1. Greater Manchester
Fire and Rescue
Implementing a Streamlined, Powerful
Incident Reporting Solution

2. Overview
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Authority is the United Kingdom’s second largest fire and
rescue authority. It employs over 2,500 staff, operating 41 fire stations across ten districts.
In total, it covers an area of nearly 500 square miles, with a culturally diverse population of
2.5 million people. During 2007, it attended over 49,000 incidents. The organisation also
works in the community, carrying out home fire risk assessments, conducting visits to
schools and advising businesses on fire safety.
We selected Manigent because of their evident
knowledge and expertise around both Microsoft
and CorVu technologies
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Authority’s that Manigent was an ideal partner for Greater
Corporate Support department provides Manchester Fire & Rescue.
performance information to management and
borough commanders. This information is Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue were
obtained by a Management Information impressed with Manigent’s willingness to add
System (MIS) from data automatically recorded value to the project, going beyond the initial
for call-out incidents. In 2009, the Authority remit to put in place small measures that
introduced a new Incident Recording System provided significant, long lasting benefits. As
(IRS), and commissioned Manigent to develop an example, a calendar was added to the SQL
a reporting suite. In addition, Manigent was reporting database. This was then available
asked to improve the existing MIS reporting for use by any other SQL system, thus
suite by making it more robust, flexible and creating consistency for reporting by period
less costly to maintain. and ensuring that periods in each SQL system
were the same.
Manigent delivered a cost-effective,
sustainable, and easy to maintain solution As part of the implementation, Manigent
that provides five years of MIS and IRS data ensured that Greater Manchester Fire &
in a consistent, easily accessible format for Rescue staff had a thorough understanding of the
management, statutory and ad-hoc reporting system and its capabilities, leaving behind
and analysis. a solid foundation of in-house knowledge.
Paul Sharples, Head of Corporate Support at
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue selected the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue
Manigent because they were able to collectively Authority said: “I found our Manigent
offer over 25 years’ experience of implementing contacts exceptional, their knowledge of
and deploying CorVu. In addition, as a CorBusiness and SQL Server was excellent,
Microsoft partner, Manigent has in-depth but they also had an exceptional ability to
experience of Microsoft Business Intelligence understand our requirements and translate
technology. This unique combination of CorVu them into easy-to-use technology solutions….
and Microsoft expertise and experience meant Manigent really did an exceptional job for us”
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Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue

3. A Complicated Legacy System
Prior to engaging Manigent, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue had a complex architecture
and process for managing and accessing performance information. Manigent redeveloped
the organisation’s data management infrastructure, introduced a new user interface,
enhanced report development and deployment, as well as ad-hoc reporting.
For several years, users accessed performance limited. Some of the prompts and selection
information using a web-based menu to sequences were convoluted, which
access custom reports generated using dissuaded users from exploring the data
corporate reporting tools from CorVu™, within the system. Often, users preferred to
CorBusiness™ and HyperVu™. While these download portions of data to manipulate
tools provided accurate information, with Excel; users regularly made requests
maintenance of the system was convoluted that required the reworking of existing
and time consuming; it couldn’t offer the reports that led to a mass of development
flexibility and usability that was increasingly structures. Ultimately, the reporting system
demanded, and there was limited provision grew to over 4,000 files.
for ad-hoc analysis.
Although generally happy with the CorVu
products that had provided a solid foundation
for reporting, the Corporate Support
department felt it needed to improve and
significantly expand deployment across the
web. With a difficult-to-use interface,
hampered by a slow online menu system and
sluggish report rending, the legacy Greater
Manchester Fire & Rescue reporting system
required a complex filing and scheduling
system to deploy reports and analytics to the
web. The process of adding or editing reports
and links sometimes resulted in inconsistent
content and presentation: menus and web
pages were constructed using a time
consuming and cumbersome “briefing book”
tool with limited image management, alignment
tools and no convenient style controls.
To access valuable organisational
information, Corporate Support had to
struggle with inconsistent report creation
and editing processes. The group developed
regular reports by scheduling multiple
Oracle database extracts throughout the
month. This required a complex date
formula and meant that static, historical data
had to be rebuilt. There was no option for
selecting performance information by
variable date ranges, so trend analysis was
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue 3

4. The underlying data schema was based on an incident data, Greater Manchester Fire &
older version of Oracle containing hundreds Rescue often accessed records from multiple
of tables many of which were simply legacy database sources. These reports were created
enteties and no longer accessed. Often, these with complex structures of joins and filters,
tables had cryptic names, numerous columns, and were used to cross-reference specific
over 50 code lookup tables and an overwhelming indicators that categorised thousands of
number of fields, which made it difficult to utilise incidents over the current and previous years.
the reporting tool’s data dictionary. There were A data extraction then had to be scheduled,
huge lists of schema – and no search utility – delivering a static report and a chart created
in which the report designer had to locate the on the single indicator data set. This process
desired items, and limitations in the schema was repeated for each indicator. A single
frequently disallowed the join, necessary for error would necessitate the rebuilding of an
data extractions. Reporting was additionally entire pyramid of related extract files.
slowed due to date fields comprising time
stamps, which necessitated an entire year’s For example, a complete set of indicators for
worth of data be extracted then filtered for a single report relating to a specific borough
the required periods. meant that each indicator pyramid had to be
combined into one massive joined data set of
In order to develop and deploy performance over 50 branches. Upon completion, each
indicator reports, such as the national fire indicator report and its associated charts were
service performance indicators (NIs) that presented online.
combined strategic target data with actual
4 Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue

5. Introduction of an Incident Reporting System
In March 2009, the structure of the underlying Oracle data source was changed with
the introduction of a new Incident Recording System. Now, two data schemes – the
organisation’s old MIS and its new IRS – had to be addressed. Both systems contained
essential incident data, but the process of reporting had become unmanageable. In
order to compare data from the MIS and from the IRS, personnel were limited to specific
priority reports that required labour-intensive collation, combining data from mismatched
incident recording systems.
Two reporting schema were required to
exploit data from the old MIS and new IRS
systems, and the overlapping structures made
selection of target data very confusing.
Because of these limitations, data was
extracted in very specific queries to
proprietary files. These files were then
filtered, joined, appended or merged into a
pyramid of related files to make up the
desired data combinations.
With each update to the system, menus and
reports, the collection of files, folders,
schedules and menu pages grew more
complex. However, the CorBusiness
corporate reporting tool still offered powerful
and effective reporting features, which the
organisation could exploit to improve the
end-user experience. Greater Manchester Fire
& Rescue engaged Manigent to leverage the
power of CorVu’s CorBusiness, while
streamlining the organisation’s data
infrastructure.
Simplified Architecture
Manigent redeveloped the organisation’s reporting system architecture into one that
was simple, robust and flexible. A new incident reporting data layer was put into place,
comprising a single database that combines SQL database tables and views, and one
multi-dimensional cube. This data layer provides a simpler, faster single source of data
that is accessible via Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue’s existing CorVu corporate reporting
tool as well as standard Microsoft Office tools such as Excel.
As the organisation moves toward are indexed to improve performance. Only
decommissioning the legacy MIS system, data from the new IRS system is extracted
historic data is stored in an archive, rather live, and the data layer is refreshed each
than being reconstructed from the Oracle morning using three SQL Server Integration
database with each job. These archived tables Services packages.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue 5

6. Simple, Yet Robust Reporting
The underlying database schema is now simply ten tables, each of which contains only those
columns required for statistical reporting; all complex joining of data sources is performed
using Microsoft Integration Services.
As well as enabling us to be more productive,
Manigent’s new system has reduced our costs
by £20K per year
With this new structure, report designers can Manchester Fire & Rescue’s Microsoft Office
develop reports more quickly, using live SharePoint Services 2007 system. Each report
queries against the data layer. Comprehensive has a unique URL in a SharePoint page view,
date prompts and current month columns help with the parameter defined on the URL options.
the report developer automate a number of
relative date constraints on the data, such as: By introducing true ad-hoc reporting, Manigent
“current month year-to-date versus last year-to has empowered Greater Manchester Fire &
date”. This allows a significantly smaller Rescue to get specific, actionable information
number of records to be retrieved and reports when it’s needed. Users can download
to be displayed more quickly. It is no longer template Excel files containing pivot tables of
necessary to schedule data in order to create the incident statistics and then select their own
pyramids of scheduled queries. Rather, an IRS ad-hoc analysis data, choosing various date
cube allows for multi-dimensional analysis and combinations from five years of current and
instant aggregation of statistics, which can be historical data, seamlessly combined from both
presented via Excel charts and pivot tables. the IRS and MIS. Each morning, a business-
specific OLEDB cube is automatically refreshed
All indicator data has been collated into a with new data, from which the Corporate Support
dedicated data mart, with one view, one team has developed template pivot tables in Excel
actual/target table and a calendar lookup table. workbooks to provide a starting point for
As a result, all performance statistics related to analysis.
over twenty indicators for current and previous
year periods are presented instantly in one These Excel files are uploaded to the
parameterised report. This master report SharePoint document library and files are
displays target level comparisons using one linked within various pages in the
view as the source query, greatly simplifying performance-reporting web site. When users
the process, and improving performance and select the desired Excel file, it opens with a live
enhancing choice for the end user. link to the underlying cube. Users cannot
overwrite or alter the original Excel workbooks,
Using the functionality of CorBusiness when but they are able to manipulate the report by
reporting on a specific indicator, users can changing the rows, columns, filters and layout
simply navigate through one prompt to display of pivot tables to suit their data requirements.
that indicator in a template report. This is The resulting file can be printed, copied or
accompanied by a drill-down chart to allow for saved locally, so users can share their analysis
ad hoc analysis of the indicator to borough, and insights. Because the base data is derived
ward and month levels. Both report and drilldown from a controlled source that cannot be altered,
chart are presented on a dedicated the organisation is working from one version of
indicator dashboard page within Greater the truth.
6 Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue

7. A Standard, Consistent & User-Friendly Interface
Manigent significantly improved the reporting system’s user interface, leveraging
Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007. This solution exploits style guides to provide
a consistent experience for users. This has improved navigation of Greater Manchester
Fire & Rescue’s reporting system and facilitated rapid response to user demands. Pages
can be redesigned quickly, links and explanatory text can be added, and additional
reports can be inserted as necessary.
Several standard reports have been deployed,
built with a consistent, template-based layout “I found Manigent’s
and colour scheme. These reports are visually consultants
similar to the previous reports, but are much outstanding. Their
faster to display as navigable web pages with knowledge of
accompanying information that facilitates CorBusiness and SQL
better understanding of the information Server was excellent
presented. For example, additional corporate but they also had an
support reports and documentation can be extraordinary ability to
included alongside the incident reports to understand our
create a true portal for the delivery of requirements and
performance reporting services for Greater translate them into
Manchester Fire & Rescue. easy-to-use
technology solutions…
Manigent really did
an exceptional job
for us”
Paul Sharples,
Head of Corporate
Support
A Powerful Solution
Manigent cost-effectively and sustainably redeveloped Greater Manchester Fire &
Rescue Authority’s business intelligence system to maximise ease of use, flexibility and
the power of data management and ad-hoc reporting.
This successful project has allowed Greater Each user of the system received in-depth
Manchester Fire & Rescue to better utilise its training and understood how to get the most
performance information in order to plan out of the new data layer. Manigent finished
more effectively and to quickly take action in the project leaving behind a solid foundation
areas of concern. By simplifying the system’s of in-house knowledge. Manigent also
architecture, Manigent has empowered the utilised its CorVu expertise to provide
organisation to easily obtain “one version of additional CorVu training, expanding
the truth” using base data derived from a awareness of features and functionality and
controlled source and presented via a versatile providing new skills that would help staff to
online performance reporting portal. During make the most of the system. The system
this project, Manigent consultants applied now offers the best of both worlds, using the
their experience of CorVu products to build powerful reporting ability of CorVu with the
on the existing skills of the Corporate Support functionality of Microsoft products to deliver
staff in using CorBusiness and HyperVu to a user-friendly responsive system.
maximise the investment in these products.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue 7

8. About Manigent
Manigent is a different type of consultancy, one that bridges the gap between
traditional management consultancies and technology vendors. We are a
specialist performance and risk management consultancy delivering integrated
business and technology solutions. Through the combination of our thought-
leadership approach, risk-based performance and unique software application
StratexPoint, we are able to reduce our clients’ project costs by, on average
20%, whilst improving the achievement of performance targets, reducing
riskrelated losses and improving the cost and allocation of capital.
For more information about Manigent, visit www.manigent.com
CorVu, CorBusiness and HyperVu are trademarks of Rocket Software Inc.
117 Waterloo Road
London SE1 8UL
T: +44 (0)20 7921 0022
E: info@manigent.com
W: www.manigent.com
8 Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue