Customer
“We want to make quick, sound decisions based on reliable information,” says Isabelle Gauthier, business analyst at Coractive Inc. This core management principle guides the company’s growth.
To improve its decision-making capacity, the Quebec City-based designer and manufacturer of innovative optical fibers and fiber lasers implemented Fidelio ERP a few years ago.
Coractive saw digital transformation as the key solution to profitably meet the increased demand of its OEM customers in Asia, the USA, and Canada.
Today, with this first stage of its digital transformation under its belt, the company continues to fine-tune its processes and productivity through the use of KPIs and the analysis of real-time data and
projections.
To learn more about this approach, we spoke to Isabelle Gauthier,
who has been with the company since 2009. Our interview has been
edited for brevity and clarity."Easy navigation through data is my favourite feature of Fidelio. From the top down or up from the bottom, everything is a few clicks away.”
Isabelle Gauthier, Business Analyst, Coractive
What is the company’s view on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
Today, every business function in our company has real-time KPIs to meet. We want to ensure that everybody is in the same boat, rowing together in the same direction.
As a business analyst, what is your role regarding KPIs and business intelligence?
It’s my job to set up the KPIs in Fidelio. I analyze the needs, develop the KPIs, and distribute them to the relevant business function.
Through the business intelligence module, I also implement KPIs which enable carry out profitability analyses and forecasts. I can manipulate the data directly in Fidelio or, when I need to, I can really push the analysis with Power BI.
Management uses these analyses to guide decisions. Providing support for these Carrying out the analyses is really the focus of my activity day to day.
Also, I’m a Fidelio power user. When anybody needs support on Fidelio, or when we implement new functions, I’m the person you call.How are you working with KPIs?
Setting up a KPI in Fidelio is straightforward. I build it once, and then make it available to the business function that requires it. The same is true for an analysis view.
Take our manufacturing specialists, for example. They’re hands on in the making of the optic fiber. Before Fidelio, they spent a lot of time gathering data about how the product performed
under different conditions.
Before Fidelio, how were you working with KPIs?
We could have three employees building a KPI for their respective business functions, which was a big waste of time.Now, this kind of siloed, repetitive work is out of the question because access to the databases is centralized, protected, and I administer the permissions to access.
How were you working with business data before Fidelio?
It’s hard to believe now, but we ran the company using Excel. Our managers and directors would collect data manually and manipulate it in Excel. Often, the data were unreliable or outdated, and getting a report together took forever.
We had developed an Access database internally for the manufacturing, purchasing and sales functions, but there was no link with accounting and the functions did not communicate with
each other.What are the advantages of Fidelio?
Intuitive Interface
When I was on the ERP selection committee and doing demoswith other ERP vendors, the intuitive interface was a big plus. It resembled interfaces our team was already familiar with, like Excel.
The user-friendliness was important because employees at all levels of the company were going to use the ERP, from the assembler on the plant floor to executives. Some of my colleagues had only basic exposure to computers.
Easy navigation through data is my favourite feature of the system. From the top down or up from the bottom, everything is a few clicks away.
I still find this intuitive ease remarkable. For example, when we have to modify certain elements, like adding fields or editing printed reports, we aren’t dependent on the Fidelioteam. Not many ERPs offer this flexibility. It gives us a sense of independence.Time-savings
We have major time savings in terms of administrative processes, like accounting. When you’re not working with an ERP, each business unit has its own numbers, and collecting them all at the end of an accounting period is very time-consuming.
But with Fidelio, for example, all the numbers are instantly available. Plus, we’re able to calculate things like the cost of our non-quality production, which we had never, ever, been able to do before.
Our traceability process also improved in effectiveness and timesavings. Before Fidelio, we used Access for this process. As I mentioned, it was complicated.
Now with Fidelio, every component is identified and recorded the second it lands on our dock, and followed all the way to our customer’s dock. Tracing the journey only takes a few mouse
clicks.Easy integration
As I said, Fidelio integrated well with other business systems, and Power BI. I use Power BI for deep analyses, projections, and high-quality visualizations of data.Going forward, how do you see Coractive benefiting from Fidelio?
Right now, it’s all about fine-tuning our processes and eliminating waste wherever we can.
Before Fidelio, our company had blind spots in profitability and productivity, and growth was just amplifying the consequences of these blind spots.
Today, those blind spots are gone. Every day, we have a precise view of things we couldn’t see into, like the margins on product lines and what quality issues are costing us.
Fidelio allows us to be more responsive, to act faster on issues that arise.
Going forward, we want to keep automating by integrating with other systems, like Viridem (electronic document and information management software) and Interal (equipment maintenance management software).
We want to take automation to the max!