What we do

 

 

SAMRIC’s resources have been using the Cognos suite of products for the past few years gaining a vast amount of experience and expertise. One of our resources has been involved with the Cognos product suite from version 3 to version 8. SAMRIC personnel have been involved in the migration and maintenance of the various Cognos versions.

 

Being in the Business Intelligence and data warehousing speciality, data architecture becomes a key aspect of all our projects. At Queensland Transport, our roles involve database design of the data warehouse and operational data store, creating datamarts (metadata layers) for OLAP reporting, designing of reporting solutions and general administration of the Business Intelligence Environment.

 

At Brisbane City Council, we are involved in data quality and data management of the Human Resource system. We develop and maintain data extract processes for loading HR data into the data warehouse and using OLAP reporting tools, provide senior management with analytical and statistical reporting.

 

At Virgin Blue, SAMRIC has implemented several Oracle HR/Payroll solutions ranging from total workforce reorganisation using WEB ADI to installation of a New Zealand payroll.

 

SAMRIC has provided other Oracle HR/Payroll technical solution at Ipswich City Council, Tourism Australia, Wesfarmers and G James Glass.

 

All our projects involve initial assessment and analysis of requirements, through to development, implementation and handover to customer via customised training and/or demonstrations.

 

 

 

 

Our resources go through a thorough implementation process for Cognos reporting solutions that include the following:

• Analysis and Design - the business requirements are gathered from the business areas and deep analysis is conducted after many customer workshops and draft copies of the specifications. The design phase includes database design of the data warehouse and/or operational data store, design of datamarts (metadata layers) for Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) reporting, designing of reporting solutions.
• Implementation - once the design stage is complete, construction commences in the Development environment. When the developers have performed their testing the reporting solutions are migrated to the TEST environment, ready for system testing.
• Testing - independent (to the project) team members then perform system testing. When this is passed the reporting solutions are released to the business for User Acceptance Testing (UAT). UAT support is also provided by our resources as required. This may include customised training of the product.
• Deployment - after UAT is complete, the reporting solutions are migrated to the Production environment with appropriate security applied.
• Integration - the Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse environment enables the business to combine data from different source systems to have the functionality and flexibility of reporting. Our resources have been involved in extracting/reporting from various source systems, for example, HR/Payroll, Work Health and Safety, Finance, Transport, Health.
• Training - many of our resources have performed customised training/demonstrations to the business. This involves having a good understanding of the business and being able to use their data for training/demonstrations.

 

 

 

 

The project methodology utilised by SAMRIC is based on the internationally recognised Project Management Institute's Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). SAMRIC consultants use this project management framework within the context of our client’s existing procedural and cultural environment. Our project management methodologies also draw on experience and techniques derived from the development of, and operating within, various organisational reporting environments, from operational reporting to enterprise-wide data warehouse implementations.

Initial work undertaken will be an environment assessment to identify all core business applications, which will lead to the development of Project charters, project scope statements and identifying project interdependencies. This will allow for identifying the broader relationships, priorities and development paths between the several existing application reporting areas and any new requirements identified. This will include processes that include all key stakeholders and ensures effective identification, communication and agreement of the identified scope of project(s), development strategies and defined deliverables and outcomes.

Once one or more defined projects are identified and agreed, there will a process to manage the scope of each, which includes scope definition, verification, identifying work breakdown structures, and managing scope change.