wide strategy to adapt its organizational structures to the challenges of today’s economy.

The biggest change here was that the three business units “Writing and Marking”, “Visual Communication” and “Technological Solutions” were split into six individual business units (BU).

With this change, it became clear that, in addition to the organizational structures, the business intelligence solution and the corresponding evaluation logic also needed to be reconsidered. This was because with the current reporting – both in SAP and in LucaNet – only turnover could be evaluated and planned at BU level. All other key figures could not be evaluated from a “BU perspective”.

Objective

With the company-wide restructuring, the question of a suitable BI strategy was to be asked again. Together with linkFISH, edding AG then designed a unique, future-proof BI solution that fits its new needs along the six BI strategy puzzle pieces for a successful BI strategy:

• Control and planning processes
• Reporting and planning products
• BI architecture
• Software selection
• Roles and processes and
• Data governance

The choice fell on a reporting solution with Microsoft Power BI in combination with planning using Jedox. These BI tools were to be fed by a flexible DWH/data lake in Snowflake.

It was also important for the future BI solution to be easy to access across companies and countries in order to replace manually created reports that are sent out monthly as PDFs.

In terms of content, the aim was to provide both the CFO and the BU managers with comprehensive data-based control options using transparent KPIs.

Customer solution

The final BI solution is comprehensive and trend-setting, which is also evident from the name: COMPASS – Controlling, Monitoring, Planning, Analyzing and Steering Solution.

A new definition of the business logic and cost allocations to be mapped was necessary for the structure of the data model. During this development process, complex issues had to be resolved, such as

• What logic is used to assign the data to the BUs?
• What does the reconciliation of external and internal reporting look like?

Based on the new cost allocations that have been developed, it is now possible for all BU management to view and analyze various key financial figures down to BU EBIT level (level of all directly attributable costs). Controlling, the entire Executive Board and the Supervisory Board also benefit from this in-depth data transparency.

Sales reporting in Power BI includes current actual figures as well as product, customer and country analyses. CM reporting is also integrated into Power BI, offering actual and target figures as well as corresponding variance analyses.

All reports allow you to select a single BU view and/or Legal Entity view.

The next planned expansion stage of the COMPASS environment is the implementation of a company-wide planning solution using Jedox.

Customer benefits

Multi-level contribution margin accounting improves the management of BU and legal entity results by allocating sales and costs according to cause. The DB statement also includes a reconciliation to the consolidated Group result.

Thanks to the exclusively web-based application, all reports can be accessed at any time and from anywhere. An established “single point of truth” creates data transparency and decision-making security.

Thanks to the extensive self-service functionalities of the individual BI tools, users are able to carry out planning themselves and find answers to urgent analysis questions.

140 users already use the modules regularly.

Organizational issues that had not been decided internally for a long time were clarified and implemented as part of the holistic restructuring of company-wide BI. This also made a significant contribution to improving data quality.

In future, decision-makers will be able to make well-founded, data-driven assessments, enabling them to make earlier, better and faster decisions and take control. Proactive action in the market will also be possible in the long term.

Linkfish Consulting / Download Edding AG case study as PDF

About Linkfish

Linkfish is an independent consultancy with offices in Hamburg and Hanover. Together with our clients from the private and public sectors, we develop data platforms for analysis, AI, planning and control – uncomplicated and measurably successful.

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Greetings from the kitchen: With a mix of a driver-based approach and a new methodology, BLANCO’s controlling not only increases the efficiency and accuracy of planning. The enhanced transparency leads to greater acceptance and exceeded targets.

About BLANCO

Founded over 95 years ago, BLANCO is today an internationally established premium brand for kitchen sinks. With subsidiaries in Europe, North America, and APAC, as well as distribution partners in approximately 100 countries, the company offers a portfolio perfectly tailored to consumer needs. The company headquarters and key production facilities are located in southwestern Germany.

Challenge: Managing a new business model

In the midst of the pandemic, BLANCO was undergoing a transformation – from manufacturer to systems provider. The question for controlling was: How should the new business model, with its many more drivers and interdependencies, be managed?

This also put the controlling structure to the test, as the data structure had become too complex. Here are a few examples:

• Material costs are a key driver, with numerous components.
• The business can (and must) be segmented by region, product/product group, prestige class, and sales channel.
• Add to this the VUCA era with fluctuating freight costs/times, exchange rates, and material supply chains. A
• nother challenge: Integrating sustainability centrally into corporate management. This resulted in numerous dimensions converging, creating a multidimensional data cube. Too much for the “old Excel world.” Plus: IT needed to experience as little stress as possible with implementation and compliance issues. Therefore, the new planning solution had to be self-service and implementable.

Solution: Finely diced data and driver-based planning

With Valsight, BLANCO successfully transformed into an agile and responsive controlling organization. Valsight partner CTcon Management Consultants supported the redesign of planning processes and the implementation of new methods. To enable the necessary flexibility, including data handling, multi-year planning was migrated from the Excel-based world to a driver-based approach. This resulted in significantly increased flexibility for model calculations. Instead of spending several hours or days calculating scenarios, as before, this can now be done “live in the meeting, at the touch of a button.”

In the words of Matthias von Daacke, Vice President and Head of Global Controlling at BLANCO:

“Valsight gives us different perspectives on our data cube and allows us, during the planning phase, to switch individual measures on and off during a live meeting and to see and evaluate the effects for multi-year planning in seconds at the touch of a button.”

Thanks to the proof-of-concept approach, the use case could first be tested and then rolled out. The planning method itself has also changed: Where previously there was highly complex planning, planning now takes place in clusters. This reduces the level of detail and makes the planning lean and agile – yet still precise enough.

Perhaps the most interesting success: The increased transparency resulting from the interplay of method and tool ensures a shared understanding of the driver model and thus unprecedented acceptance. Instead of silently incorporating “buffer margins” into the planning, as is often the case, realistic goals at an ambitious level were contributed by all parties. And in the end, these goals were even exceeded.

Download the Valsight Case Study Managing a new business model as a PDF

About Valsight

Valsight is a simulation platform for finance and strategy teams that need to make faster and better decisions in an environment of high uncertainty. Instead of static budget rounds, Valsight enables continuous, driver-based business management: adjusting assumptions in real time, running through scenarios in seconds, and transparently tracking the impact down to the profit, cash, and balance sheet levels. This transforms planning, forecasting, and performance management into a collaborative decision-making process: transparent, auditable, and integrable into existing system landscapes.

Valsight’s clients are demanding organizations, including DAX-listed companies (e.g., Commerzbank, Siemens Healthineers, Volkswagen) as well as other international corporations and hidden champions.

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Read this case study in German →

Summary

Delica AG, a key player within the Migros Group, has fundamentally transformed its reporting processes through the consistent application of IBCS principles and the use of Zebra BI for Power BI.

Under the leadership of Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, internal reporting not only became more efficient, but also set a new standard for professional reporting within Migros Industry.

With clearly structured, consistent dashboards and significantly simplified data interpretation, reporting at Delica is now faster, more meaningful, and fully aligned with IBCS best practices.

Oliver Schaerer’s team developed scalable, decision-oriented dashboards that turn data complexity into clarity – saving time, increasing acceptance, and enabling better, faster decisions.

About the Company

Delica AG is part of Migros Industry, one of Switzerland’s largest food manufacturers and a central division of the Migros Group, the country’s largest retail organization.

With a broad portfolio – from chocolate and coffee to ice cream – Delica plays a key role in product innovation and supply chain excellence within the group.

With over 2,000 employees and an annual net revenue of more than 1 billion CHF, Delica supplies both Migros-owned retailers and external partners in Switzerland and abroad.

As an innovation leader within Migros Industry, Delica regularly pilots new technologies and processes that are subsequently adopted across the group.

Thanks to the centralized matrix structure of Migros Industry, best practices can be scaled quickly – making Delica’s introduction of Zebra BI a blueprint for broader implementation across the entire network.

The Challenge – No Immediate Insights

Before using Zebra BI, reporting at Delica was time-consuming, fragmented, and visually inconsistent.

Although a Migros Industry template already existed, it did not comply with IBCS standards. The reports used the company colors red, green, and orange – which matched the corporate design, but did not offer a clear, analytical color and meaning system. As a result, comprehensibility, comparability, and a shared visual standard were lacking.

” We used reports that didn’t follow any color logic. By using consistent color and visualization concepts and an IBCS notation manual, we were able to make significant progress.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

Reports were often created in isolation, using different tools and inconsistent visualization styles. Although Power BI was already available, many reports remained static, overloaded, and difficult to interpret.

” In the past, Power BI reports were often just tables – no color markings, no clear variances, no action orientation. People stared at numbers but couldn’t see the story behind them.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

As the person responsible for Power BI, Oliver Schaerer leads a Business Intelligence team of two FTEs (including himself) and three dashboard creators within the organization. In addition to developing reports, he is also responsible for training departments in finance, maintenance, sales/marketing, and supply chain.

The main problems included::

• Lack of visual consistency across reports and departments
• High manual formatting effort and non-standardized KPIs
• Slow adoption of Power BI due to confusing visualizations and a steep learning curve
• Low trust in data due to inconsistent models and visual logic
• High management expectations for “one-click reporting” without understanding the underlying data processes

“I was data engineer, Power BI developer, dashboard creator, and trainer in one person. We simply didn’t have the capacity to build everything from scratch or explain every report in detail.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

These challenges created the need for:

• A consistent visual reporting standard (IBCS) without manual adjustments
• A standardized reporting framework that unites teams and improves data understanding
• A scalable reporting solution usable across departments – and even across companies within Migros Industry

The Solution – Zebra BI Visuals with Integrated IBCS

To make reporting more efficient, understandable, and standardized, Delica AG introduced Zebra BI for Power BI and committed fully to the IBCS framework (International Business Communication Standards).

Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, took the lead in driving the reporting transformation internally and became a certified IBCS consultant. Together with his team, he established the methodological and visual foundations on which other departments can now build.

Several factors played a central role in the decision to use Zebra BI: integrated IBCS-compliant visuals, out-of-the-box features like chart sliders, dropdowns, and dynamic comments, as well as the ease of scalability across teams.

“Zebra BI makes it easier to focus on what really matters. It eliminates formatting effort and standardizes everything automatically.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

Key advantages of using Zebra BI for Power BI:

✅ IBCS-compliant visual storytelling
The introduction of IBCS standards was a strategic company-level decision. The goal was to ensure that all users could intuitively understand reports and follow a clear visual standard.

With Zebra BI, IBCS-compliant visuals are available immediately – without manual creation of variance charts, color rules, or notation elements.

“Zebra BI allows us to provide IBCS-compliant dashboards by default. It’s built-in – we don’t waste time on formatting, variance calculations, or defending design choices.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

✅ Faster report creation with semantic clarity

Using Zebra BI Charts, Tables, and Cards, the team created interactive, intuitive, and self-explanatory reports – even for non-finance users.

✅ Visuals that promote understanding and engagement
Again, by using Zebra BI Charts, Tables, and Cards, Delica produced interactive, intuitive reports that are self-explanatory – especially for non-financial users.

“The transformation wasn’t just technical, it was educational as well. People learned how to read visuals correctly. They now understand what a variance means.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

✅ Integrated features with real business value
Zebra BI supports advanced data storytelling through integrated features such as:

• Chart sliders for switching between chart types (e.g., column and waterfall charts)
• Dynamic comments for direct explanations within visuals
• Drilldowns and hierarchical navigation for multi-level analysis

Examples of key reports:

• Maintenance Cockpit – Used weekly in shopfloor meetings to analyze production issues and maintenance costs using clearly defined KPIs and visual breakdowns
• Spare Part Report – Provides transparency on spare parts costs, availability, and trends
• Sales Flash: Delivers a compact weekly and monthly overview of key metrics; additional pages allow for deeper analysis

The Golden Semantic Model – Operational Control & Strategic Lifecycle Planning

At the heart of Delica’s reporting transformation lies a clean, scalable Golden Semantic Model (GSM). This model was designed once and now serves as the central data foundation for multiple reports – including the Maintenance Cockpit and the Spare Parts Report.
Both dashboards are connected to the GSM via DirectQuery, accessing centrally maintained and validated data.

Advantages:

• ✅ One model, multiple reports: The GSM supplies various dashboards (e.g., Maintenance & Spare Parts) from a single source.
• ✅ Consistent KPIs, logic, and dimensions: Uniform definitions ensure comparability and trust in the numbers.
• Simplified data governance: less redundancy, more control.
• ✅ Real-time data via live updates: No need for full refresh cycles.
• ✅ Scalability: Shorter development time when rolling out to other companies within Migros Industry

“The Golden Semantic Model is the foundation for everything. We develop centrally, and the reports just connect to it. That saves time, reduces errors, and ensures a unified logic across all dashboards.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

Multilingual Reporting – Powered by USERCULTURE() & Tabular Editor

To support company-wide usage – especially at the Italian-speaking sites in Ticino – Delica developed a fully multilingual semantic model. It supports German, English, and Italian, ensuring that all users see the same content in their preferred language.

⚙️ Technical implementation:

• All field names, metrics, formats, and dynamic texts were maintained using multilingual functionalities in Tabular Editor.
• Reports use the USERCULTURE() function in Power BI to automatically adjust the language based on the user’s profile in the Power BI service.
• No separate translation tables or duplicated reports – just one model, dynamically localized.

“We manage just one version – the GSM. The language is controlled by the Power BI user’s profile setting – no toggles, no manual effort.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

✅ Business & Operational Benefits:

• 🧩 One central report, language-adaptive by design
• ⏱ No manual translation effort – everything is built into the model
• 🚀 Improved user experience across all locations and roles
• 🔄 Easy scalability for additional languages in the future
• 📚 No extra training required, as the language adjusts automatically

This approach highlights Delica’s commitment to IBCS-standardized, user-centered reporting and creates a harmonized data foundation for unified decision-making across the Migros Industry network.
At the same time, the GSM provides the basis for future expansions – a foundation other teams can build on.

Maintenance Cockpit – Weekly Operational Impact

The maintenance reporting developed with Zebra BI is now used in weekly shopfloor meetings at Delica. It provides precise insights into equipment issues, downtimes, and maintenance costs – with clearly defined KPIs, standardized visualizations, and high comprehensibility.

In contrast to previous static reports, the current setup enables in-depth operational analysis down to the asset level and supports data-driven decision-making across the entire production environment.

Core functions and benefits:

• ✅ Lifecycle management of individual assets – transparent insights into usage, failures, and maintenance history
• Identification of cost- or failure-intensive machines – data-based prioritization of measures
• ✅ Root cause analysis of recurring issues – faster problem detection and sustainable solutions
• ✅ Well-informed investment planning – fact-based decisions between repair and replacement
• Identification of cost-intensive machines
• ✅ Root cause analysis of recurring issues
• ✅ Data-driven investment planning (repair vs. replacement)

“We track every asset – how often it fails, what it costs, and which spare parts it consumes. This isn’t just reporting – it’s operational lifecycle management.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

“By replacing our manual, error-prone data preparation with an automated and standardized workflow, we now detect variances earlier and gain new insights into misuse and master data issues – ultimately improving both data quality and understanding of maintenance reporting.”
– Joël Chiapparelli, Head of Maintenance, Delica AG

📉 Business value:

• 📉 Strategic asset management based on actual usage and cost
• 💡 Investment optimization through fact-based decisions on maintenance and replacement
• 🏭 Cross-plant transparency and benchmarking of equipment performance

Spare Parts Report – Unified Lifecycle View of Spare Parts

While the Maintenance Cockpit focuses on equipment efficiency and failure patterns, the Spare Parts Report offers a comprehensive view of spare parts consumption, inventory development, and warehouse structure across all production sites.

The report was developed using the same Golden Semantic Model (GSM) as the Maintenance Cockpit. As a result, purchasing, maintenance, and supply chain teams access a shared data foundation and can seamlessly navigate between different levels of analysis.

Key Areas of Analysis:

• 📦 Inventory levels (in CHF and quantities)
• 🔁 Stock turnover & coverage (in days and percentages)
• 📊 Consumption trends by plant and usage type (actuals, scrap, stock differences)
• ⚙️ Usage analysis along the equipment structure (equipment / bill of materials)
• 💰 Top spare parts by capital tie-up or consumption

A central design principle was the shift from static tables to dynamic, IBCS-compliant dashboards, which clearly and interactively visualize monthly consumption, dead stock indicators, and component relevance (e.g., within bills of materials).

“Thanks to the semantic model, users can view the same spare part from different perspectives – consumption, inventory, and BOM relevance – in one place. You can easily navigate from the company level down to individual equipment.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

Functional highlights

The “Stock & Structure” page allows planners to instantly identify:

• 🧩 High-value slow movers
• ⚠️ Spare parts with critical availability risks
• 🏷️ Parts with no consumption but high inventory value

The “Usage” page additionally supports:

• ABC analyses to prioritize spare parts
• ✅ Validation of equipment assignments to improve master data quality
• 🧭 Structural inventory optimization for more targeted investment decisions

By combining IBCS-compliant visualization, a semantically consistent data foundation, and interactive analysis capabilities, the Spare Parts Report delivers a unified, data-driven view of the spare parts lifecycle – a crucial step toward more efficient maintenance and sustainable inventory management.

The Sales Flash – Weekly Performance Dashboard for Management and Sales

The Sales Flash is an IBCS-compliant, weekly and cumulative performance dashboard, developed with Zebra BI and based on Delica’s Golden Semantic Model (GSM).
It is automatically updated every Monday (business week = Monday to Sunday) and standardizes key metrics such as net revenue, CM2a (contribution margin), and volume (ST / KG / CU) in millions of CHF.

Who uses it

The dashboard is actively used by management, sales management, key account management, product and portfolio management and controlling – both for weekly stand-ups and for monthly performance reviews.

How it’s read

• Neutral base colors; red and green are used only for variances, according to IBCS notation
• 💹 CM2a (contribution margin 2a) is shown as absolute value and, where relevant, also as a margin in % (Δ pp)
• 🌐 Dynamic headline messages in DE / EN / IT, controlled by the USERCULTURE() function in Power BI

What it shows

• Weekly Flash:Comparison of the current week with the previous week and the same week of the previous year
• Financials (cumulative):MTD/YTD comparison to budget and previous year, with variance bars and waterfall charts
• Trends & Drivers:Detailed analyses by assortment and brand, with filters for product and portfolio managers

Impact

• ⚡ Faster decisions thanks to a one-page, clearly structured overview
• 🧩 Higher acceptance due to a shared visual language and consistent KPIs
• 🔁 Easy scalability to other teams via reusable templates and the shared semantic model

“As a business unit manager with a broad and heterogeneous product portfolio in various markets, the cockpit provides me with an efficient and targeted tool to focus on relevant action areas and make well-founded decisions.”
– Oliver Hausmann, Head BU Food, Delica AG

The Sales Flash has become a central management tool – connecting operational and strategic perspectives, enabling transparent performance tracking, and strengthening data-driven control across the entire sales organization.

Faster Insights, Better Decisions

The work of Oliver Schaerer and his team did not go unnoticed.
The benefits of the reports created with Zebra BI quickly became apparent in multiple departments – and even in other companies within Migros Industry.

From machine operators to executive management, everyone now benefits from easier interpretation of KPIs and variances.
The spread of standardized dashboards across several departments led to time savings, simplified onboarding, and greater acceptance – even outside of Oliver’s direct area of responsibility.
A clear testament to the cross-functional value of this approach.

“We’ve set the standard. Now everyone can quickly understand the context behind the numbers, see what’s happening, and act accordingly.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

The Results: Better Report Quality & Scaled Adoption

Since introducing Zebra BI and IBCS, Delica has seen measurable improvements in report quality, user engagement, and cross-team collaboration.

“When we build something from scratch using Zebra BI, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. I was one of the first to work with it – now other departments and companies within Migros Industry are adopting what we created.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

More Than Visuals – A Cultural Shift

With Zebra BI, reporting at Delica evolved from static outputs to dynamic insights – driven by clean data models, standardized visuals, and a scalable framework.
But Oliver Schaerer and his team didn’t just build dashboards – they established a process and a culture of data-driven working.

To drive true change within a large organization, the team placed special emphasis on internal training and user acceptance.
After a new report was created, it was first tested, then reviewed with stakeholders, and only then introduced in training sessions.
Employees learned how to correctly read reports, use filters, and interpret visual variances.
Only after this onboarding did the official rollout take place.

“Zebra BI isn’t just a time-saver – it’s a mindset shift. We now speak a shared visual language, and that changes everything.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

This new approach led to:

• 🔁 Democratized reporting – everyone can understand and use it
• 🧩 IBCS established as a common language across the company
• 🧠 Increased data transparency and literacy
• 💬 Deeper, fact-based collaboration between departments
• 🚀 Faster scalability of innovations thanks to reusable frameworks

A Role Model for Other Companies in Migros Industry

By introducing IBCS standards and Zebra BI, Delica created a reporting framework that can easily be applied across other Migros companies.

The combination of a Golden Semantic Model, standardized KPIs, reusable layouts, and a clear training concept makes Delica’s approach a best-practice blueprint for data-driven decision-making.

“We see how our work inspires others. When another team uses the same structures and is instantly productive, that’s when you know you’ve built something sustainable.”
– Oliver Schaerer, Manager Business Intelligence & Analytics, Delica AG

Download the Zebra BI Case Study here

About Zebra BI

At Zebra BI, we believe every report must answer the only questionsthat matter: How are we performing? Why? What action should we take?

Founded in 2014, Zebra BI was built to fix the “utility gap” in reporting, the failure point where data exists, but insights and actions remainunclear. Today, 3,000+ companies worldwide, including the Fortune 500, use Zebra BI to complete the last mile of the Microsoft ecosystemby transforming raw data into boardroom-ready dashboards.

With solutions across Power BI, Excel, PowerPoint, and Zebra AI, weprovide an advanced, user-friendly way for organizations to move frommanual analysis to automated insights. Our out-of-the-box compliancewith IBCS ensures everyone speaks the same language, shifting the focus from deciphering charts to taking action.

Zebra BI professionalizes the Microsoft stack, delivering the clarity needed to make the right decisions for your business.

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