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Summer 1997
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Channel Tunnel rail operator Le Shuttle has implemented a data warehouse to track ticket sales, using Vmark's DataStage. The system is intended to monitor approximately 5,000 individual ticket and hundreds more account sales on a daily basis.
Whilst Le Shuttle's "open ticket" policy is a boon for travellers, it was also creating a headache for the operations team.
Le Shuttle's existing On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system originally undertook both ticketing operations and forecasting, which had led to performance problems on the sales side when complex forecasting reports were being run, so it was vital that any new system addressed the needs of both the marketing and operational sides of the business.
Technical services manager for Le Shuttle, Frank Barber, said: "For our marketing-driven forecasting work we need to have a lot of data about what was sold and when. For ticketing sales we need to access and input relatively small amounts of data quickly. The forecasting reports were contributing to problems with our sales system responses. What should have been a two or three minute customer call ended up as four or five minutes and customers did not wish to wait."
By separating the two areas of operation and forecasting, Le Shuttle say they have been able to improve customer service from the sales team whilst delivering the reports the management team needs in order to improve the company’s marketing efforts.
Vmark Software LimitedLast Updated: 30 June 1999