<p> Microsoft SQL Server Customer Solution Case Study</p><p>Oil Company Speeds Reporting, Improves Data Accuracy, and Gains Competitive Edge </p><p>“It used to take us a few weeks to build reports, but with our new planning solution based on Microsoft SQL Server, we can do it very quickly.” Sanjay Malani, Advisor, Corporate Planning and Finance, Kosmos Energy</p><p>Kosmos Energy is a pathfinding oil and gas company focused on emerging areas in Africa and South America. The company’s spreadsheet-based financial planning solution was manual, time-consuming, and prone to inaccuracies. With help from Microsoft partner Altius Consulting, Kosmos deployed a new solution based on Microsoft SQL Server. The company can now create reports and analytics in a very short time frame and analysts can deliver more-accurate data and meaningful insights.</p><p>Business Needs says Sanjay Malani, Advisor, Corporate Kosmos Energy, based in Bermuda, Planning and Finance, Kosmos Energy. operates in a highly competitive industry, and its business depends on To support that kind of decision discovering and developing new making, Kosmos management needed petroleum systems. “This is a high-risk to have the latest and most accurate business with intense competition and financial data related to the budget if we don’t have the capacity to make and long-range forecasts. quick decisions, we could lose the opportunity to capture critical assets,” Previously, Kosmos relied on manual processes to forecast and capture </p><p>This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published January 2013 actuals for reporting purposes. For example, the company had to manually The solution uses Microsoft Excel 2010 Now, material changes in the forecast extract actuals data from accounting spreadsheet software for submitting can be incorporated quickly, providing systems and type it into Microsoft Excel planning assignments and reporting, the most up-to-date forecasts to spreadsheets each month. “That process and the solution’s workflow pushes executives. “We used to do quarterly often took a few weeks,” says Brian Excel assignments to analysts. Actuals planning iterations each year, but with Progar, Sr. Director Commercial & data is automatically loaded from the the current solution, we can deliver Treasury, Kosmos Energy. Information accounting system into a central multiple iterations as needed.” says sharing relied on sending files via email, planning database, through Microsoft Malani. “And it’s not just the speed— which often resulted in multiple SQL Server Integration Services. the data itself is more meaningful.” versions with little or no control over Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services information. Also, analytical reports cubes are used to store data and built from the data were difficult to alter business rules in one place, and Improves Accuracy and Increases without major disruptions. analysts use the cubes to query data Confidence in Data Another drawback was the time it took for reports via Excel. Actuals data is The solution also eliminates to get reports to executives. “It took up merged with the forecast to present a inaccuracies due to human error. to 6–8 weeks to complete the process complete view of the year. “Using multiple files had the potential of pulling data together, verifying it, for error. This system ensures a and presenting a financial plan,” says With FlexMI, reports can be produced consistent and current data set,” says Malani. “Because of the lead time, quickly and consistently from centrally Progar. forecasts would often be stale by the stored information in a 25-gigabyte time the final presentation was ready. database. With more accurate data, the For effective decision making, we Benefits company’s business decision makers needed to incorporate the most up-to- With FlexMI solution based on SQL are more confident in the data they’re date information quickly to deliver Server, Kosmos Energy has greatly getting. “Our executives know that the high-quality analytics to our executives.” reduced the front-end time required information they’re seeing has been to capture the forecast data and build verified on multiple levels,” Malani The company’s business continued to reports. As a result, Planning Team is states. “That increases their confidence grow rapidly, so addressing these able to spend more time doing high- and reduces the company’s risk challenges became urgent. quality analytics for effective decision overall.” making. Solution Provides Competitive Edge In late 2010, Kosmos turned to Altius Helps Users Create Reports in Kosmos now has a flexible data Consulting for assistance in developing Minutes, Not Days solution to gain an advantage in a a new solution. Headquartered in With FlexMI, Kosmos can take highly competitive industry. “Because Houston, Texas, Altius is a Microsoft advantage of an automated system of the nature of our business, forecasts partner with Gold Business Intelligence that holds all data in a central location, often change at the last minute,” says and Data Platform competencies. Altius with multiple versions to archive the Malani. “FlexMI is nimble enough that suggested a database solution based on information at different points in time we can make updates and still deliver Microsoft SQL Server software. Malani for comparison and analysis. Users can accurate data. This helps us get the says, “We really liked the reporting and perform ad-hoc analysis quickly and right data to the right people in the analysis features in SQL Server.” create reports in minutes instead of company, so they can move on to new weeks. “It used to take us a few weeks opportunities as quickly as possible. Altius developed FlexMI™, a solution to build reports, but with our new There’s no doubt this will help us that uses SQL Server for relational data planning solution based on SQL compete better in this industry.” storage and SQL Server Analysis Server, we can do it very quickly,” says Services for multidimensional analysis. Malani. </p><p>This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published January 2013</p>