Database Design
High volume data analytics solution keeps CollectPlus parcels moving
Project: change++ delivered a data warehouse solution to give CollectPlus valuable insight about its operations, right down to individual parcel location.
Services: Database design
Results: CollectPlus has clear insight into the performance of its parcel collection and delivery network based on accurate data for a better customer experience and sound decision making.
The client
Founded in 2009, CollectPlus is the UK’s largest independent store-based parcels service. It offers a convenient way for people to collect, return and send parcels through CollectPlus’s network of over 11,500 newsagents, convenience stores, supermarkets and petrol stations across the UK, nearly all of which are open early ‘til late, seven days a week.
Their needs
Delivering a great customer experience is important for the CollectPlus Operations team. It needs to monitor service levels and understand any pinch points in a parcel’s journey. The journey of a parcel across its network of over eleven thousand stores generates tracking events at every stage of the journey. Information on the exact status of each parcel gives CollectPlus valuable insight at summary and detailed levels. CollectPlus processes millions of parcels a year and the company needed an effective way to analyse large volumes of data.
What we did
The first step we took was to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would enable CollectPlus to measure operational effectiveness and report on success. After working in close collaboration with the Operations Team to develop a thorough understanding of the criteria for KPI achievement, change++ proposed the development of a sophisticated and highly flexible data warehouse that applied business rules and calculations to the large data sets collected from the parcel delivery service. Embedding the rules meant the critical information needed to run the business, especially from an operational perspective, could then be accessed easily and quickly to answer queries and deliver comprehensive reporting for retailers and their customers.
A business analytics tool, IBM Cognos BI and a Microsoft SQL Server database formed the core of the solution. IBM Cognos BI has a range of capabilities designed to deliver speed of thought analytics over terrabytes of enterprise data. change++ took time to fully understand the service levels that CollectPlus agreed with its clients and how important it is for them to be able to monitor and report performance on a daily basis. The solution we delivered met those needs and gave CollectPlus significant analytical capabilities.
“I don’t think we ever envisaged, when we originally sat down with change++ to work on our requirements, the level and value of insight we could gain from our data using IBM Cognos BI. We’re delighted with its capabilities and the actionable insight it has delivered.”
- Mark Lawrence Operations and Service Director
The results
The solution that change++ developed for CollectPlus exceeded expectations and became widely used across the business. As well as its value to the Operations Team, it is used for finance reporting, performance monitoring of stores and marketing. It provides data for the marketing team to build accurate reports and perform ad hoc customer and parcel analysis. As well as monitoring high-level KPIs, granular-level queries about individual parcels can be answered with confidence.
The level of detailed analysis that has been made possible by the solution designed by change++ is such that previously undetectable trends and patterns in performance have been identified and actions taken to improve service at both client and customer level. This type of exception reporting is especially valuable as it can highlight a potential problem that can be addressed before it results in a customer service failure.
Benefits include:
- Accurate insight into a parcel’s journey through the network
- A trusted source of data for robust, reliable decision-making
- Access to data that is used in operations monitoring, financial planning and marketing
- Detailed, speed of though analytics over huge volumes of data
- Exception reporting highlights potential problems that can be avoided
- Identifies trends and patterns in performance to allow improvements to be made