BI Supports the Army

By Mark Brousseau

Faced with low customer satisfaction for its reports and financial data, and no common user interface across its systems, the Army Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) turned to business intelligence, Mark Sauvageau, chief, financial operations, Financial Management Office, RDECOM, said yesterday during a presentation at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit 2009.

As a result of implementing business intelligence, RDECOM has better aligned its resources and processes, he said during the presentation at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.

Today, all desktops at RDECOM have reporting capabilities (encompassing 100 senior leaders, 150 financial analysts and 400 engineers). The organization uses data analysis for a variety of financial tasks, Sauvageau told attendees, including funding applications, cost accounting, budgeting and presentations.

Using its business intelligence programs, RDECOM has been able streamline its information flow, helping it avoid $270,000 a year in costs, while increasing productivity 146 percent. RDECOM has also seen a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction with its reports and financial data. Moreover, business intelligence has created a foundation for RDECOM’s strategic decision-making, he added. “Our business intelligence efforts have enables our engineers and analysts to spend less time on non-core tasks and more time on activities that support our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Sauvageau concluded.

Based on this success, RDECOM plans to extend business intelligence to all of its 3,500 users.