JBS ramps up Qlik Sense and Vizlib user adoption with the power of visualisation

Benefits gained by JBS using Vizlib products

Vizlib wows the team

The journey started when a subsidiary of JBS introduced the team to Vizlib through its integration of Qlik Sense.

“A subsidiary division of our business was redeveloping their Qlik content as they were integrating into our SAP environment. They invited us to join a demonstration as we were rolling out Qlik Sense. We were blown away, and very quickly realised the value Vizlib could have to our business.” Anna-Lee Munns, IT Director | JBS

JBS was undergoing a transition from QlikView to Qlik Sense. The front-end functionality of QlikView had enabled high usage rates across the business. When the decision was made to move applications to Qlik Sense, the team were conscious of ensuring the same levels of functionality. Vizlib was the key.

Following an initial trial of Vizlib’s writeback capability and then an implementation of Vizlib Library and Finance, the use of Vizlib has gone from strength to strength with a number of successful use cases across the business.

Writeback reduces complexity

In one of their business units, there are 4-5 plants across the business. Every day 10-12 employees would arrive at the plant and complete a report within Excel. The data within these sheets would be linked to other Excel sheets and each day this information would have to be manually inputted.

The developers started using writeback capabilities and built an app, whereby the employees could input the data directly into a Vizlib Writeback Table so it could be used as the basis of the daily meetings. There have been significant time savings, not only in terms of inputting data, but removing the complexity and issues caused by relying on linked Excel sheets.

Timesaving across the business

Through the use of Qlik Sense and Vizlib, JBS has realised significant time-saving benefits across its business units. Labour is an ongoing important issue, which has been further complicated by the pandemic. Having an application to see and analyse information is a major differentiator. Before using Qlik Sense and Vizlib, this data was in spreadsheets and siloed across multiple plants, making it difficult to see the big picture and take action on the data.

By using Qlik Sense and Vizlib for labour applications, it has given a complete view of what’s happening in close to real-time which gives the team on the ground the insight to make the right decisions. Furthermore, across five different labour reports, JBS has saved over 40 hours per week in manpower in compiling this information.

Through the combination of Qlik Sense and Vizlib, procurement has made a monthly time saving from 2 weeks across 7 people to 1 day, freeing up the department to focus on other areas that drive greater value-add to the business.

With the help of Vizlib Custom Report and Vizlib Self Service, they are benefitting from greater supplier visibility, simplified RFP processes – removing the need to manually assemble and manipulate SAP data, and the training time needed for new hires to access ERP data.

“There are so many small wins on a daily basis realised through the time saved.” says a procurement employee.

Streamlined analysis with improved forecasting visibility

Forecasting the worth of an animal and the value of each cut out is an ongoing business challenge. Marginal gains are critical in an increasingly competitive industry. Understanding the break-even amount when purchasing livestock is crucial.

The team previously had to rely on taking data from different sources and analysing this within Excel. Because of the different data sets and granularity across the business, it wasn’t possible to do this without the manual adjust component and the visualisation capabilities available within Vizlib.

The speed at which the team can now produce P&Ls and the granularity of detail that can be included on a weekly basis has been transformed.

Through using Qlik Sense and Vizlib, the team have saved nearly 20GB of files storage each year, significantly improving accessibility.

“Qlik is the engine that makes it happen but we’re leveraging all of the visualisation capabilities from Vizlib.” ANNA-LEE MUNNS IT Director | JBS

Exponential growth in adoption

Since the initial integration of Qlik Sense in late 2019, the adoption rate has grown exponentially. In 2020, a number of business units have moved their applications over to Qlik Sense. Complemented by a series of training sessions orchestrated by JBS, and the simplicity and powerful visualisation capabilities of Vizlib, the number of users has exploded.

“Our adoption rate of Qlik Sense has grown significantly with the help of Vizlib.” Anna-Lee Munns, IT Director | JBS

Reduced downtime

PPlant maintenance and minimising downtime is a critical success factor. The plant maintenance teams used Qlik and Vizlib to provide greater visibility over their processes, increase communication so downtime was reduced, and costs controlled. One business unit was able to reduce maintenance spend below budget through the use of this application.

Decision-making agility

With all JBS processes now supported by a custom application, it has transformed the ability of senior stakeholders to make decisions based on how business units and departments are operating.

The sales leadership team across one business unit are close to receiving an application that leverages Vizlib Self Service, and the powerful visualisation capability of Vizlib Library’s KPIs and Sheet Menu. It will enable them to look at a customer holistically and give them access to data in a way that’s never been possible before. In the near future, the team intends to add Vizlib Collaboration into this app so senior stakeholders can input data directly in the app with Vizlib Input Form, and further add value to the data.

“The sales leadership team are incredibly excited about the launch of this application,” says Munns. “It significantly increases our agility decision-making across the business.”

Another sales team had an application that required data to be looked at in very specific ways. With the help of Vizlib, the app has exceeded expectations.

Steph Robinson, Qlik Manager, Business Intelligence, comments: “We were concerned how we were going to create what was required with an out-of-the-box solution. Vizlib has made it possible to put it together in ways we didn’t think was possible.”

Vizlib value-add

With over 250 applications in production across the business and 120 developers, having help on hand to support when issues arise is essential.

Future plans with Vizlib

Having gone through an accelerated rate of adoption, JBS is now focused on rolling out further Vizlib products including Vizlib Collaboration to further enhance applications. Qlik Sense and Vizlib have not only made a significant impact on the way JBS operates as a whole but also within each division. It gives every business unit and department visibility and access to data, transforming business decision-making opportunities.