Have reports, will travel

User stories from the knowledge front

A new report distribution system will allow travel giant Pilot Corporation to save time producing its monthly and weekly reports. An operator of travel center rest stops, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, Pilot has chosen technology from Mobius Management Systems to automate its enterprise report management. “We needed to simplify the report distribution process for our remote users, provide faster access to reports and improve our archiving capabilities,” explains David DePrimo, manager of corporate systems for Pilot. The new system allows users to distribute reports directly from their desktops.

“This will eliminate at least one day from our month-end report process, reduce the possibility of breakdowns in the process and enhance overall enterprise productivity,” DePrimo says.

The solution involves several Mobius components: View Direct for Networks captures output from Lawson—Pilot’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software—and other back-office systems, to create an integrated repository of documents, reports and images;

DocumentDirect for the Internet furnishes browser-based access to the repository; and DocuAnalyzer, a Windows-based tool, makes the data in Pilot’s documents available for analysis without the need for rekeying. The third ingredient also is expected to speed information delivery to users and improve responsiveness to customer inquiries.

“Field people receive reports and must key them into their own spreadsheets and databases,” says DePrimo. “But with [the new system], we will be able to record those steps and automate the process so the information can be accessed much faster.”

Pilot first implemented the solution in its corporate offices in Knoxville, TN. DePrimo credits it with streamlining the weekly and daily “flash” report process, making reports accessible on the Web to department heads, regional managers and other personnel at Pilot’s support center.

“ViewDirect has provided us with a complete solution for managing our enterprise output,” says DePrimo. “It has allowed our operations personnel to automate their exception reporting, which will save us 50 to 100 hours a week. But the biggest improvement we have seen is at month’s end. We were running in excess of 500 reports and now we have eliminated most of those reports. Now we simply run larger reports and View Direct splits them apart and sends the specific data to the appropriate people.

When the rollout is completed this spring, the system will be in place at more than 200 Pilot travel centers throughout the United States.