State Universities Retirement System

1
State Universities Retirement System

• SURS Implements Business Intelligence to Better
  Understand their Business

2
Agenda

• SURS Business Needs
• What is Business Intelligence?
• SURS Solution
• Demonstration
• Business Benefits
• Q A

3
Business Needs

• Data Organization which facilitates report
  writing
• Allow business users to access data without
  impacting operational systems
• Free limited resources within IT from
  Report/Query requests
• Provide reporting capabilities that enable
  various output formats

4
Business Needs (contd)

• Format data to allow better Understanding of
  Membership Profiles (Trending, Demographics,
  etc.)
• Format data to answer questions about the effects
  of new legislation

5
Business Intelligence 101Definition

• Business

The utilization of enterprise information to make
business decisions. Business Intelligence
solutions transform business data into
conclusive, fact based and actionable
information.
6
Business Intelligence 101Transformation to
Business Intelligence

• Re-Organization of data into business information
• Increased ability to Report and Analyze with
  Business Intelligence Technology
• Increase Ease of Use to User Level
• Widely Deploy Data Access with either Web or
  Client/Server Technology

7
Business Intelligence 101Key Terms

• Data Warehouse A central repository of
  queryable data for the enterprise.
• Data Mart A subset of the complete data
  warehouse. The focus of a data mart is typically
  on delivering data to users.
• Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)Multidimension
  al analysis of text and numeric data from a data
  mart.
• Ad-Hoc/Managed Reporting Reports and report
  writing capabilities available to the end user
  population for access data in the data mart.

8
Business Intelligence 101Typical Architecture
9
Business Intelligence 101Processes

• Extract/Transform/Load
• Deliver

10
Business Intelligence 101Processes

• Extract
• Pull data from all available data sources.
• e.g. Mainframe Applications, Client/Server
  Applications, Spreadsheets, External Sources
  (Census, Mailing Lists, etc.)

11
Business Intelligence 101Processes

• Transform/Load
• Assemble all the various pieces of data giving
  one single view of related information.
• Standardize all pieces of data.
• One Single Version of the Truth One system
  gives the answer, it is the correct answer.

12
Business Intelligence 101Processes

• Deliver
• Present the data to the user in a usable form.
• Give additional functionality that wasnt
  available before.
• Delivery mechanisms
• Client/Server Software
• Web (Intranet, Extranet, Internet)
• Static Reporting
• Mapping
• Score Carding

13
State Universities Retirement System

• SURS Solution

14
SURS SolutionBusiness Intelligence Architecture
COGNOS Decision Stream
Data Delivery -COGNOS
SQL Server
SQL Server
AS/400
15
SURS SolutionBusiness Intelligence Project

• Utilized Ralph Kimballs methodology of
  integrated data marts
• Scalable solutions that addresses individual
  business areas to form the enterprise solution
• Incremental approach to BI implementation, using
  3-4 month repeatable successes

16
SURS SolutionBI Project (contd) Project
Phases

• Project Initiation Defines the scope,
  objectives, project procedures, roles/
  responsibilities and business case of the BI
  initiative.
• Data Warehouse Definition Defines the data
  warehouse strategy, architecture, design, and
  delivery plan. This component focuses on
  identifying business needs and developing
  strategies to best meet the business needs.
• Data Warehouse Engineering Includes the
  development of the database, extract and load
  programs (and testing), data access tools /
  techniques (and testing).
• Deployment and Support
• Includes developing security, deploying required
  client software (if necessary), developing user
  education materials, installing system components
  in a production environment, completing initial
  database loads and monitoring the production
  system.

17
SURS SolutionIncluded Information for Pay
Benefits

• Pay Benefits Information
• Benefit Type (Disability, Retirement Annuity,
  etc)
• Payment Date (Year, Qtr, Month, etc)
• Amounts (Insurance, Taxes, Interest, etc)
• Member Information
• Employment Type (Academic, Staff, Police/Fire)
• Demographics (Age, Gender, etc)
• Location (City, State, Zip)
• Other Information
• Employer
• Insurance

18
SURS SolutionPhase II, In Progress

• Membership Information and Retirement Claim
• Demographics
• Employment History
• Retirement Claims

19
SURS SolutionFuture Priorities

• Other Claims
• Death/Survivor Disability
• DRA Refund
• Retirement Estimates
• Purchase of Service Credit Claims
• Repay Regular Leaves
• Prior Service Deferred Leaves
• Other Public Employment Military
• Academic Year Balances
• Member Earning By Employer By Month
• Annual Benefit Summary Information

20
SURS SolutionHardware and Software

• Hardware
• IBM xSeries Dual Processor Server (Warehouse)
• IBM AS/400 (Source System)
• Software
• Microsoft Windows NT 4
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000
• Microsoft Data Transformation Services
• IBM Client/Access
• Cognos DecisionStream
• Cognos Impromptu

21
SURS SolutionFuture Possibilities

• Web access to employers
• Insurance analysis
• Reciprocal service analysis
• Clickstream analysis (member web access)

22
State Universities Retirement System

• Solution Demonstration

23
Business BenefitsWhat are the business
benefits?

• Provide tools for looking at data in new ways
• Provide immediate and efficient information
  delivery
• Integrate disparate data sources
• Aid strategic planning
• Reduce dependence on IT for reporting requests
• Enable end-user access to data

24
Business Intelligence 101Ways to use data

• Determine business trends
• Determine impact of proposed legislation
• Respond to data requests from employers
• Targeted member lists for follow-up
• Identify process improvements
• Identify test cases for training

25
Business BenefitsSample Questions to uncover a
BI need

• What are the patterns for retirements in coming
  years?
• What members will utilize a DC plan? Which
  members selected DC?
• What is processing time for retirement claims?
• Which members are accessing the website? What are
  they interested in?

26
State Universities Retirement System

• Questions?