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Predictive Analysis

The world of business intelligence and data visualization continues to evolve from the days of “pretty” reports, to interactive but fairly dumb static visualizations. Nowadays, interactive and predictive intelligence are the game. Business Intelligence investments should show a tangible return in different spheres, and there should definitely be a payback. Sadly, the ROI and hopes invested in BI by most organizations seldom materializes as planned. Why is this, when on paper BI projects look like a slam dunk? There are several answers from beginning with a lack of skills both in-house and by vendors, collusion with by and between vendors and client staff, and competence. Business intelligence too often get’s to be guided by database vendors who have an interest to focus on the money around the databases rather than the BI where some quick wins are possible. The current vogue of “predictive analytics” should have a decent chance of success, but will most likely fail because the large database vendors do not have an interest to relinquish their drive coaxing clients to focus their budgets to get their databases perfect before serious BI can be tackled. Of course this perfection will never be achieved because there is always the diversion to the next better model of database.

Predictive analytics is not a trivial endeavor; it is often complex and those involved sometimes don’t know what they don’t know. If one were to look only at numbers without the perspective of knowledge through experience, one might be precisely wrong in understanding of a situation and in recommending strategies. It is as much art as it is science. The complexity of the predictive BI task increases almost factorially as the needs of perspectives of various departments e.g. marketing, production, finance, and HR are added into the equation.

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The PowerStrat Guarantee

Our culture is focused on 100% client satisfaction, and we take an interest and get involved in the weeds with the issues that clients face. As a result we truly understand client requirements and we craft intelligent and affordable solutions that are effective and practical. We manage projects according to PMI standards, and deliver on-time and on-budget solutions, that are “as simple as possible, but no simpler”. * 

PDF Brochures / Fact Sheets

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PowerStrat New Product Development Pipeline / Strategic Product Management – existing to new products Revamping exiting products and launching new products provide growth and sustainable future revenue streams. Like everything, there are proven and intelligent ways of managing the product portfolio. In 2002 together with EPRI (Electricity Producer Research Institute), PowerStrat introduced innovative software called New Product Manager in the US market. This was based on the Stages and Gates principles published by Prof. Bob Cooper. Since that time, PowerStrat product management software has evolved with lessons learned around the world, to our current offering of Product Pipeline Management. This is an “uber-cool” portfolio style tool. The beauty is that together with the Ansoff Matrix, the portfolio of future product revenue streams portfolio can be present valued, and driven to model the future of an organization.

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How We Work With You

At PowerStrat Business Intelligence we try to accelerate the path to the end result. There is usually the opportunity right away for a few quick wins that are useful to users. The ROI with PowerStrat starts early on in the relationship. This is made possible by our modules that connect directly into client databases, even Excel, MS Access or Sharepoint files.

A client project proceeds through logical phases as shown in the diagram below. A small working team with PowerStrat BI and Client staff is assembled to lead the project. This Team will establish the requirements, ensure that the designs meet the needs of users, that the data is made accessible, that the right people are selected for training, and that the implementation is efficient. Implementations typically follow the project management process developed by the Project Management Institute headed by a qualified Project Management Professional (PMP) provided by PowerStrat BI. This ensures that clients receive the best possible attention and outcome.

Benefits - The PowerStrat Difference

PowerStrat has many ready to use modules. This potentially means that many clients can get started fairly quickly and with minimal cost in money and time. PowerStrat is 100% developed in South Africa and we control all the source code thereby offering clients’ total customization, even to a pixel.

Business Intelligence has become rather complex environment with much chatter about big data, predictive analytics, and data visualizations. Vendors claim wonderful things but the reality is that many business intelligence projects fail to meet requirements. We understand that clients don’t know what they don’t know because the fast changing BI environment. The PowerStrat Team will show clients practical suggestions of tools and methods based on best practices and real successes. Of course PowerStrat includes predictive analytics and spiffy interactive data visualization …we’ve been at it since 1997 and continue to innovate.

PowerStrat invented the interactive data Wheel in 2000, since copied and commonly known as the sunburst. We also invented the interactive portfolio performance modeler which we sell exclusively to our clients. PowerStrat continues to innovate with human-computer-interface (HCI) excellence, giving clients a pleasant experience using intuitive and effective tools that do the job.

Return on investment is easy to see with PowerStrat. Firstly projects get implemented fairly quickly in a short track process and with tools that are designed to be effective. PowerStrat unique visualizations and algorithms provide insights and understanding of situational factors that may not have been seen by clients.  Clients report seeing “a blinding glimpse of the obvious” that just popped via a PowerStrat tool, enabling them to grow the business, plug a leak and be more effective.

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We are interested in teaming/ working with VAR’s who are established and have brand recognition. We are particularly interested the following areas:

1. Potential VAR’s: With recognized functional expertise e.g. financial analysis, liquidity, forensics, product development and product management, strategic marketing, talent management. If you believe that your functional expertise could be leveraged to grow your business by incorporating the PowerStrat suite of Business Intelligence tools, then we would like to discuss this with you.
   
2. Industry specific focus and expertise: Potential VAR’s with industry specific expertise, who would like to deepen their client relationships and broaden their revenue streams by adding business intelligence software to their offerings. Examples include the mining, education and training, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, retail, energy, telecoms, transportation, logistics, engineering.

PowerStrat BI offers software tools, subject matter and technical expertise to our VAR partners. We are in a position to tweak our tools to incorporate proprietary new aspects provided by VAR’s for exclusive offer to their clients.

Please call to discuss…Terry Kades – Managing Director –Tel. 079-367-9036

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The PowerStrat Business Intelligence Suite consists of twenty seven modules. These modules span a wide range of subject and functional matter of practical use to everyday organizational life. These 27 modules belong to the following parent category modules:

• Financial Management
• Treasury/Liquidity Management
• Products and Services Management
• Market Segmentation
• Strategic Management
• Education Management
• Talent Management and Succession Planning

Financial Management Dashboard

The financial management tools include the full set of financial statements, price waterfalls, various breakeven analysis (company and product), goal-seek, variance analysis, entity flows, ratios, and what-if DuPont style modeling. This package provides all the tools that most organizations use in their ongoing activities. Data can be imported from Excel, SQL, MS Access, Oracle, SAP,  DW, Cloud or any other popular data sources.

Treasury/Liquidity Management Dashboard

PowerStrat Liquidity Management tools is designed for the persons responsible for managing the Treasury or liquidity of the company. It incorporates all aspects of liquidity including working capital and shows the cash requirement on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Cash flow forecast can be done for up to 30 years driven by economic and business indicators with predictive analytics programmed into the tool.

At the BU level, the tool is the basis for BU's to input budgets, actual, revised forecasts and perform a range of variance analysis. BU's also develop their own forecasts using economic drivers pertinent to their business. Currency is also catered for with a currency converter into the currency used by the Treasury/Group CFO. A full set of detail and quick view charts to view data from varios perspectives is part of this powerful tool.

Product And Services Management Dashboard

Managing products and services means managing the existing portfolio which is the current business, and the future new products. The approach for these is different. PowerStrat product tools incorporate validated world class methods used by the successful companies whose brands we all know well. These methods include Ansoff analysis and pipeline analysis modeled on the stages and gates method. On the financial side, the PowerStrat product breakeven tool provides quick  ‘What-if”  modeling that would otherwise take weeks to perform. This gives the product teams the tools to use their skills and experience on the fly in an unbroken flow instead of having to wait days and weeks for data to be analyzed. The pipeline portfolio provides pre-programmed cut and dice views that the product teams typically consider, and this can be easily customized to suit their own approach. In summary, PowerStrat product tools will get to the issues faster, simpler and with greater accuracy than any other system.

Market Segmentation Dashboard

Profits come from markets and understanding the composition of markets is a basic requirement in any marketing and business plan. PowerStrat market segmentation uses a market map approach and can do so because we have developed a market map that is truly unique to visualize the flow of products in the markets and market segments held by competitors. PowerStrat provides the ability to perform “What-if” modeling to the marketing and product teams to ensure that they understand the true market dynamics including the R values, volumes, market share’s, channels and large customers. This helps to target the expectations, product mix, pricing and communications in an effective manner. 

Strategic Management Dashboard

Strategic management is regarded as a higher level view with the path forward set by the directors, after considering a variety of strategic and operational factors. So what these factors and how can the people responsible for strategy be aided to see the perspective and to recommend the best path forward? New models for analyzing and developing strategy are proffered all the time. Does that mean an old model is no longer valid because it is old and times have changed? Each organization has a different approach, driven by its leadership. PowerStrat includes many models and perspectives of analysis. We have been in strategy for a long time and some things are fundamental. For example strategy is developed using assumptions; BU's require own strategy and the corporate parent requires its own strategy in relation to its BU's; the corporate portfolio is a mixture of organic growth, acquisitions and pruning the portfolio; understanding customer needs matter and customer relationships are part of this understanding. PowerStrat strategy models show the data of portfolios and pipelines over time with drill-down into the BU‘s looking at different strategic and operational aspects, thus leading the way to establish strategy and keeping it real.

Education Management Dashboard

We have long realized that the process of educating or training a person is not that dissimilar from the process of developing, manufacturing and marketing a product, and in 2014 we took the decision to design a series of business intelligence dashboards for the management of schools in South Africa. This was aided by our experience with the Gear-Up program in the US for which we also designed a dashboard analytic and reporting solution. Working with the experimental school of the future, Sunward Park HS in Boksburg, we created a series of dashboards and data visualization tools that have received accolades from many educators, principals and department directors and officials. The PowerStrat Education Management System links as a modular component with SASAMS and other similar systems…and includes a financial management and reporting module.  We offer a delivery, support and pricing model that is easily configurable and affordable for any school, as our contribution in support of all stakeholders in the education system. This set of tools can be used at provincial and national level as well as for SETA’a and FTC’s.

Talent Management Dashboard

The talent management dashboard were developed with a client ABS to full their need to manage talent and succession planning of their 1000 plus workforce placed at over 100 country location offices. The tool had to answer questions such as bench-strength, skills gaps, demographic profile of the workforce, languages and citizenships, who could be moved to a different country, experience in different positions, ready for promotion under certain conditions, CV’s and a full set management reports with drill down from top all the way to a particular employee. This valuable tool gelps to align and prepare any organization to thrive in its environment, as it’s the people who make an organization unsuccessful. 

The PowerStrat modules and sub-modules are integrated components and clients can select on a smorgasboard  of 27 options. This can also sit together to complement client homegrown dashboards or other vendor dashboards.

Technical Specifications

• PowerStrat Software Suite
• Java – can be supplied as either a Java application or viewed in browser via an Applet.
• Browser information. Will run in any browser that allows Java applets e.g. Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla etc.
• Operating System. . Will run in any OS that has Java installed e.g. Windows, Linux, Inix, IOS, Android.
• Database. Connects to all major data sources e.g. Access, CSV, Excel, MS-SQL, SQL, SAP, DB2, IBM-DS, Oracle.
• Modular format. Dashboard pages with tools programmed for specific functions are supplied in modular format.
• Licensing. Various licensing and pricing models to suit client requirements.
• Technical support. Provided at a variety of levels of service levels.  
• Patents IPR. Registered copyright and Patents Pending and in process.

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The benefit of PowerStrat BI solutions is that we sell many dashboard modules that have been tried and tested over the years with clients. These are intelligent and thoughtful tools designed for departments such as finance, product development, marketing, production, treasury services, HR talent management, education management and risk management. There is almost always a 70% solution for a new client. This means that we can offer ideas and tweak ready to go modules to clients in short lead time with lower cost and high degree of success. We are always looking to work with clients who have novel ideas to improve something in their world of work. We have done many co-developments with clients and with our field and business intelligence software experience we love to create innovative tools with meaningful application with clients. At PowerStrat BI  we believe in focus, and each of our divisions is focused on specific areas of perspective, some function and some industry focused.

PowerStrat Strategic And Operational Solutions

Create sustainable strategies to take your company into the future with confidence, based on best of breed tools that work.

This business division offers expertise and software tools to help clients work through the issues and hard questions. We use tools to build solid plans to go forward, with buy-in that is so important. Starting with assumptions, our Assumption Grid is brilliant at surfacing and quantifying assumptions in all functional areas of BU's and provides the foundation for realistic business plans; Ansoff matrices and wheels, Directional Policy matrix, GE matrix, Hoffer matrix, a host of pipelines by BU's, product groups and products, key customers, regions, DuPont’s, scorecards, PowerStrat Financial Analytics is elegant suite of strategic analysis models that offers empirically based tools. These tools build and display portfolio views of business units or products.

Services include:

• PowerStrat Business Intelligence Dashboard Software
• Hands-on managed support from total outsourcing to total client managed
• Training
• Implementation
• Support

PowerStrat Liquidity Management Solutions

Cash in the bank... the ultimate truth of corporate success. Finally unique liquidity management tools really do empower business units and Corporate Treasury to get it right.

Cash in the bank is the ultimate truth of performance. PowerStrat Liquidity Management Solutions provides specialized software and support to clients who would like to get better control of cash-flow, and stop leakages from the cash flow system. The method incorporates all aspects relating to liquidity including operational and non-operational, working capital, Capex, Acquisitions and expansions, all financing including inter-company loans, net cash requirements forecasted to 20 years using comprehensive statistically driven predictive analytic methods. PowerStrat Liquidity software is a module that pulls data from your existing accounting systems and provides full independent treasury management capability without affecting your data existing data. The dashboard components provide cut and dice perspectives from different components of the cash flow cycle. This is a highly practical everyday use tool for business units and head office treasury function.

Services include:

• PowerStrat Liquidity Management Dashboard Software
• Hands-on managed support from total outsourcing to total client managed
• Training
• Implementation
• Support

PowerStrat Education Management Solutions

Supporting education management is the most important contribution we can make to the betterment of missions of lives. PowerStrat tools are superb to understand and manage education and training at all levels.

In 2014 together with Sunward Park High School and driven by the leadership of the Gauteng MEC, we tested a concept that effective education management would benefit from the strategic, operational and financial tools that assist our business clients. The results were positive beyond expectation. For example, just as new products and services move through the evaluation pipeline, learners (students) go through a similar process. Our wheel tool also gives SGB’s (School Governing Body) and the Principal’s the ability to visually cut and dice performance results by grade, class, subject, learner, educator, and also bring include merits/demerits, extra-mural, sport, feeder schools and psychometric test results. Finally, the PowerStrat financial management module for education interrogates and displays school financial school data is clear visual dashboards that can be easily understood.

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Q What is PowerStrat about?

A PowerStrat is a suite of 27 modules that fall under eight BI Dashboard types e.g. Finance, Strategic Portfolios and Pipelines, Product Development, Liquidity Management Solutions, Talent Management, Education Management, Market Segmentation and Risk Management. A Manufacturing module will be introduced on 25 May 2015.

Q Is PowerStrat really differentiated from all the other BI tools and services?

A Yes PowerStrat is more sophisticated that 95% of other BI tools because if incorporates best practice knowledge in a way that guides users to see and interpret data that is not always  apparent. PowerStrat provides some unique visualizations that others simply do not because they either havent thought of it or they are too difficult to design and program. We know because we did it.

Q How does PowerStrat licensing and pricing work?

A PowerStrat modules are licensed individually with prices depending on number of users, modules and so on. Each situation is tailored to client needs.

Q Is PowerStrat work with data on the Cloud? 

A Yes, PowerStrat is data agnostic and works with all popular databases, cubes and warehouses.

Q Will PowerStrat work with different Operating Systems?

A Yes, PowerStrat is Java based and "plays well" with all Operating Systems.

Q Is PowerStrat designed to work for tablets and smart phones?

A Yes PowerStrat can be used on tablets. Smartphones by virtue of their small screen size can use PowerStrat but larger screens are recommended.

Q How long does a PowerStrat implementation take?

A IF client data is available then implementation can be from a few days to a few months depending on the scope of course. 

Q Can PowerStrat be customised?

A Yes totally customised for each client. The beauty of PowerStrat is that we start with a canvass that is already 80 percent of what a client would normally require and so customizations are relativly quick.

Q Is there a limit on customizing PowerStrat?

A No limits at all. PowerStrat is developed entirely by us in South Africa and eveything can be customised down to a pixel if necessary.

Q What does the process of a PowerStrat  BI dashboard project look like?

A We meet with client to discuss requirements, things that are urgent, low hanging fruit items, and from this information we present a project plan. 

Q Does PowerStrat follow Project Management Institute (PMI) project implementation guidelines and practices?

A Yes, all projects are managed by a fully regigistered and qualified Project Management Professionsal (PMP) to ensure that our clients get the best service and reliability possible.