IBM Case Studies Streamlining compensation program with IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS

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	Streamlining compensation program with IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS IBM

Streamlining compensation program with IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS

IBM

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries	Retail
Applicable Functions	Human Resources Sales & Marketing
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	The Brazilian retailer had a business-critical incentive compensation system that had 60 rules for calculating bonuses, and provided little flexibility in product promotion. The monthly processing time took 12 - 18 hours causing a rush to meet the payroll deadline. The compensation system was a 15-year-old COBOL program with very little documentation that depended on a single systems analyst to keep it running. There was a two-day window at the end of each month to collect and process all store transactions in order to determine incentive compensation. If a problem appeared, such as an unexpected or erroneous transaction volume or money value, the IT team would work around the clock to make adjustments and reprocess batches. Making timely updates to the compensation plan to meet constantly changing business needs was a challenge. Read More
About Customer	The customer is a large Brazilian retailer of durable goods. The company has grown to be one of Brazil’s largest durable goods retail chains with 613 stores nationwide. With gross revenues of R$5.7 billion and EBITDA of R$320 million in 2010, the retailer has 21 thousand employees serving 23 million customers. The retail outlets are catalog stores, where sales representatives use computers to display and sell the company’s goods. About 30 percent of sales representatives’ monthly paycheck is flat salary, and the other 70 percent is commission and bonuses. Read More
Solution	The company implemented IBM® WebSphere® ILOG® JRules business rule management system to create a flexible, easy-to-manage incentive compensation system. The ILOG JRules solution processes all the transactions for each day and the previous days, running all 60 business rules, to keep a running total of commissions and to determine how bonuses are progressing against monthly goals. The processing for each day takes only 55 minutes, and there’s no longer any rush at the end of the month to meet a two-day window, because the work has been broken up into 30 daily parts. The JRules solution brings unprecedented transparency to the compensation program, saves time, boosts satisfaction for employees and reassures management that written policies are being observed across the board. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Applicable Industries

Retail

Applicable Functions

Human Resources

Sales & Marketing

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

The Brazilian retailer had a business-critical incentive compensation system that had 60 rules for calculating bonuses, and provided little flexibility in product promotion. The monthly processing time took 12 - 18 hours causing a rush to meet the payroll deadline. The compensation system was a 15-year-old COBOL program with very little documentation that depended on a single systems analyst to keep it running. There was a two-day window at the end of each month to collect and process all store transactions in order to determine incentive compensation. If a problem appeared, such as an unexpected or erroneous transaction volume or money value, the IT team would work around the clock to make adjustments and reprocess batches. Making timely updates to the compensation plan to meet constantly changing business needs was a challenge.

About Customer

The customer is a large Brazilian retailer of durable goods. The company has grown to be one of Brazil’s largest durable goods retail chains with 613 stores nationwide. With gross revenues of R$5.7 billion and EBITDA of R$320 million in 2010, the retailer has 21 thousand employees serving 23 million customers. The retail outlets are catalog stores, where sales representatives use computers to display and sell the company’s goods. About 30 percent of sales representatives’ monthly paycheck is flat salary, and the other 70 percent is commission and bonuses.

Solution

The company implemented IBM® WebSphere® ILOG® JRules business rule management system to create a flexible, easy-to-manage incentive compensation system. The ILOG JRules solution processes all the transactions for each day and the previous days, running all 60 business rules, to keep a running total of commissions and to determine how bonuses are progressing against monthly goals. The processing for each day takes only 55 minutes, and there’s no longer any rush at the end of the month to meet a two-day window, because the work has been broken up into 30 daily parts. The JRules solution brings unprecedented transparency to the compensation program, saves time, boosts satisfaction for employees and reassures management that written policies are being observed across the board.

Impact #1	Improved employee morale with quick resolution to compensation adjustments
Impact #2	Zero downtime for system versus frequent breakdowns previously
Impact #3	Broke up the monthly 12 - 18 hour processing run into daily 55 minute runs

Impact #1

Improved employee morale with quick resolution to compensation adjustments

Impact #2

Zero downtime for system versus frequent breakdowns previously

Impact #3

Broke up the monthly 12 - 18 hour processing run into daily 55 minute runs

Benefit #1	Reduced processing time from 12-18 hours to 55 minutes daily
Benefit #2	Zero downtime for system

Benefit #1

Reduced processing time from 12-18 hours to 55 minutes daily

Benefit #2

Zero downtime for system

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Overview

Streamlining compensation program with IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules BRMS

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit