
Planning and analysing advertising revenues in the media industry
Client
MADSACK Mediengruppe
Category
Private sector
Date
Since 2016
Technical solution overview
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Reporting and planningBoard
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Warehouse/ETL ToolDWH (Data Vault)
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Operative pre-systemsSAP (VI&VA)
With its BI solution, the MADSACK subsidiary has not only created a transparent and uncomplicated planning process but has also significantly promoted its use throughout the company with its reliable functionality and inspiring usability.
Revenue planning | Circulation planning | Media industry | Reporting | Planning workflow
Impressions
Company profile
Since its founding in 1893, the MADSACK media group has grown steadily and is now one of the five largest newspaper publishers in Germany with almost 4,000 employees and an annual turnover of around 700 million euros. 15 regional daily newspaper brands in northern and eastern Germany, the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) and high-reach special interest portals contribute to journalistic diversity in Germany. The journalistic brands are relevant sources of credible information and achieve more than 100 million visits per month and 2.5 million readers per day.
Starting position
Before introducing the software solution with Board, MADSACK mainly used Excel with PowerPivot to create reports and dashboards. These were created by the cross-location BI department, which took a lot of time, and were used by the sales department in all nine locations.
However, Microsoft did not offer the option of writing back data with this product, which meant that a standardised and well-functioning planning process could not be integrated. The data was also not available in a bundled form due to the decentralised use, which made comprehensive controlling with company-wide uniform KPIs more difficult.
Objective
As part of an internal company reorganisation, the requirements for the software were defined initially and in cooperation with the management.
The solution should:
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Make planning processes feasible
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Make ACTUAL and PLAN figures easily comparable
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Send reports quickly and easily
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Be able to map KPIs uniformly in calculation and presentation for all locations
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Enable a higher degree of automation than before
Based on these criteria, the decision was made in favour of Board. This product also impressed with a good price-performance ratio, a professional look, more functional options and no more dependence on Excel. As a result, the software was able to prevail over competitors such as SAP and Jedox in the decision-making process.
Client solution
The initially introduced module was implemented at MADSACK within four months in 2015 and has since been continuously expanded and adapted to new requirements in cooperation with linkFISH.
The main aspects of the software solution are:
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Daily updated and standardised reporting for the management across all locations (online and via PDF)
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Sales management and target achievement, including in the areas of sales, number of customers and review of support logic
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Group-wide comparable KPIs which can be viewed independently by all relevant groups of people
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“Single point of truth” due to centralised and standardised data model
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Utilisation of almost 100 users
Customer benefits
With the Board reporting and planning software, the MADSACK Media Group has seen a significant increase in utilisation in recent years.
Particularly in the following areas:
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Relief for the BI department, as reports can be created faster and automatically
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Sales management is shown concrete options for action
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High flexibility when creating reports or carrying out planning
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Easier maintenance by just two employees due to the centralised data model and high level of user-friendliness
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Promotion of push reporting (PDF by e-mail)
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Increased knowledge gain in management through group-wide use of the same key figure system
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Convincing design and intuitive operation also promote distribution among less IT-savvy employees

Together with linkFISH and Board, we have finally established a consistent data model. This enables us to quickly create visually appealing dashboards. Using the KPIs developed, the sales department can easily recognise where there is a need for control and take measures at an early stage.