Name: Bassal Mehmood Talha

Matriculation no: 75681

Case: Managing with analytics at procter & gamble
Q1: What is business analytics? Why is it important to make real time decesions at P&G? what are the
benefits of the centralizing the data and analytics activities?
Ans: Business analytics may refer to as the statistical analysis of the data of a company along the
different departments of a company as well as the external environment and then optimizing that
information to benefit operations and decision making of a company, it cannot be only summed up to
such a short explanation, in case of procter and gamble it may play a huge and pivotal role, as it is a
series of systems and processes that enables and emphasizes the use of up to date data and advanced
analytics to drive decision making, in addition Data analytics were seamlessly integrated in P&G so that
at a single click on higher level data can make available a drilled down view of performance by brand,
initiative, retailer and also individual stores, also statistical forecasts for the next twelve months can be
automatically updated and made available.
For every business to stay profitable and competitive in todays environment they need to be responsive
and respond quickly to the customers choices and changing preferences and also take into consideration
the competitors moves and all the other internal and external factors, like all companies P&G's main
concerns are a profitable growth through continuous innovation and bring initiatives to global markets
more quickly so it is very important for P&G to make real time decisions for P&G to stay responsive
which mean adapt to the change in culture, competitive environment and customer preferences as well
as other external factors to stay ahead of their competitors and also be able to identify future trends
and demand patterns to better forecast the future and reduce costs. Real time information is the only
way that can help P&G follow their goals of continuing to profitable growth and continuous innovation
because this is an ongoing process because every day there are new developments and new factors that
are taking place in the world and in business world, also globally local markets have their own dynamics
and change cycles, so as fast as the events are changing, as fast as the environment changes and
incorporates new factors, P&G needs real time information about all of that to achieve goals that they
have set for them.
Q2: What are the functions of Information and Decision Solution (IDS) at P&G? Discuss how the
decision cockpit developed by IDS in P&G works?
Ans: In essence the functions of IDS are to provide standardized, real time form of data, analytics and
information to all the departments of P&G for decisions making and it is a key enabler of business for
them, IDS is a central data repository and its functions are but not limited to standardizing data types
and quality, aggregating and comparing data across product lines and regions so its becomes less
complicated for business leaders to interact with informations, as it is stored in standard format in
central data ware house it is available to all departments working with IDS including GBU's and MDO's to
access data is same representation tool so its easy for everyone to understand. Its core function is to

aid in decision making by providing company wide database, automated reports that were used across
multiple business units and also retrieving data and performing basic analysis, with consistent visuals
analysts and managers from one unit could step into a role, or even a meeting, with a different product
or region and would be able to understand the situation.
One of the first company wide solutions developed by IDS was Decision Cockpit, a web based
customizable portal or dashboard that tracked the most relevant data and news for each individual
employee. Decision Cockpit works in a way that each individual employee was able to specify the data
and reports displayed on their personal dashboard and could set alerts if data were outside of a
specified range or if important information, like a competitors product introduction, became available.
Linked to the centralized data warehouse the dashboards were immediately updated as soon as the new
data arrived or any information became available, allowing managers to be notified and react real time.
The two main goals that decision cockpit was developed was to accelerate the decision making process
with real time information and changing the entire focus of information based decisions from "What" to
"Why" and "How".

Q3: Discuss how business analytics affects P&G's corporate culture, forecasting, and supply chain
performance?
Ans: The dramatic change in information processing and business analytics brought a shift in the
corporate culture of P&G and how it managed itself, previously, P&G had preview culture which meant
that any data could be previewed and digested by middle and business unit managers before business
leaders could see it, and there was a time to developed a plan to address any issue. The new
approached meant that information could be viewed at the same time by everyone, as said by P&G
president this new system was like a performance review of yourself in front of everyone else in a 30
point font.
P&G's culture was to be moved radically towards a fast paced business and higher rate of speed at
which the operate and do business.IDS had worked before with human resources on how to best
manage this cultural transformation, one leader at a time. The embedded IDS analysts provided
coaching to the business leaders on how to use the new management tools effectively. The ability to
access information, quickly identify attention areas and rapidly access potential responses provided a
new level of transparency to the organization due to these advancements the company reduced the
level of senior management employment by 15% resulting in hierarchy of reporting levels to 5 from 7.
As IDS was centralized system with continuous updates of data to all the departments of the company, it
meant that all the relevant departments such as forecasting and supply chain were integrated with
production, sales and marketing departments and all were updated about their particular needs and
duties and how to proceed further, or if there was an issue it could be discussed in business sphere (
conference room at P&G where all info from all IDS depts. can be displayed). Business analytics had
made information and forecast much more advanced, in 2008 IDS began to assemble a centralized

forecasting team that would use statistical methods to provide GBUs, MDOs and company leadership
with a better view of future market developments. Staffed with analysts specialized in statistics and
econometrics, the team took under two years to develop models that would provide 12 month forecasts
for P&G product market combinations worldwide. The statistical forecasts were stored in the centralized
database which was made available through decision cockpits. It also provided probabilistic ranges that
showed the spread of prospective outcomes. the forecasting was dealt with millions of simulations of
how the future might be to give them an overall view the market and also where the attention was
more required. Introduction of two ways of forecasting were firstly, time series based forecasting
models which produced the most accurate forecasts using previous results and macroeconomic factors
also other essential inputs, secondly, the propensity models on the other hand attempted to better
understand the cause of the outcomes. by incorporating drivers such as new product introductions,
marketing campaigns, competitors actions etc served as useful tools to measure potential impact of
management actions.
Supply chain management department of P&G was significantly affected by such improvements in
business analytics, as all the information was synchronized and available to all departments including
supply chain and due to most up to date data also in-house enable supply chain to better manage their
resources and work efficiently and plan better to optimized production capacities better according to
demand patters also procurement of raw materials to be done in efficient way which reduces storage
costs and also increases profits by reducing costs due to better and timely purchases and also scheduling
supply chain according through the whole process, and if there is a new product or delays then they are
up to date on the issues with all the other departments so that they are able to make necessary changes
whichever are needed and appropriate felt by the business leaders and then shared their concerns with
all the other departments of P&G.