Avengers, Assemble!
Continued
If an issue arises, both Marvel and the licensee are automatically alerted, and automated workflow makes sure the product continues to move through the licensed product approval process. In fact, new products are rechecked as they move from concept to prototype to final product design—and only then does the system approve the licensee's right to manufacture.
But workflow management is not the only benefit the brand assurance system brings to Marvel. It also provides the capability to marry earned royalty data for approved products to unapproved SKUs. With information about Marvel's extensive and complex licensing deals flowing through Stellent, Magala is also capturing valuable metrics about how the business operates. That data, combined with data generated by other parts of the business—say, Finance or Publishing—gives Marvel's executives the power to see the business in ways they couldn't before.
"Business intelligence is the only way we can, collaboratively, bring that information together," says Magala. "This gives us a cross-sectional view of the licenses we issue, what a licensee has done with that license, and how that deal has performed over time. Information like that is built from data collected from the Oracle ERP [enterprise resource planning] portfolio."
Superpowered Business Intelligence
For Magala, dealing with Marvel's growth extends beyond improving existing applications for the lines of business. In the case of Marvel Studios, the company's television and film production division, it meant creating new solutions where none previously existed.
Historically, accounting for film and television has been done in standalone systems, managed by vendors that specialize in the unique demands of studio production. While these systems are very good at project accounting, they don't deliver the kind of real-time business intelligence that Marvel demands. Magala created a process for importing production data from the third-party system into the Oracle Projects software running at Marvel. By using Oracle Discoverer and Oracle Business Intelligence, project managers at Marvel could analyze the data at their convenience, instead of having to contact the external vendor and request a report.
According to Magala, this capability becomes even more valuable over time. Once Marvel has enough historical data in place to serve as a baseline for performance indicators and benchmarks, executives at Marvel headquarters will be able to assess individual studio budget performance in real time. Accountants will be able to look at the historical cost of labor at any production stage to see if a given project is under or over budget. They will also be able to compare data on ongoing productions to project future costs and allocate available resources needed to complete each production on time. "We can get that kind of information from individual production applications," says Magala. "But someone has to cobble it together manually. Soon, we'll be getting a consolidated view of the cost structures and investments across all of our productions."
IT Heroics
Two years after arriving at Marvel, the company's IT Iron Man is still restless. His systems are more efficient and users are getting better performance and new insight out of the applications they use. The company as a whole has embraced strategic IT and continues to embrace Oracle's view of fully integrated enterprise technology. But that is not enough for Magala.
"We have delivered collectively and collaboratively to help improve the company over the past two years," he says. "As time goes on, the visible improvement and real deliverables accomplished have definitely proven that the strategy is solid and deserves the support that it gets."
Magala's peers in the lines of business mirror his confidence. Dan Buckley, Marvel's president of Publishing, says the move to strategic IT is not only making his team more efficient but allowing them to focus on creating quality content for readers. "The publishing group is very excited about this because it will make us less dependent on the institutional knowledge held by a few staff members," Buckley says. "Ultimately it will allow our storytellers and editors to focus on creating product."
But Magala always has an eye on the future. "We're halfway there," he says. "But I don't think IT is ever done. My goal is that embracing strategic IT will lead to business opportunities that will drive new initiatives."
For More Information
Oracle E-Business Suite
Oracle Media and Entertainment Applications
Simon Jacobson, senior research analyst, AMR Research
Marvel and Oracle
Aaron Lazenby is an editor for Oracle Publishing and editor in chief of Profit Online.
