At the end of October 2020, IBM announced a software license audit at sports retailer INTERSPORT. The software audit was to check whether the use of the software licenses and their authorizations were in line with the existing licenses and the applicable license terms. Specifically, the audit covered the data of the PVU-based products in connection with the ILMT (IBM License Metric Tool) as well as the non-PVU-based products (such as IBM Cognos).
License and software consulting from a single source
License consulting around ILMT
- Announcement of an IBM software audit
- Already technical support of the ILMT by TIMETOACT, therefore also support during the audit
- Collection of all audit-relevant data at INTERSPORT
- Audit was completed with a positive result and without any complaints
- Ongoing support of the ILMT by TIMETOACT
Software consulting around IBM Cognos
- Slow software environment and inperformant reports posed challenges for INTERSPORT
- Support by TIMETOACT with expertise and know-how
- ACTUAL analysis of the environment incl. health check as well as functional analysis of the reports
- Implementation of improvement options
- Continuous optimization of IBM Cognos by TIMETOACT
Licenses put to the test
INTERSPORT already has the ILMT technically supported by TIMETOACT's licensing experts in order to reduce the risk of tracking as far as possible during data collection and quality assurance in advance. The announcement of the IBM audit meant an expenditure of personnel and time for the sports retailer that was difficult to estimate.
The core requirement for the audit was to bring the IBM license audit to completion as expeditiously as possible, with no backtracking.
We are very satisfied with the cooperation so far. Therefore, it was important for us to rely on TIMETOACT's expertise and competence for the audit as well.
Frank TrunzerHead of IT Application ManagementINTERSPORTIn the middle of the year-end business, we need every helping hand. Therefore, we were very happy that hardly any of our internal resources were blocked by the help of the SAM team of TIMETOACT.
Frank TrunzerHead of IT Application ManagementINTERPSORTSmooth audit without traces
In the course of the audit, all data relevant to the audit were collected at INTERSPORT by TIMETOACT and prepared accordingly for the IBM auditor. This included checking the information and license certificates for correctness and completeness. Due to TIMETOACT's many years of experience in dealing with the ILMT, challenges were quickly solved during the audit.
At every step of the process, there was close coordination with the person responsible for the project and INTERSPORT's specialist departments to ensure a smooth process.
The audit was completed in June 2021 with a positive result and no complaints.
Overall, with the support of TIMETOACT, we were able to optimize our effort for the audit and ultimately lead it to a positive result.
Frank TrunzerHead of IT Application ManagementINTERSPORTIBM Cognos for meaningful reporting
TIMETOACT has been supporting the sports retailer for over two years, not only for the support of the ILMT, but also for consulting on IBM Cognos - which was part of the IBM audit, among other things. With the reporting and analysis functions of IBM Cognos, AI-based visualizations and dashboards of company-wide data can be created and processed. INTERSPORT uses the reporting in the departments such as logistics and purchasing for historical analysis in order to derive optimizations of processes, assortments, prices and the forecast for the warehouse.
In addition to the support around the topic of licensing and license monitoring, we are also supported by TIMETOACT in analyzing and optimizing the performance of our reporting world. In this context, the expertise across the entire technology stack was very helpful.
Frank TrunzerHead of IT Application ManagementINTERSPORTPerformance optimization consulting
Sample dashboard in IBM Cognos
Slow software environment, inperformant reports, low acceptance of the results and little in-house know-how in dealing with IBM Cognos led the sports retailer to seek professional help from TIMETOACT two years ago.
In order to obtain a status quo, TIMETOACT conducted an as-is analysis of the environment including a Cognos Health Check at the beginning of the cooperation. Based on this, on the one hand the data preparation of the databases, data models, metadata modeling up to the report design were technically examined. On the other hand, a technical analysis of the reporting was carried out: Which data is analyzed and consumed to what extent and in which way? Based on these results, recommendations for action were formulated and their implementation was supported.
Cognos consulting by TIMETOACT ensures continuous optimization of the technical environment to the current state as well as continuous identification of optimization potential for future developments.
Advice and guidance also for the future
The two companies will continue to cooperate in the support of the IBM License Metric tool and IBM Cognos. TIMETOACT supports the sports retailer not only in the lifecycle management of the Cognos and TM1 landscape, but also in the further optimization of performance and in technical issues. In particular, TIMETOACT supports the sports retailer in the implementation of the new IBM software strategy. From a technical point of view, this provides for the move to the cloud and the first steps towards artificial intelligence (based on Cloud Pak for Data).
INTERSPORT Deutschland eG, founded in 1956 by 15 sports retailers and headquartered in Heilbronn, forms the largest national association within the INTERSPORT Group. It has around 800 dealers with over 1,500 stores. In fiscal year 2022/2021, INTERSPORT generated sales of 2.65 billion euros. The largest members in the German cooperative are Otto, Sportscheck, Breuninger, Wöhrl, Engelhorn Sports, Sporthaus Schuster, 11teamsports and McTREK.
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