Author: JT Smith
The company also migrated its data warehouse operations from an NCR Teradata system to IBM’s DB2 database.
The decision to implement IBM’s technology was based on Raley’s need to create a powerful, cost effective technological platform that could easily be enhanced for future e-business initiatives. The company also collaborated with IBM Global Services to migrate to DB2 to consolidate its data warehouse applications across 148 stores to monitor and track customer buying trends.
The decision to migrate to DB2 running on the IBM eServer zSeries platform was triggered when Raley’s original data warehouse reached full capacity, hindering its ability to manage and report insights on its point of sale data. Since implementing DB2 to power its data warehouse, Raley’s is changing merchandising efforts by providing more up-to-date, accurate reports enabling the supermarket’s decision makers to be better prepared when dealing with vendors and suppliers. Today, its DB2 data warehouse holds more than 500 gigabytes of raw data and provides daily, online updates to vital product and sales data that was previously distributed in weekly, hardcopy reports. The company expects to save an additional $200,000 per year in database administrator (DBA) salaries by training and leveraging DB2 skills across the enterprise.
“The reporting capabilities of the DB2 data warehouse running on the IBM eServer zSeries platform are so powerful that it is changing the way we merchandise, the way we buy and the way we interact with our vendors and suppliers. Now we can respond more quickly to market activity,” said Tom Jones, Chief Information Officer, Raley’s. “Implementing IBM’s infrastructure technology will become even more of an advantage as we evolve our e-business initiatives.”
Each day, customer buying data from Raley’s 148 stores is compiled, analyzed and published to IBM’s DB2 database. When product category analysts and buyers arrive each morning, they can immediately get a jumpstart on the day with timely views of product movements, can evaluate promotional activity and stock shelves accordingly based on regional buying patterns.
Raley’s data warehouse also relies on the IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (code named “Shark”) and Tivoli Storage Manager for storage and disaster recovery of all its enterprise databases. The company also chose IBM’s WebSphere Application Server as its development tool based on its powerful user interface tool and version control capabilities.
IBM Eases Migration, Lays Foundation for Future
IBM Global Services (IGS), collaborating with the IBM DB2 Migration Team, guided Raley’s data warehouse migration, which was completed in just three months. IBM’s Teraplex Integration Center provided a proof of concept that brought together experts in hardware, software, and business intelligence to test Raley’s applications with real-life data. IGS will continue to provide consulting assistance to Raley’s for the project, which was funded by IBM Global Financing.
In the future, Raley’s plans to integrate PeopleSoft applications running on DB2 into its intranet and plans to incorporate ERP systems. The company also foresees making its data warehouse information available to select business partners who are interested in analyzing and applying sales data to refine their marketing programs.
About Raley’s
Headquartered in West Sacramento, CA, Raley’s owns 148 supermarkets across four chains –Raley’s, Food Source, Nob Hill and Bel Air Markets — and is ranked 20th largest US supermarket chain. The chain employs 17,000 and has revenues of $3 billion. Raley’s has 97 Superstores in Northern California, Nevada and New Mexico. Raley’s owns Bel Air Markets, a chain of 18 supermarkets in the greater Sacramento area; Food Source, a chain of 7 warehouse format stores; and Nob Hill Foods, a chain of 26 supermarkets in south San Jose, Central Coast, and greater Bay Area in Northern California.
About IBM’s DB2 Universal Database
As the foundation for e-business, DB2 Universal Database is the industry’s first multimedia, Web-ready relational database management system, strong enough to meet the demands of large corporations and flexible enough to serve medium-sized and small e-businesses. DB2 Universal Database combines integrated power for business intelligence, content management, enterprise information portals and e-business with industry-leading performance and reliability to drive the most demanding industry solutions. DB2 Universal Database together with Internet technology makes information easily accessible, available and secure. There are more than 60 million DB2 users from over 300,000 companies worldwide relying on IBM data management solutions. For more information, please visit www.software.ibm.com/data or www.ibm.com/bi.
Contact:
Peter Tulupman
IBM Software Group
Phone:(212) 745-3093
Fax: (212) 745-2034
email: tulupman@us.ibm.com
