Parker Hannifin's WebFOCUS Reporting System Improves Customer Service Delivery Metric

A few years ago, the Parker Hannifin Corporation committed itself to a corporate-wide Win Strategy – a comprehensive continuous-improvement program based on a three-tiered foundation: premier customer service, strong financial performance, and profitable growth. Positive results followed almost immediately, but measuring them in a quantitative way wasn't easy: IT pros had to supply continually updated information about the many tasks and transactions contained in the Win Strategy metrics.

"We needed a business intelligence solution that was easy to use and easy to integrate into our diverse IT environment," recalls T.J. Price, an IT manager in Parker Hannifin's Parflex division. "WebFOCUS gives us the ability to analyze and deliver information quickly and accurately to a wide group of users at a very reasonable price."

Using WebFOCUS, Price and his team have created a reporting environment that provides flexible, simplified access to the information required by many different departments and functional groups. It allows managers to analyze and improve metrics to support the goals of the Win Strategy – setting new standards for best practices in their industry.

"Quick and easy visibility into our data is priceless," maintains Debbie Joseph, a software developer who has been with Parker Hannifin for 10 years, seven of them with the Parflex division. "We're delivering premier service both to internal and external customers, resulting in increased revenue for Parker Hannifin."

Precise Methods, Proven Results

Parker Hannifin Corporation is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the company provides precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets. The Parflex division, part of Parker Hannifin's Fluid Connectors Group, offers an extensive selection of hose, tubing, fittings, and accessory products for specific fluid-handling applications.

In order to track Win Strategy performance in customer service, Parker Hannifin's fundamental metric is Parts Shipped On Time, or PSOT. "Most organizations have systems and metrics for rating their vendors," explains Price. "Our Win Strategy says that we'll also continuously rate our own performance, from the point of view of what's important to our customers."

To meet these requirements, Parflex began developing customized PSOT reports using WebFOCUS. When a useful report was developed, it was promptly distributed throughout the division. As the need for additional PSOT information increased, more reports were quickly created.

From Demo to Production in Half a Day

Since then, the Parflex division has used WebFOCUS to create hundreds of customized reports. Joseph says this would not have been possible using the old reporting methods. "In the past, the options for creating reports were too limited, providing either too much detail or not enough," she notes. "We were never able to please everyone. With WebFOCUS, all of our users can get to the level of detail that they need."

Parflex uses a Lotus Notes front-end as the gateway to a categorized selection of self-service reports. Each menu item includes a brief description, a sample with drill-downs, and a link to execute the report, all in one form. "Users can quickly identify the correct reports to meet their needs," says Price. "With WebFOCUS self-service reporting, we're able to provide a better toolbox to the user."

The reporting system includes early, late, and on-time shipment summaries for business units, planners, and product lines, with several levels of detail available via drill-down. "At our lowest level of detail, we can get to the actual line-item details," says Price. "We can expand the reporting options very quickly and offer variations of similar reports as well."

How successfully has Parflex adopted WebFOCUS? According to Price, e-mail messages and office conversations are now peppered with the phrase, "We love WebFOCUS!"

"That's music to an IT manager's ears," Price notes. "Since we brought in the reporting software, user access to information has grown tenfold." Price's enthusiasm is echoed by Joseph. "It used to take days to create a new report," she says. "Now it typically takes less than an hour. Some of our power users are even creating their own reports. They no longer rely on IT for their information."

Success Breeds Success

It didn't take long for WebFOCUS to start proving itself in measurable ways.With the help of WebFOCUS and a lot of hard work from the functional departments, the Parflex division has been able to increase its PSOT metric by more than 10 percent. "It's truly a process of continuous improvement," Price acknowledges. "We use WebFOCUS to report our on-time shipments percentage twice per week, and the Production Control and Procurement departments use the ad hoc queries to identify and correct problem areas throughout the month. PSOT numbers can be reviewed, analyzed, and acted on when needed. This has been a key factor in helping us increase our Parts Shipped On Time metric, and, more importantly, in improving customer service."

Within a year, Parflex's early successes convinced corporate management to adopt WebFOCUS at the corporate level. The company had been evaluating several possible solutions. When Price and Joseph demonstrated WebFOCUS to Bob McAdoo, the director of Business Systems, he became a key proponent of the self-service reporting solution. In addition, accounting, marketing, and sales personnel – at groups and divisions throughout the corporation – wanted to see demonstrations of WebFOCUS.

"It's amazing how much we've already accomplished with WebFOCUS," concludes Joseph. "As the software gets integrated into the larger corporate infrastructure, the possibilities will be unlimited."