Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Gains Consolidated View of Business Operations
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- WebFOCUS
- Active Technologies
- ReportCaster
Tech Stack
- Business Intelligence
- Data Analytics
- Data Warehousing
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics
Applicable Industries
- Education
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
- Predictive Quality Analytics
Services
- Data Science Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a non-profit organization located in Powell, Ohio. The zoo hosts more than 2 million visitors annually and is home to more than 10,000 animals representing over 575 species from around the globe. The Zoo complex is a recreational and education destination that includes the 22-acre Zoombezi Bay water park and 18-hole Safari Golf Course. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium also operates the Wilds, a 10,000-acre conservation center and safari park located in southeastern Ohio. It is a regional attraction with global impact; contributing more than $1 million annually to support over 70 conservation projects worldwide. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Columbus Zoo has earned Charity Navigator’s prestigious four-star rating.
The Challenge
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, a non-profit organization in Powell, Ohio, was facing difficulty in tracking expenses against budgets and understanding how campaigns and membership drives were progressing relative to annual goals. The organization lacked reports for day-to-day analysis of the operation. The zoo needed to ensure that it uses its funds appropriately and managers needed to track performance metrics for each part of the organization on a daily basis. To enable this type of real-time intelligence, the Zoo decided to standardize on Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform.
The Solution
The zoo standardized on Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform, and then worked with Information Builders to create a unified data warehouse that anchors three BI applications: portals for membership, revenue, and education. These BI assets help managers throughout the organization to access consolidated information through dashboards and interactive reports, reducing costs and improving services to the public. For its first BI project, the zoo worked with Information Builders Professional Services to construct a membership portal that reveals how campaigns and membership drives are progressing relative to annual goals. A dashboard displays current statistics and links to ad hoc reports. This flexible environment helps users pull together a huge volume of data, from membership category breakdowns to sales summaries to renewal lists. The zoo pushes PDF reports to smartphones using WebFOCUS ReportCaster. These colorful reports, generated daily, track ticket sales, attendance, and the success of permanent and temporary exhibits.
Operational Impact
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