Dresdner Banks on WebFOCUS for Automated Reporting

Snapshot

Organization Dresdner Bank.

The Challenge A global bank's demanding international reporting requirements were straining time and staff resources.

The Solution Create a system to centrally collate data on a daily basis and securely distribute it worldwide.

The Results A global solution that's easy to use, simplifies employees' jobs, and gives managers rapid insight into key business processes and transactions.

Information Builders Solution WebFOCUS, iWay Software.

Dresdner Bank is a global institution that enjoys tremendous opportunities but also faces staggering challenges. For instance, financial market regulations around the world require the bank to file regular reports about its investments. The SEC wants to know whether Dresdner can exert influence on publicly traded companies by exercising its right to dispose of those companies' shares, in order to monitor market movements and share concentrations. It is also necessary to report to countries in Europe and Asia, whose legislative requirements differ.

Dresdner Bank decided it needed a system to centrally collate all reportable data on a daily basis, and then distribute applicable data to each of the employees responsible for reporting in the various countries where the bank does business. So Dresdner turned to Information Builders' WebFOCUS business intelligence solution and to iWay Software, an Information Builders company, for its enterprise application integration expertise. The WebFOCUS/iWay solution supports distributed data input and maintenance, and outputs customized reports using Dresdner's corporate intranet.

"Previously we fulfilled all our obligations, but it was a long, laborious process," says Mathias Krause, director at Dresdner Bank. "The time was right for a new, comprehensive solution."

For example, staff at the various international sites had been forwarding data to Frankfurt in very different formats: reports on shareholdings came in via e-mail, fax, or Excel tables and were collated and arranged semi-manually at the main office using a PC database. Staff in Frankfurt then used e-mail to send the reportable data to their regional colleagues – a very time-consuming and error-prone process.

In just a few short months, Dresdner completely redesigned its reporting system and launched the International Shareholding Reporting System (Internationales Meldewesen Anteilsbesitz or IMA). Dresdner discovered that WebFOCUS and iWay together comprised the only solution that could satisfy the bank's complex requirements. "Information Builders impressed us with more than just their performance and price," explains Krause. "We were particularly pleased by the speed and ease with which the data was taken from the various servers."

"We now have exactly what we need," he concludes, "a globally serviceable solution that's easy to use, simplifies employees' jobs, and gives managers rapid insight into key business processes and transactions."