Newspaper Circulation Reporting System
In 2001, DOT was commissioned by one of the world's leading newspaper
publishing groups to deliver a comprehensive decision support system to meet the
growing demands of current business users in the circulation department and to
make the information available to a wider audience.
The Client operated a bespoke Circulation
system which was developed by Accenture in
the early 90's. However since it's introduction,
the print industry had moved on considerably
and the operational and management
information provided by the system had not
kept pace with needs of the user community.
At the core of the solution is a single
integrated repository fed with data from the
various systems as well as external feeds, such
as ABC data. This provides a single source of
data and a common reporting
environment for Circulation, Advertising,
Market and related management information.
The new architecture takes the load off of
operational systems and delivers consolidated
data in a flexible format to satisfy the diverse
reporting requirements of the business. The
repository is designed to reflect the
diversity of the overall business and allows for
both scalability and performance. Data in the
central repository is used to feed a Circulation data mart, which provides rich information to the
reporting environment.
The new system adds significant capability to the
Circulation system. The main areas are:
- Detailed management information on the actual supply and returns, products and part products against planned supply
- Cross matching third party supply chain invoices to actual material
- End to end production and distribution costs from print estimate and forecast through to delivery, returns and finally, waste disposal
- Justification of wholesaler and retailer handling charges based on packaging supplied.
DOT has developed a powerful management
reporting system designed to maximize profits
and increase sales.