Business Intelligence at Bourbon, the keys to success

A need for process homogenization

Among the market leaders in offshore oil and gas marine services, BOURBON offers the most demanding manufacturers in this sector a wide range of surface and subsea marine services on offshore oil, gas and wind fields. This range of services is based on a wide range of latest generation vessels and more than 8,400 competent professionals.
 

Through its 37 operating subsidiaries, the group offers local service as close as possible to customers and operations, guaranteeing the highest standard of service quality and safety throughout the world.
 

BOURBON groups two activities (Marine Services and Subsea Services) and ensures the protection of the French coastline for the French Navy. In 2017, BOURBON generated revenues of 860.6 million euros and operates a fleet of 508 vessels. Classified by ICB (Industry Classification Benchmark) in the "Oil Services" sector, BOURBON is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment B.
 

It was therefore necessary to provide all these subsidiaries with common tools so that they could automate and simplify the management of their activities. The solution chosen was the Microsoft BI suite based on SQL Server for the acquisition, storage and processing part as well as the Pyramid analytics analysis and reporting solution for the analysis / restitution parts.

Business Intelligence, a key project to centralize data  

BOURBON called on VISEO to set up a Business Intelligence project in 2010. From the outset, this project was fortunate to receive management control support. A study of the company's various processes made it possible to set up a subdivision plan, and the first lot chosen was purchases.
 

The heterogeneity of the source systems, with so many repositories, did not make it possible to centralize the data. The implementation of a reference data management solution (Master Data) was the key to centralizing information from the various systems around common repositories. Another aspect that has been taken into account from the outset is safety management. Indeed, to reassure managers about data confidentiality and inter-subsidiary partitioning, an additional application has been developed to strengthen security management, thus enabling very detailed management of access rights.
 

This application deployed via the web was the first in a series of applications that can either enhance a tool's functionality or meet business needs such as incident management.

Corporate BI at the heart of the business

Today, BI at BOURBON is 350 daily users who connect to an intranet (sharepoint) and use Business Intelligence tools integrated into their applications without even knowing it.
 

Specific developments have allowed a perfect integration of the tools on the intranet portal. A user can log into his dashboard to view his performance indicators and zoom in for details.
 

Business Intelligence at Bourbon covers almost all areas of information systems, from HSE to Human Resources, including purchasing, invoicing, satellite monitoring on board ships, etc. Managers have a 360° vision of their activities, the business lines can have an overview but also a detailed view. This feat is made possible thanks to a unique database, containing 130 fact tables and 200 dimensions.

The plurality of skills favourable to the good realization of the project

The plurality of skills within the VISEO group has enabled them to set up decision support tools at BOURBON that enable them to have a global vision of their activities and give them a strategic advantage over their competitors.