CASE STUDY | MINING| SAC
Decision Inc. Delivers a Digital Reporting & Budget-Tracking Solution to Anglo American GDG
Solution Overview
Industry
Mining
Solution
Decision Inc. standardised the reports, brought them into Anglo’s SAP Hana database and then visualised them using SAP Analytics Cloud
Client
Anglo American is a global mining company with a Group Discovery and Geosciences (GDG) division. GDG focuses on discovering new mineral deposits and maximising value from its existing portfolio.
Requirement
The Group Discovery & Geosciences reports were manual and non-standardised making it hard to track the cost of the projects against the allocated budget.
Location
South Africa
Results
Intelligent reporting functions
Improving overall effectiveness when allocating funding
Accurate forecast with Portfolio Planning-Operating Master Scheduling
Anglo American GDG can accurately track the cost of their projects allowing them to reassign funding on-the-go.
The Client
Anglo American is a global mining company. Its Group Discovery and Geosciences (GDG) division oversees the discovery of new mineral deposits and the maximising of value from its current portfolio. To do this, they use integrated Life of Asset Planning (LoAP). LoAP incorporates leading operational geoscience, mining, and processing best practice, mine closure and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
The Requirement
Anglo American’s GDG division was looking to digitise and automate its reporting framework.
They approached Decision Inc. to assist them because reporting was carried out manually, and Anglo GDG could not get the answers they needed from their reports. Their reports were not standardised which led to a diversity of data structures and an inability to assign Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) codes in their SAP systems consistently. This meant that accurate financial overviews of projects were difficult to obtain. The time taken to complete reports was also affecting productivity.
The Solution
Anglo GDG commissioned Decision Inc. to provide a digital reporting system that would resolve these issues. Anglo is heavily invested in the SAP technology stack and had previously outlined a road map to expand into the SAP Cloud. SAP Analytics Cloud allows businesses to bring the two worlds of analytics and planning together in one platform for optimal use of the technology.
Decision Inc. recommended Anglo used SAP’s Business Warehouse as the technological backbone for this solution. This would be able to take views from their SAP Hana database, and their SAP Business Explorer Suite (BEx). Reports would then be produced in SAP’s Analytics Cloud (SAC) which would give Anglo staff the ability to drill down into the data and perform their own analyses.
The advantage of using SAP’s Analytics Cloud is that non-technical users can receive machine-generated analytics and insights without having to learn complicated scripting languages.
To maintain the correct flow of data, Decision Inc. managed integrations with the following Anglo systems:
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- RFC Online
- AOP SAP Finance
- Master Budget Spreadsheet
Data from these systems were brought into the SAP Business Warehouse and then outputted in the SAP Analytics Cloud. Reporting was automated and so was the allocation of WBS codes.
Decision Inc. trained GDG staff on the use of the system and completed a handover of the system through a Go-Live process.
The Benefits of Value Realised
Anglo GDG now has consolidated data from multiple sources in one system. Their reporting has been standardised and is now done digitally rather than manually. This has allowed Anglo GDG to easily visualise all of their reports and also track the accurate status of their project spend against budgeted spend. They can drill down into these automated reports and get the answers they need quickly.
The solution has given them access to the SAP Cloud’s best elements:
Intelligent reporting functions, a single platform for analysis and smart insights, giving them the information they need to make better business decisions.
They can now do Portfolio Planning-Operating Master Scheduling (OMS) and give accurate forecasts to their leadership on the status and outcome of projects at a granular level.
Anglo GDG now has much greater confidence in allocating funding to projects and can reallocate funding on-the-go, improving overall effectiveness and efficiency.
About Decision Inc.
Decision Inc. is a global digital partner that enables businesses to reinvent themselves to realise their full potential.
We deliver agility, resilience, and intelligence to any enterprise, enabling them to adapt quickly and thrive through innovation and opportunity. Our teams have engaged with more than 400 clients globally over the past 15 years, providing them with the expertise to build, operate, and optimise their digital businesses.
We achieve this by leveraging the world’s best technology to drive our client’s business ambitions forward into tomorrow’s reality.
Our success is ultimately driven by our entrepreneurial culture, industry exposure, and the passion of our people. We have three key cross-functional teams – Functional and Specialist Consulting, Development, and Engineering teams. Based in four global offices, our exceptional consultants focus on delivering value to clients by keeping them at the centre of our service delivery.