The Quantalyst Calculation Engine is the activity-based tool that can be brought to bear on your big data needs.
The Quantalyst Calculation Engine is a powerful modeling tool enabling users to model their pricing, cost-to-serve and cost-to-produce business structures to identify and undertake the management of the true drivers of profitability. Whether you are seeking a single pilot project to unravel and address pressing business issues, or a fully integrated approach, this is your tool.
Why the Quantalyst Engine?
The Quantalyst Calculation Engine is a scalable tool to handle your analytical needs. It is built on a Microsoft SQL Server database; this makes comprehensive business integration possible. Its capabilities include:
- Dimensional calculation at the channel, product and customer. Multidimensional capability is the only way to identify cost differentials when, for example, the same product is served to customers through alternative channels or costs are related to the product prior to delivery to the customers (warehousing, freight, configuration, etc.)
- Full auditability to the source costs. The ability to audit costs from the target (customer, product, channel) to the source (usually the general ledger) achieves credibility of results, eliminating turf wars from arbitrary allocations.
- Large dataset capability. In large assignments, datasets can easily exceed 100's of millions of line items. Only an enterprise-level relational database like we use in the Quantalyst Calculation Engine can handle such large data sets.
- Validation. Built-in validation ensures that a comprehensive model is developed.
- Rapid calculation. The Engine produces results very quickly and allows you to quickly model and test multiple pricing and cost scenarios.
Integration & reporting
All of the tools that are available in SQL Server or third party vendors can be applied to the calculation engine. This includes:
- Extraction, transformation and load of data from any external data source.
- Reporting services, customized to meet any reporting need.
- Easily export results into Cognos, Hyperion, SAP BPC, custom OLAP reporting cubes or any other corporate performance management system.
The Agnostic Data Structure
Best of all, we use an agnostic approach to data structure - meaning that we do not attempt to "own the desktop", but distribute the resultsets through your existing tools. This saves substantially on software and training, and means that your users are already trained! In fact, the most downloaded and successful technical document to data structures in cost-to-serve design "Cost-to-Serve Architectural Design" can be downloaded at this link (requires credentials).
It also means that our data structures can be utilized to work with a variety of calculation engines. We have successfully integrated this approach with numerous tools including SAP PCM, Business Objects Metify and SAS ABM. A note, not all of these tools are similarly scalable, so be sure to check with us, regardless of your tool.
Deployment
Deployment requires SQL Server licensing and the necessary server capacity. Most of our implementations involve a pilot project to prove feasibility and obtain business buy-in followed by integration into the existing BI and accounting infrastructure.Contact us to learn more about how the Quantalyst calculation engine can help your firm improve its profitability.
