Microsoft® Retail

August 2005

Retail Analytics
White Paper
Contents

Foreword — The Science of Retailing 4

Market Overview 6

Business Intelligence in Action 8

The Right Tools 12

Microsoft Partner Ecosystem 14

More Information Back Cover

R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 3
 Foreword
The Science of Retailing
The eighties and the nineties in retail systems were
about improved transaction processing. Retailers
replaced many of their merchandise management
systems, deployed electronic data interchange (EDI) and
introduced a plethora of in-store applications to better
support the transaction processing aspects of the
business. In the second half of the nineties, there was a
great deal of focus on Y2K and replacing operational
systems so that companies were not at risk. As a result,
transaction processing systems are now widely deployed
and many companies are on their second and, in some
cases, third-generation systems.
In the latter part of the nineties, business intelligence or
decision support systems started to come into their own.
As the technology has improved, progressively more
science has been added to the subjective aspect of
retailing. Leading retailers now combine their buying flair
with rigorous analysis to achieve market leading results.
The biggest areas to benefit from rigorous analysis are:
• Merchandising decisions
• Store operations
• Identification and adoption of marketing strategies
and campaigns
• Supply chain management
4 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
The buying and merchandising function is one of the
most important in any retail business. Many complex
decisions have to be made, such as:
•
How wide should the ranges be?
•
What ratios should we buy each colour in?
•
What ratios should we buy each size in?
•
How should we allocate initial stock injections to
stores to maximise sales?
•
How accurately can we forecast store/stock keeping
unit (SKU) level sales to drive replenishment?
•
When should we markdown slow-moving items and
how deep should the markdown be?
Business intelligence systems make a major contribution
to improved decision making. For example, many retailers
analyse historic sales by size and use last season’s size
ratios as a guide to this year’s. But most stockouts occur
in the best-selling sizes and this approach will perpetuate
under buying those sizes for the next season. Analysing
past sales for the period of time that stock coverage was
good (rather than the whole season) will give a more
accurate planning assumption.
In a similar way, analysing the sales rate of an SKU may
show that it is not selling at the planned rate and that
action needs to be taken. Drilling down by store often
shows that some stores are doing well with specific sizes
or colours, some are doing OK, and some doing badly.
A retailer might then decide to do nothing in the stores
where the product is selling well and apply a 30 per cent
markdown in the stores where it is doing less well. In the
stores where it is moving far too slowly for the markdown
to make any real difference, retailers might transfer the
stock to stores where it sells well. In this way, they can
greatly reduce markdown as a per cent to sales and
improve overall profitability from the merchandise.
Store operations is also an area of major importance.
Most store managers know how their own store is
performing, but lack knowledge of how other stores
are doing on a comparable basis. As an example,
a store might finish the week up five per cent on the
same week last year, and the store manager might feel
pleased with that result. However, if they can see that
the company was up nine per cent for the same period,
they really did four per cent worse than the company
average. At this point, the ability to drill down and
make comparisons against other similar stores helps
the store manager to see how performance can be
sharpened. Within store operations, retailers can
benefit from business intelligence-based analysis in
a number of ways:
• Increasing sales by exploiting product affinities
and adjacencies.
• Identifying opportunities to improve space
productivity — allocating the right space to each
product category.
• Maximising labour productivity — having the most
registers open when the most customers are in the
store.
• Improving inventory availability in cases where
stores can do some re-ordering or influence their
own store ranges.
Business intelligence can provide the marketing
department with valuable insights into its customer
base. These can assist in identifying new areas of
opportunity and more effective ways to communicate
marketing messages. As an example, in a supermarket,
basket analysis gives an indication of the proportion of
customers that own pets and might be interested in a
wider range of pet products. If a customer relationship
management (CRM) solution is deployed, analytics can
give deeper insights into specific types of customer
and their buying preferences.
A critical dimension of supply chain management is
the ability to forecast and react to demand. Demand
and sales are the same thing until stockouts occur.
Then retailers know the sales, but not the demand.
Business intelligence systems can help estimate true
demand by assessing lost sales when stores were out
of stock. The historically-adjusted estimate of demand
(sales plus estimated lost sales) then provides a much
better basis for forecasting future demand. This, in turn,
allows the incidence of stockouts to be reduced.
As this discussion shows, business intelligence systems
have a huge role to play in running a more successful,
more profitable retail business. Intelligent use of these
systems creates a powerful gap between the market
leaders and the followers. The remainder of this
document examines some of the uses of business
intelligence in more detail and shows how Microsoft
and its partners are helping retailers take advantage of
their business intelligence opportunities. I am confident
that you can profit significantly from investigating this
whole area further.
Brian Hume
Managing Director
Martec International Ltd.
R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 5
 Market Overview

The retailing environment is a dynamic one. Companies
need to be flexible and reactive so they can quickly
respond to increasingly sophisticated customer demands.
With the development of the Internet and the growth
of multi-channel operations, businesses must be able to
change their business models so they can collect real-time
business information and drive the efficiency of their
day-to-day operations.
However, with the advent of more advanced technology
and higher customer expectation, retailers are able to
respond to customer demand in near-real time. Under-
standing customer buying patterns is key to delivering
an enhanced retailing experience. Retailers are beginning
to realise that to optimise performance and revenue,
they must understand where their customers are
coming from.

Retailers must also find a way to understand the
range of customer segments in the marketplace.
A one-size-fits-all approach can no longer meet the
needs of a diverse customer base. Increasingly, retailers
are beginning to see the value in tailoring product
assortment and marketing to different stores so that
customers always have access to the products they
want, where and when they want them.
Business Intelligence Makes Business Sense
Retailers can use business intelligence to improve the
quality of service in a number of key areas. By providing
an accurate portrayal of customers, business intelligence
can help retailers to make business decisions quickly and
with confidence. As a result, they can enjoy in-creased
revenue, lower operating costs, and improved customer
relationships.

Key to ensuring that customers always receive the Accurate business intelligence also helps businesses
highest possible service is the elimination of traditional respond faster to new opportunities and changing
issues such as stockouts. In today’s competitive market- demands. Combining intelligent prediction mechanisms
place, technology is playing a vital role in driving with rapid execution helps organisations move from
efficiency and improving store responsiveness. concept to implementation as quickly as possible.
Not only can retailers collaborate more closely with
suppliers through sharing business information, they With access to an accurate snapshot of the profitability
can also predict demand and respond to real-time of specific customer relationships, retailers can focus
trading fluctuations to improve their stock levels. on their most lucrative customers. And by integrating
systems that span the enterprise—e-commerce, CRM,
The Rise of Business Intelligence and point of sale (POS) — businesses can create a
With growing industry focus on the need for an effective complete profile of a customer and offer insight into
method of collecting high-quality business intelligence, their buying patterns, sensitivity points, and preferred
reporting and analysis tools are becoming a must in the methods of contact and communication.
retail space. By keeping close track of their day-to-day
operations, retailers can boost store pro-ductivity by Businesses must focus on optimising their relationships
gaining a clear view of transactions, remaining stock, with existing customers if they want to stay ahead of the
best-selling products, and even staff performance. competition. Understanding who their loyal customers
are is important, while developing an individual, one-to-
In the past, retailers relied on historical analysis to inform one marketing message for the customer demonstrates
future decision making, and some data collection a level of personalisation that provides competitive
processes often left a lot to be desired. Sales reports were advantage. Business intelligence tools that combine
only made every month and may not have covered customer insight with rapid marketing deployment,
each and every department. In addition, new collections build trust, inspire loyalty, and prove to the customer
or product lines typically arrived on a three-monthly that they are truly valued by the organisation.
basis and customers were happy to wait for goods to
be delivered. By bringing powerful analysis and reporting tools to
the desktop, decision makers can conduct their own
queries and prepare reports with minimal support from
database administrators and IT specialists so it takes
less time to collect business-critical information.

6 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
Improving Processes Across the Store
With targeted business intelligence, retailers can
perform detailed analysis in a range of areas including
operations, customer management, events, trends,
supply chain, and supplier relationships.
Operations analysis — By frequently identifying
purchased combinations of products, retailers can help
improve store layout and assortment planning. Basket
analysis can drive promotional campaigns and help
measure the effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
In addition, better analysis of in-store operations can
improve staff planning to maximise efficiency and
cut staffing costs.
Customer management analysis — Business intelligence
can help retailers improve customer targeting, revenue
management, customer knowledge management, and
multi-channel integration. By analysing transactional
data during the day, retailers can identify differences
in customer profiles, while real-time tools help stores
adapt prices to match demand patterns and improve
profitability. Critically, by understanding how personal
priorities affect shopping habits, retailers can also
anticipate customer needs to provide more appropriate
services and products.
Event analysis — Customer theft and internal fraud
need to be identified quickly. Retail analytics can help
control shrinkage by pinpointing exceptional events
quickly and help retailers sort any problems out rapidly.
Business intelligence can also help with promotions
management by determining whether or not to rush in
extra stocks or mark down prices to cope with changes
in consumer demand.
Trend analysis — With accurate analysis of stock-outs,
retailers can tailor demand forecasting to improve
their in-stock levels. At the same time, by assessing
the impact on customer demand patterns of removing
slow-moving product lines, retailers can gain insights
to optimise shopper satisfaction and stock turn.
Supply chain analysis — Real-time traceability is
essential for retailers who want to respond quickly
to changing demand. Business intelligence can help
retailers attain a clearer view of their supply chain and
even re-route global consignments to accelerate
deliveries as necessary.
Category and event analysis — Using business intelli-
gence tools in event monitoring, category management,
and new product introductions is vital. Retailers need to
be able to share information between the POS and
suppliers so that forecasts can be shared and performance
accurately mapped to maximise sales opportunities. In
addition, new product performance and the impact of
promotions need to be quickly analysed so that stores
can maintain a competitive edge.
Supplier relationship analysis — Successful replenish-
ment often depends on the efficiency of third-party
logistics providers. Sharing accurate performance data
with suppliers can help avert queries over service level
agreements and provide a common basis for mutual
improvement.
Collaborative analysis — Real-time analysis of customer
demand improves order management and can help
streamline production and cut lead times. With the
seamless exchange of information between the store
and the supplier, everyone in the supply chain has access
to the same product data, at the same time, to reduce
errors and duplicated effort. A common frame-work for
discussion can be established.
With the business intelligence market set to grow by
a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1 per cent
to US$4.5 billion (£2.5 billion) in 20071, the tools that
serve each area of the retail environment are likely
to become more sophisticated as retailers become
increasingly dependent on the data they can collect.
To keep pace with their competitors, retailers must
ensure that their technology infrastructure can support
initiatives to understand customers and consequently
increase sales.
1
IDC, Worldwide Business Intelligence Forecast and Analysis,
2003 — 2007 Study #29591, Dan Vesset (June 2003)
R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 7
 Business Intelligence in Action
Profit Protection
Checkout fraud is a major issue that costs U.K.
retailers billions each year. Key to detecting fraud
incidents is the timely delivery of information from
the store POS system to those who need it. While
there are a range of technologies that can detect
checkout scams, in many instances the information
required for detection is lost through poor procedures.
Retailers typically transfer a summary copy of POS
data to the corporate data centre after store closure,
but this summary usually discards most of the
contextual data that is useful for fraud detection.
Further, it takes significant manual resource to
search this data, and today’s retailers rarely have
the time or the tools.
Built in partnership with the U.K.’s top retailer Tesco,
the Sysrepublic Fraud Detection Framework provides
a comprehensive toolset that redefines how swindlers
can be tracked and stopped. The framework delivers
highly-filtered information on fraud data to the
people who need it as it is required. Endless pages
of data are converted into a real-time task list that is
priority-driven to deliver maximum business benefit.
A unique feedback feature also helps retailers to
uncover and watch for new forms of fraudulent
activity based on a set of rules and checks.
8 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
Tesco
Grocery Retailer
Tesco needed a system that would help it to manage
the entire fraud prevention process from investigating
cases, through to conviction and recovery of losses.
The grocery chain engaged Microsoft partner and
integration specialist Sysrepublic to build a bespoke
system. The resulting Web-based approach uses a
rule engine to automatically detect fraudulent
activity. It also includes a feedback facility to keep
the system well tuned to detect new types of scams.
The resulting solution has not only been implemented
in Tesco, but now forms the basis for a product that
is available for other retailers.
Benefits
• Staff can investigate cases as they occur.
• Fraud can be auto-detected.
• Security Managers can focus on loss recovery.
“Sysrepublic’s Fraud Detection Framework
is unique because it allows me to manage
the process from start to finish. We now
have much improved visibility of fraud at the
group, regional, and store level, helping us to
focus resources where they are most needed.
My security managers can log in and see their
daily prioritised work list and immediately
start investigating problems they would have
otherwise been unaware of. As new types of
fraud become apparent, we can build them
into the framework quickly and easily.”
Mike Cornish, Development Manager
for Security, Tesco Group.
Ethel Austin
Fashion Retail Chain
To keep pace with the increasing competition from
discount retailers, Ethel Austin needed to change its
approach to trading. The value fashion retail chain
relied on spreadsheets to plan its merchandise.
But gathering, storing, and analysing the supporting
data was increasingly time consuming and prone to
errors. Further, the spreadsheets were not structured
or flexible enough to let the retailer flow figures
top to bottom or bottom to top. Ethel Austin
replaced the spreadsheets with Compass Software’s
comprehensive planning application.
Benefits
• Cut the data for accurate
merchandise planning.
• React faster to market trends,
and change orders to meet demand.
• Produce consistent reports.
• Provide best-practice processes not only to
the merchandise team, but also to the buying,
financial, and logistical teams.
“With Compass, it is easier to cut the data
in different ways. If we want to look at the
colour spread in the range of a particular
department, view the price pointing or the
balance of the product offering, we can.
The reaction times of looking for and using
the right information have been greatly
reduced.”
Frank Christiansen,
Systems Controller, Ethel Austin.
Assortment Planning
Every retailer aims to strike the right balance
between product range and quantity. In short,
retailers must ensure enough selection without
overstocking, taking seasonality into account, to
provide the right merchandise flow. Because
assortment planning solutions address the most
detailed element of merchandising, retailers can
easily manage stock levels while addressing
customer preference and need.
Compass solutions have been developed in con-
junction with leading European and U.S. retailers to
go beyond simple spreadsheets for automating the
assortment planning process. Compass Merchandise
Planning provides a blend of ‘top-down’ and
‘bottom-up’ merchandise planning functionality with
an intuitive user interface that gives each individual
in the organisation the power to follow a process
workflow relevant to their role. By addressing the
activities of store planning, visual merchandising
and reporting and analysis, the solution can handle
the detail required for an effective assortment
planning process.
Compass smartVMTM uniquely combines digital
images with numerical and financial plans to make
it possible for retailers to visualise the ranges they
are planning to send to stores. The tool can be used
to model stores electronically, helping retailers to
create a number of layout options, and assess the
financial impact of each store layout.
R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 9
 Business Intelligence in Action continued
Sales Analysis and Line Management
The economics of retailing has fundamentally
changed with advancements in business analytics
systems. Today, the success of a retailer hinges
on knowing the customers and engaging them
with timely promotions, product suggestions, and
personalised service. Analytics software can spot
financial trends, recognise performance patterns,
and give top management a succinct view of what
is happening in the real-world of in-store retailing.
Faced with information from every facet of the
organisation, from warehouse to shelf, retailers
can find it hard to sort data, respond quickly to
market conditions, and remain one step ahead
of the competition.
A ProClarity solution that slices and dices data and
keeps pace with the speed of the business can help
retailers wade through information overload for
better decision making. By using the analytic
capabilities of Microsoft® SQL ServerTM Analysis
Services and Reporting Services, ProClarity lets
individual users view information in multidimen-
sional graphical formats. ProClarity delivers unique
visualisation tools that permit the easy creation of
sophisticated graphical analyses drawn from
multiple, live data sources. Decision makers can
interpret and capitalise on trends in the four key
business areas for retail: consumer analysis, category
and product analysis, supply chain analysis, and
corporate performance.
10 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
Scottish & Newcastle
Pub Company
Scottish & Newcastle Retail wanted to widen its col-
lection of data about sales of particular brandsand
create daily reports for managers to cover all of its
1,400 sites. Due to the challenges of trying to scale
their existing data warehouse, the pub company
could only collect POS data from 30 of its pubs
and restaurants.
By rebuilding the data warehouse using Microsoft
SQL Server Analysis Services, the pub company
solved the scalability problem to accommodate the
extra volumes of data. Scottish & Newcastle also
chose ProClarity to supply the front-end tool for
the users, because it offered the most sophisticated
functionality, and was specifically developed for a
Microsoft-based infrastructure. Recently, the pub-
lican’s marketing department managed to reduce
three weeks’ work to less than half an hour, after
using ProClarity for a wine promotion.
Benefits
• Increased volumes of data collection.
• Reports are produced quicker.
• Reports are more granular on specific products
and brands.
“The combination of Analysis Services
and ProClarity means there are no data
integration hurdles and gives us so much
more power and flexibility. We have not only
solved the scalability problem, we can also
produce reports much more quickly than we
were able to previously. I can very quickly
see that 6.3 million pints of Fosters are sold
per year, and I can drill down to see how this
is split between the different parts of the
business.”
Jeremy Blood, Strategy Director,
Scottish & Newcastle Retail
GlynWebb
DIY Home Improvement Store
Before rolling out solutions from JDA, Britain’s
largest independent home improvement store,
GlynWebb, often found that it sold out of its leading
lines on a daily basis while slower selling lines were
left occupying valuable shelf space. So the retailer
decided to shelve its traditional approach to cate-
gory management in favour of JDA Portfolio® Space
Management and Category Management solutions.
GlynWebb is now more effectively and consistently
reviewing its product range of approximately 8,000
products across 26 stores. The major issue of over-
stocking poorly selling products on the shelves
is quickly being addressed.
Benefits
• Accurate plotting of products means that
stock has been reduced by up to 20 per cent
in some categories.
• Ability to identify the most popular products
and give them the correct amount of shelf space.
• Maximised sales and revenue at the shelf edge.
• Improved overall shopping experience for
the customer.
Category Management
Understanding what customers are purchasing
in and across stores is crucial to taking advantage
of retail opportunities. But getting the right mix
and number of products in the category involves
complex decision making. Consumers want an
optimum product range, appealing promotions,
and compelling prices. Retailers that do not have
the resources to effectively manage all of their
buying categories on an ongoing basis will find
managing expenditures difficult, let alone taking
advantage of additional savings opportunities.
With smarter category management strategies,
retailers can quickly respond to market pressures and
boost profits. Providing the most powerful, real-time
category management solutions available on the
market today, JDA solutions help to eliminate the
guesswork in determining merchandise performance.
In particular, their category management products
deal with customer profiling, optimising product
assortment, reviewing category perform-ance, and
demand planning, so retailers can execute ‘financial-
to-floor’ retail strategies.

“Product performance was not adequately

reflected in our shelf and floor planning.
JDA’s category management solution has
given us the ability to review performance
and optimise our varied product ranges.
JDA’s space-planning applications enabled us
to allocate appropriate space to better selling
lines and position them in prime locations
within our stores. It also provides our retail
staff with far more accurate and better
presented planograms, enabling them
to improve merchandising standards
throughout the store.”
Mark Hobson, Head of Merchandising,
GlynWebb.

R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 11
 The Right Tools
Faced with the chance to access a much higher level
of information, retailers are unsurprisingly keen to
advance their competitive edge and jump on the
business intelligence bandwagon. However, finding
the right analysis solution can prove difficult.
When retailers make a technology investment, they need Server 2000 Reporting Services.
to be confident that it can integrate easily with any
existing infrastructure, deliver immediate incremental
value when tested and deployed, and that it can scale
to accommodate future requirements.
By developing their solutions on the Microsoft®.NET
Framework and XML Web services, and implementing
products such as Microsoft BizTalk® Server, Microsoft
SharePointTM Portal Server and Microsoft SQL ServerTM,
retailers can easily integrate real-time business
intelligence tools into their existing systems.
Using BizTalk Server (an integration hub), companies
can connect business systems and processes, while
SharePoint Portal Server promotes quick and easy
company-wide collaboration allowing individuals
to exchange, compare and discuss documents and
processes quickly and easily — even if their offices are If they find their requirements are more complex,
physically remote. Microsoft Office tools such as the
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard, Microsoft Excel,
and the Microsoft Office Excel Add-In for Microsoft
SQL Server Analysis Services, all help companies extend
their business intelligence solutions from the server to The Microsoft platform for business intelligence provides
the desktop with familiar and easy-to-use tools.
12 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
SQL Server 2000 performs the function of a relational
database and includes a powerful built-in set of busi-
ness intelligence tools. These include build and manage
functionality, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), data
mining and reporting out of the box, with Microsoft
SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services and Microsoft SQL
Why Microsoft Technology?
Microsoft SQL Server is hugely attractive to retailers
because it comes with an out-of-the-box relational
database as well as an OLAP database and data mining
technology. With the Microsoft suite of interoperable
products, companies can optimise their processes by
quickly converting raw data into usable insights with-
out the need for additional tools or applications.
In addition, the Microsoft business intelligence
platform can build on any incumbent investment
in heterogeneous legacy tools and environments.
Retailers do, however, have the option to deploy a
business intelligence solution that is solely based on
Microsoft technology so they can achieve a superior
total cost of ownership and better value for money.
Microsoft independent software vendor (ISV) partners
can provide best-in-class applications that extend the
value of the Microsoft data environment.
the building blocks for end-to-end business solutions
that help retailers draw valuable insights from their
business and operational data, and then turn these
insights into well-informed, effective business decisions.
Microsoft takes a server approach to business intelligence,
whereas other vendors offer portfolios of business tools.
SQL Server 2000 is the foundation for all the components
in the Microsoft business intelligence suite of products.
Microsoft has now overtaken Hyperion Solutions to
become the largest OLAP vendor (28 per cent market
share in 20042) and that lead is destined to increase
in 2005. SQL Server 2000 integrates seamlessly with
Microsoft Office solutions, for example Excel Add-in for
SQL Server Analysis Services, and Business Scorecard.

Microsoft offers retailers a large menu of interoperable

business intelligence offerings integrating any data
sources, together with a low total cost of ownership
(TCO). Once retailers use SQL Server 2000, they acquire
many core business intelligence components, which
they can adopt as the business evolves. They can also
gain added value from their existing investment in
Microsoft Office and the Microsoft Windows® oper-
ating system. Finally, SQL Server 2000 can be rapidly
deployed and delivers immediate business benefits.

With SQL Server 2000, Microsoft helps customers to

maximise their return on investment in IT and business
intelligence by providing:
• Strong analysis and reporting tools.
• Iterative approach—short-term value.
• Platform for future business intelligence solutions.
• Rapid user understanding and uptake.
• Familiar Office applications for complex reports.

Traditional business intelligence tools have targeted

analysts and senior management in the organisation.
The Microsoft business intelligence approach helps
companies empower their employees in the retail
business, including executives, middle managers,
and POS staff. By combining the enterprise data
management functions of SQL Server 2000, the power
of the Microsoft Windows Server System, and the
familiarity of the Microsoft Office System, retailers of
all size can benefit from enterprise-class reporting and
analysis solutions.

2
Source: The OLAP report, www.olapreport.com.

R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 13
 Microsoft Partner Ecosystem

Compass Software
www.compass-software.co.uk

Compass Software (part of Torex Retail) is one of the U.K.’s leading providers of planning, design and business
intelligence solutions to retailers, suppliers and brands, which enable businesses to maximise their profitability
and optimise supply chain performance, and competitive advantage.

Geac
www.geac.com

Geac is a global enterprise software company for Business Performance Management, providing customers
worldwide with the core financial and operational solutions and services to improve their business performance
in real time.

JDA Software
www.jda.com

JDA Software is a global leader in delivering integrated software and professional services for the retail demand
chain. JDA Portfolio is the industry’s leading suite of best-in-class products that manage and optimise demand
chain processes from finished goods to customer checkout.

KSS
www.kssg.com

KSS is the leading provider of price optimisation tools for the Retail and Petroleum industries. KSS specialise
in advising and supporting company’s processes to set prices which enhance price image and loyalty, improve
planning and process execution, and most crucially — generating immediate margin and profitability
improvements.

OutlookSoft Corporation
www.outlooksoft.com

OutlookSoft Corporation is the leading provider of unified, real-time corporate performance management
solutions (CPM) powered by the Microsoft business intelligence platform. The company’s web-based solution,
OutlookSoft Corporate Performance Management, provides a single CPM application for strategic planning,
budgeting, forecasting, statutory consolidation, reporting, analysis, predictive analytics, scorecarding, and
dashboards.

14 R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S
 Panorama Software
www.panorama.com

Panorama Software Systems is a premier developer of business intelligence products and solutions. Panorama
NovaView e-BI product line provides the ultimate web-based business intelligence solution for enterprises and
exposes the full functionality of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services.

ProClarity Corporation
www.proclarity.com

ProClarity’s industry-leading application development platform helps customers build sophisticated custom
analytic solutions that enable decision makers to make more insightful choices faster. These solutions, based on
business processes, decision-making workflows and existing database and software technologies, feature patented
visualisations, web-like navigation and powerful calculations to transform information into understanding.

Sysrepublic Ltd.
www.sysrepublic.com

Sysrepublic specialise in the provision of software products and consultancy services for the retail and hospitality
sectors. Sysrepublic works with major retailers worldwide to deliver leading integration and data exploitation
solutions. Implemented using Microsoft .NET technologies, Real Time Integrator provides retailers with a
comprehensive, packaged infrastructure on which to execute the vision of real-time retail.

Torex Retail
www.torexretail.com

Torex Retail boasts an unparalleled track record of more than 20 years, servicing some of the biggest names in
retailing in both the UK and Europe. Our solution set spans all facets of the retail systems business, from leading-
edge, electronic point-of-sale software, to merchandise management solutions, sophisticated performance and
productivity systems, and loss prevention and basket analysis solutions.

Wipro Technologies
www.wipro.com

Wipro Technologies is the world’s first PCMM and SEI CMMi Level 5 certified IT Services company. Wipro’s
customers include 6 out of Store magazine’s top 10 retailers. The focus areas in retail are price optimisation,
promotions management, DDSN, RFID, GDS, e-tailing, multi-channel integration, collaboration solutions,
pharmacy and analytics.

R E TA I L A N A LY T I C S 15
More Information

To find out about Microsoft’s Retail Analytics proposition,

please visit www.microsoft.com/smartretail
or email ukretail@microsoft.com

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Windows, BizTalk Server,
and SQL Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks
of their respective owners.