MIS Case Study

1. NorFolk Southern Railway
Company
By: Kundai Nangati, Manon Riehl, Hawa Magassa, Vu Phan &
Alfonso Castro Bilbao

2. The Company Background
● One of the 4 largest railroad companies
● Manage the transportation to arrive and get back on time
● Competition: Concentrate more on Customer Services regarding to the Reporting System
● In 1995, Norfolk started using data warehouse
under the main purpose of customer service and cost data
● In 2002, Norfolk redesigned its operation
regarding to the Thoroughbred Operating Plan (TOP)
=> BI application allows customers to access their own
shipment details and records (11k users and 8k customers)
=>TOP attracts a lot of partners and supplier organization
& U.S government

3. NorFolk’s Decision Making
Regulated Industry
➔ Focused on efficiency
➔ Invested in a data warehouse
➔ Marketing and Cost departments pushed for
reports to be made
Unregulated Industry
➔ 1999 Managers invested in growth strategy and
acquired 58% of ConRail
➔ 2002 Thoroughbred Operating Plan (TOP)
managed inventory and route options
➔ TOP BI Application System was implemented
Competing on Services
➔ BI Application accessNS created
➔ Track 2012 leveraged BI across enterprise
➔ Currently investing in ERP System

4. The Result of Various Actions
Data warehouse:
> Help the Marketing and Cost Departments to understand:
How was NS serving its customers
What should Norfolk Southern charge its customers based on the
cost of moving goods from one point to another
Implementation of TOP:
> Reduction in rail car cycle time
> Millions of dollars of annual savings
> NS strengthened its ability to compete on service to its customers
BI application - AccessNS:
> User base grew to more than 11,000 users in 8,000 customer
organizations
> Deliver 4,500 reports daily
> Better customer service

5. What We Think of NorFolk’s “Management”
Positive Management, Best Practice has been followed
Internal / External Best Practices such as:
Organizing
Investment
Leading / Planning
Implementation of new tools
Resources:
Human resources
Technological resources
Natural resources
Financial resources

6. What We Think of NorFolk’s “Technology”
❖ Track 2012’s Strategy and applications:
1. Service → “Intermodal Operational Dashboard”
2. Managing Fuel Use → “Industrial Engineering”
3. Logistics → “Multilevel”
4. Car Distribution → “Empty”
5. Workforce Productivity → “Crew Call”
6. Human Resources → “Workforce Planning”
❖ Thoroughbred Operating Plan (TOP)
1. Maximize assets and time.
2. Allow to monitor performance and make
adjustments.
3. Information on real time about
shipments.
❖ accessNS
1. Allow customers to manipulate fields of
information to know about their reports.
2. Easy-use software.
3. Easy and quick tracking, improving
emergency responses.
4. Allow the customer service to focus on
improving services.

7. THANK YOU!