Analyzing Sales Using PS/nVision and Online Analytical Processing

This section provides an overview and describes how to analyze sales using:

• Ps/nVision.

• Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).

Using PS/nVision

To set up forecasting, use the Forecast OM and Forecast Product components.

PeopleSoft Order Management makes it easy for you to analyze your sales. You can forecast how many orders a customer, group of customers, or an entire region will book or ship in any given fiscal period. You can also predict how many products or groups of products will be sold per month, as well as their total revenue. If you want to be more specific, you can forecast the quantity of a certain product, a customer, customer group, or region will book or ship.

In addition, PeopleSoft Order Management comes with several predefined sales analysis report examples that you can generate using PS/nVision. PS/nVision is a powerful reporting tool that enables you to create reports and graphics to enhance your decision-making process.

PeopleSoft Order Management provides you with a number of sample sales analysis reports. You can use these reports as delivered, or use the flexibility of PS/nVision to modify them to meet your unique business requirements. The sample sales analysis reports address product bookings, product sales, customer bookings, and customer sales.

To use this functionality, log on to the PeopleTools windows client.

Pages Used for Sales Analysis

Using Online Analytical Processing

When you analyze sales order data, you probably want to look at it from several perspectives, by customer group, product group, sales region, and so on. You might think of a dimension as a column or row on a spreadsheet; however, since a spreadsheet is only two-dimensional, you would have a hard time representing customers, products, sales regions, and time using a single spreadsheet. Therefore, when data has three or more dimensions, we refer to it as being arranged in a cube, with each side representing a dimension. Once you have defined an OLAP cube, you can pivot your data to view it from different perspectives, or slice and dice the data based on combinations of these dimensions. When you analyze the data, you slice off part of the cube or dice it to get to an individual cell. These multidimensional views of your financial data provide you with valuable information for effective data analysis, decision-making, and forecasting.

You use the PeopleTools Cube Manager to build multidimensional databases of information. The Cube Manager works with two OLAP tools: Arbor Essbase and Cognos PowerPlay. When you use Cognos PowerPlay, which is shipped with PeopleTools, in conjunction with the PeopleTools Cube Manager, you have everything you need to begin building cubes to analyze your data. PeopleSoft Order Management uses Cognos PowerPlay.

Preparing Trees and Queries

After you have determined the dimensions for the cube, you need to set up the way each of the dimensions will roll up. You also need to specify how detail values roll up to higher levels for each dimension. You can use existing trees or queries with OLAP. In addition, you need to define a query to extract the data from your PeopleSoft database to the OLAP cube.

PeopleSoft Order Management provides sample queries and trees. You can use them as delivered or modify them as you like. This list describes the queries and trees delivered with PeopleSoft Order Management. There is one main data query input file used for margin analysis, and three dimension queries. A tree, Sales Regions, is used as a fourth dimension.

Designing Dimensions

The Dimension page and its component pages enable you to define the sources, tree, query, or tree and query combination, and associated settings for dimensions. You’ll have one entry for each dimension in your cube. At this point, you are only beginning to build the structure of each dimension that will comprise your cube. You are not yet defining any data for the cube.

We deliver some sample dimensions with PeopleSoft Order Management. You can use the dimensions as delivered or modify them as you like. The list details the dimensions provided:

• Customer Group (OLAP_OM_CUSTOMER_DIM).

• Order Group (OLAP_OM_ORDER_DIM).

• Product Group (OLAP_OM_PRODUCT_DIM).

• Sales Regions (SALES_PERSONS).

Designing Analysis Models

After creating data source queries and defining dimensions, you define the analysis model by mapping fields from the data source queries to the dimensions you have defined. For each dimension, you must specify which field in the data source query is the source field for the particular dimension. You can also define the measures that will be used in your cube on this page.

We deliver a sample Analysis Model with PeopleSoft Order Management. You can use the Analysis Model as delivered or modify it as you like.

Designing Cube Templates

A Cube Template simplifies your work in managing updates to the cube structure, data loads, and reloads, and in setting platform-specific options for Essbase and PowerPlay.

The Customer and Product Profitability Cube Template we deliver as a sample Cube Template with PeopleSoft Order Management enables you to see profitability levels by product, customer, and market. By adding four dimensions to the cube, the Cube Template enables managers to quickly and easily see the profit margins by sales regions, customer groups, order groups, and products by slicing and dicing sales order information multiple ways. In addition, the Cube Template has eight different measurements so that you can view profitability from the overall profit of the product, down to the cost of the product. The Cube Template provides a ready-made tool to empower management, as well as the sales force, to make pricing and sales decisions based on the direct profit contribution in order to maximize profitability.

You can use the template as delivered or modify it as you like.

Viewing and Analyzing Cube Data

Once you've built your cube, you can use PowerPlay to view the cube. You can pivot, reposition, and manipulate your data, as well as create graphs and charts. You can view margin information for customers, customer groups, sales regions, products, and product groups, and rank your most profitable products.

See Also

Cognos PowerPlay documentation

PowerPlay documentation

Pages Used Online Analytical Processing