Kent Alphonso, Chief Information Officer, Stewart Enterprises

Microsoft Technology Center Customer Solution Case Study

Death-Care Company Uses Expert Resources to Achieve Business Intelligence Solution

“There was no way we could have developed this Customer: Stewart Enterprises solution without the MTC. We didn’t have the Web Site: www.stewartenterprises.com Customer Size: 5,500 employees experience, resources, or the appropriate tools.” Country or Region: United States Kent Alphonso, Chief Information Officer, Stewart Enterprises Industry: Professional services

Customer Profile Stewart Enterprises, a “death-care” company, needed a New Orleans, Louisiana–based Stewart business intelligence tool and data warehouse solution to track Enterprises owns and operates 359 funeral homes and cemeteries in the data from its more than 359 locations, most of which were United States and Puerto Rico, making acquisitions. By attending engagements at a Microsoft® the company the second largest of its kind in the U.S. Technology Center (MTC), Stewart Enterprises gained the technical insight it needed to be confident in a Microsoft Software and Services  Software solution, and developed a proof of concept to help validate the − Microsoft Office PerformancePoint solution to upper management. Server 2007  Services − Microsoft Technology Centers (MTC) Business Needs experience. Still, the company is Stewart Enterprises owns and operates committed to maintaining each site’s 359 funeral homes and cemeteries in the historic data, which can stretch back continental United States and Puerto Rico. centuries. The company provides a complete range of funeral merchandise and services, Following a period of substantial growth along with cemetery property, through acquisitions, the company made a merchandise, and services, both at the commitment to focus attention on time of need and on a preneed basis. improving efficiencies and processes for its people and customers. The Stewart Stewart Enterprises’ facilities are managed Enterprises leader-ship team was having by experienced death-care professionals difficulty comparing performance among For more information about other chosen for their industry knowledge and its 359 sites, as locations didn’t always Microsoft customer successes, please caring values, rather than for their tech- report data in the same manner. With visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies nology skills or business management nearly 4,000 distinct reports and queries, mining data to share historical information have tech-savvy people in our funeral “There was no way we could have and best practices was an equally homes; technology is not their forte.” developed this solution without the MTC. enormous challenge. Additionally, Stewart We didn’t have the experience, resources, Enterprises wanted one view of data that The team also discussed Stewart or the appropriate tools,” says Alphonso. aggregated information from its Oracle Enterprises’ computing environment, and Financials database and an industry- how to build a solution that could mine  Access to experts. Alphonso recalls specific application called HMIS. data from its various systems and present being impressed with how rapidly the it in a dashboard that would be easy for MTC team absorbed his company’s Finding a solution that is easy to use was the management team and funeral business challenges and proposed a essential to the success of the project. managers to use. The Microsoft team at solution. “Sometimes when you do According to Stewart Enterprises CIO, Kent the MTC suggested a solution based on these things, you sit around and talk Alphonso, “We needed to give the funeral Microsoft Office PerformancePoint™ with folks and they nod their heads. But managers access to information to help Server 2007 business intelligence the end result, it’s nothing like you manage their business from a financial software. “The Microsoft experts helped us expected. Our experience at the MTC standpoint and from a customer satisfaction scope out the solution very quickly, and was not like that at all—the MTC team standpoint. It needed to be in an intuitive, they helped us understand the products was right on track.” easy-to-use format so they could spend the we’d need to deploy the right solution for least amount of time possible on the our business,” Alphonso recalls.  Confident decision making. business management tasks and more time Another benefit was the Microsoft concentrating on the families’ needs.” After the Strategy Briefing confirmed the team’s knowledge of upcoming merit of a dashboard solution, Alphonso products. “They not only know current Alphonso believed that Stewart Enterprises and members of the IT team from Stewart technology, but also which products could increase efficiencies, better track Enterprises returned to the Dallas MTC for were going to be released in the near performance, and mine data by introducing a one-week Proof of Concept (POC) future. I felt more confident in our a data warehouse and business intelligence engagement. During the POC, the teams decision because the MTC team kept us (BI) dashboard management tool. However, defined the architecture of the solution and from going astray with a different he wasn’t confident that any of the identified key data sources to be included. product or angle,” says Alphonso. company’s current systems could produce Stewart Enterprises had provided data the desired results and be easily utilized by samples to the MTC team in advance of  Validated solution to show employees. Also, Alphonso was concerned the engagement, so it could be confident upper management. Leaving the about getting management buy-in because that the MTC recommendations would MTC with a solid proof of concept based no one in the industry had ever utilized this work with the company’s actual data. on company data was very important for kind of tool before. Stewart Enterprises. “As you can Alphonso reports, “At the end of just one imagine,” says Alphonso, “a company Solution week, I had a proof-of-concept dashboard like ours hasn’t really used BI tools. This To help address these concerns, Alphonso built using our own data samples that was hasn’t been done in our industry, to my and members of his team attended a two- generated from the out-of-box tools that knowledge. Explaining what a day Strategy Briefing at the Microsoft® we had already agreed to purchase or dashboard is and how our management Technology Center (MTC) in Dallas, Texas, were licensed to use.” could use it would have been difficult in September 2007. “We discussed our without something tangible to show long-term goals and what it would take to Benefits them. The Proof of Concept was deliver a viable solution with the Microsoft Because of the MTC engagement, Stewart invaluable.” experts,” he recalls. “We also talked about Enterprises was able to quickly scope a the audience for our solution. We don’t solution, develop a proof of concept, and The project was quickly approved and then present it to upper management. Microsoft Services helped Stewart

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published February 2008 deploy the solution. “We had other bids for deploying the solution. We chose Microsoft because we were so happy with the quality of work and people at the MTC,” says Alphonso.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published February 2008