A 360° Change: Golden’s Reporting Solution Facilitates Development
 IBM Global Executive & Organizational Capability
By migrating antiquated reports to a streamlined new system, Golden helped IBM take control of its executive development.
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Effective data analysis can mean the difference between organizational growth and stagnation.  Charged with facilitating executive development, IBM’s Global Executive & Organizational Capability (GEOC) relied upon a complicated 10-year-old reporting application that rendered a wealth of data difficult to manipulate, share, analyze, and act upon.  Database and reporting experts at Golden Consulting Group, LLC (Golden) helped GEOC implement an efficient, flexible, and user-friendly reporting system, thus paving the way for greater executive development and organizational growth.

The Client
As a subset of corporate Human Resources, IBM’s GEOC cultivates the leadership potential of IBM executives to enable the long-term success of the enterprise.  GEOC does this through three main functions:  executive staffing and succession planning; identification of high-potential leaders and accelerated development of executives at key career transition points; and consulting on and facilitating cross-enterprise integration and transformation initiatives.

In addition to Managerial Styles and Organizational Climate inventories, a central component of GEOC’s mission is its web-based IBM Leadership Competency Survey, or “360 survey” of managerial styles.  In order to obtain a well rounded view of an IBM employee, this survey is completed by the leader in question, his or her direct reports, peers, and managers.  The resulting assessments inform the developmental needs and movement of talent throughout the enterprise. By honing the leadership skills of current executives, as well as identifying and cultivating potential leaders for the future, GEOC plays a crucial role in the direction of the IBM corporation.

 The Challenge
After employees completed their 360 surveys over the web, GEOC used a 10-year-old custom Java application to collect, analyze and report on this data.  The system could not support ad hoc reporting on demand and required a number of manual steps in order to create and distribute reports in PDF format.  These reports were difficult to customize and required expensive PDF licenses to create them.  To make matters worse, only a skilled technical expert within the department knew enough about the hard coding involved to make even the simplest of changes.  Users relied on the IT department for most reporting, which tied up valuable resources.  “Maintaining and supporting this system took so many man hours,” explains David Felicione, a GEOC e-Development Specialist & Organization Leadership Consultant.  “Even deleting one line in a report was an onerous process.”  
This inefficient system required three tools to generate survey results, and the applications had to be manually installed on each individual user’s PC—a substantial inconvenience.  Reporting performance was slow and, to perform any detailed analysis of survey results, users were forced to transport data to SPSS. This system could not support one central location for distributing high quality reports and performing analysis on 360 data.  In order to be more effective, GEOC needed something new. 

Golden’s Smart Solution
GEOC needed an “off-the-shelf” tool from a vendor who could provide thorough and certified product training for the IBM staff.  As a BusinessObjects Gold Partner, Golden offered a dedicated team of database experts and report developers who led GEOC through a “quick start” deployment of BusinessObjects Enterprise and Crystal Reports.  This project resulted in an environment that would enable non-technical business users to use a secure, more intuitive web environment to obtain and customize reports.  

First, Golden’s developers worked with GEOC staff to understand the 360 Peer Review process and its technical infrastructure and applications.  Next, they converted the old Java-based reports into Crystal Reports, carefully ensuring that the “look and feel” of GEOC’s complex reports and charts carried over into the new reports to ensure continuity in analysis and the user experience. 

As a certified BusinessObjects training provider, Golden offered continued mentoring and training for GEOC developers and business users to that they understood the capabilities of and best practice for using, maintaining and creating additional reports within the Business Objects system.

“We understood our data, and Golden understood this new technology,” remarks Felicione.  “Partnership with Golden made a complex change process very easy and understandable. Golden was always there to help.”

The Results
GEOC’s new reporting environment has improved report generation time, efficiency, and flexibility.  No longer must IT staff manually install multiple applications on each reporting user’s PC.  The set-up process can be completed behind the scenes and distributed via a simple URL, thereby streamlining the administrative process.  Pre-set security profiles enable the right people to see and modify the right reports.  User demand for technical support has decreased because the standard features of the BusinessObjects products meet GEOC needs that had previously required complex custom coding.  Nontechnical users can now access, customize, and analyze reports independently—exponentially increasing productivity.

Furthermore, report distribution had been limited to printed copies or PDF files, but users can now choose from several other options including Microsoft Excel and Word.  Integrating the distribution of reports has reduced workflow, and more convenient distribution options facilitate wider spread of knowledge throughout the organization. 

These increases in efficiency and flexibility mean that GEOC data is richer and has greater impact upon end users.  “Because we can better present and analyze the strengths and development opportunities of our team members,” explains Felicione, “IBM’s business performance and bottom line reap the benefits.”

With Golden’s expertise, GEOC saves time and energy, spreads knowledge, and learns more about IBM’s leadership talent each day.  For this organization, insight is Golden!
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