“Data Warehouse” IT system at PSS “Społem Katowice”

A few years ago, an IT system could consist of a single data server and a few terminal workstations, on which warehouse management, HR and payroll, or financial and accounting systems were implemented. This was sufficient for current information needs and satisfied the requirements of the company’s management.

As a result of the functional development of software and an increase in the volume of processed data, the demand for processed information capable of supporting management procedures grew in parallel. New, reliable software appeared, along with new, more secure protections against unauthorized access, and the speed of database servers increased. These conditions no longer applied only to small, local LAN networks, but were intended to exist in distributed and decentralized networks. Based on the latest technologies and cooperation with the Sigma Kraków company, we created the Data Warehouse system at PSS “Społem” Katowice. This system collects necessary information from the company’s retail outlets, warehouse units, and production facilities in a common database, ensuring instant access to data and various analyses, presenting them in a convenient and attractive way for the user. It facilitates planning and analysis of the company’s economic condition, providing full insight into its business operations. Fast access to data and the lack of a need to make printouts are the main advantages of the system.

This system is a logical consequence and a link between the individual subsystems functioning until now in food and industrial retail, which I have already written about extensively

in previous issues of “Logistyka”.

The idea of creating a Data Warehouse system was born in 2000 and was a consequence of the implementation of scanning and computer systems in the Cooperative’s largest facilities. In the initial period of reaching the information optimum, the data generated at ADS Anker cash registers constituted a small part of the total information about the trade turnover of the retail outlet and did not allow for operational decision-making at the Cooperative level. They were used only at the level of an individual store, while they reached the management center in the form of periodically created paper printouts. Only on the basis of this material could analyses be performed.

The low flexibility of the system therefore resulted from its passive information structure, the cyclical nature of the data (decade, month), and the form of transmission to the management center. Further processing required manual re-entry of data into spreadsheets and then compiling the data into summary tables. This system was efficient only at the level of at most a few facilities, and subsequent implementations caused an increase in manual work, hence the search for solutions to eliminate this burden began. It is worth adding here that currently, information is collected from over 40 locations in the city. Thus, in 2000, together with the Sigma company, the assumptions were developed and the Data Warehouse was launched in test mode. The main assumption was the daily, automatic updating of the database with data from retail outlets. This is possible by installing modems and setting up automatic transmission during night hours. Currently, modems transmitting information via an internet communication stream using FTP technology are used for data transmission. FTP services (File Transfer Protocol, i.e., a data transmission protocol allowing for the transfer of files between remote computers, and thus, e.g., copying computer files made available on remote servers to one’s own computer – containing data, text, graphics, sound, animation). This is an optimal and generally used solution in modern data transmission.

Currently, data flows into the Data Warehouse system from all retail outlets of the Cooperative, where separate scanning and computer systems and POS system cash registers, based on Elzab FP-600 fiscal printers, operate. Production plants are also connected to the system, however, data from these facilities are used for automatic booking of documents into the FK system, and the Data Warehouse presents data on the sale of goods. Additionally, all facilities where the replacement of fiscal cash registers from ADS Anker to Elzab Delta cash registers took place in 2001/2002, send data to the Data Warehouse via the Modem Transmission Center (CTM). CTM is a separate LAN (Local Area Network) installed at the company’s headquarters, consisting of two high-performance computers carrying out data transmission to Delta cash registers (price changes, introduction of new goods, and removal of unnecessary assortment items). Information about sales from all Delta cash registers is also collected in the CTM in a daily cycle (transmission at night).