Budgeting Solutions has won a new contract with Yellow Buses, a local bus operator in Bournemouth, to deploy IBM Cognos Express and its’ advanced analytics to enhance route planning, offer better value fares and monitor vehicle efficiency.
The consultancy’s proven track record of implementing powerful business intelligence and financial performance management applications (Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting, Consolidation, Reporting and Analysis) played an important part in the selection process. This expertise will be used to build reporting and forecasting models capable of analysing ticket sales and calculating revenue by route, fare type, time period, boarding and alighting stages, date of journey and by passenger fare or absolute revenue.
The solution will provide rolling forecasts and ‘what if’ analyses of revenue and cash flow, as well as insight into the performance and reliability of individual buses within the fleet and it will be used to analyse the performance of drivers. The company has a fleet of 130 vehicles and employs around 400 people serving over 14 million passenger journeys per year.
Paul Bavington, Director, Budgeting Solutions commented on the contract win: “Yellow Buses is an unusual contract win. They had been using business analytics for a number of years before they approached us so there was no need to convince them of the benefits to the business – they were already strong advocates.”
Yellow Buses had formerly used IBM Cognos TMI Environment but lost access to the system when the company was sold in 2011. They then started a search for a solution that would provide the same high level analytics but more in tune with the needs and budget of the new organisation.
Andrew Smith of Yellow Buses said: “We want to build an ongoing and long-term relationship with a partner that understands our business and can help us continually improve. Budgeting Solutions came with good references and we were impressed with their demonstrations of what Cognos Express could do for us.”
Since its formation in 2005, Budgeting Solutions has worked with more than 200 blue-chip clients to improve their budgeting and planning processes. Its blue-chip client list includes Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering, Domino’s Pizza, JD Sports, Jupiter Asset Management, Rolls Royce and WH Smith.
