Brown Brothers Family Winemakers needed to modernise their ageing, highly complex IBM Cognos reporting infrastructure to better support data-driven decisions across their multi-vineyard operations. Partnering with QMetrix, they successfully streamlined their technical architecture by consolidating core data structures and automating data integrity reporting.
Data-driven decision making is rarely a new concept for established businesses, but maintaining the technology that drives it requires constant evolution. For Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard, one of Australia’s leading family-owned wine companies operating in regional Victoria for over 120 years, data is deeply embedded in the corporate culture.
With five vineyards across Victoria and three in Tasmania producing over 30 grape varieties, clear operational insights are critical to managing everything from vintage intake to distribution.
Since 2001, the winemakers relied heavily on an extensive Business Intelligence (BI) reporting environment powered by IBM Cognos Analytics.
Over nearly two decades, this ecosystem expanded to support almost every department, including sales, finance, inventory, winemaking, and resource planning.
In fact, nearly half of all Brown Brothers employees used the reporting system regularly. However, while the system provided undeniable business value, the aging infrastructure began creating functional limitations and operational complexities.
Complexity and technical debt presents a challenge
As the business grew, so did the technical architecture behind its data reporting. The internal environment relied on approximately 70 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes and nearly 200 separate reports dedicated solely to maintaining transactional data integrity.
To facilitate automation within the older software version, the system accumulated a significant number of custom-coded components. This custom code increased business risk, placed considerable performance load on their core JD Edwards ERP system, and made future system support and knowledge transfers highly challenging.
Brown Brothers engaged the advisory team at QMetrix to plan and execute a comprehensive platform modernisation. The objective was clear: simplify the environment, eliminate technical debt, introduce flexible reporting tools for both standard and advanced users, and add modern capabilities such as mobile field reporting and interactive dashboards.
A solution to consolidate data with tailored deployment
Over a structured 12-week engagement, QMetrix successfully upgraded and re-architected the IBM Cognos Analytics platform, delivering the project entirely on time and within budget.
Rather than applying a generic approach, the deployment was carefully tailored to match the varied operational needs of different business units:
“We have been able to tailor the BI deployment to each user’s requirements rather than the ‘one size fits all’ approach of the past. QMetrix consultants have been very knowledgeable and willing.”
– Andrew Holgate, Applications Manager, Brown Brothers
Impact for Brown Brothers
Lower risk and deeper insights
The updated Business Intelligence platform provided Brown Brothers with an immediate return on investment. By removing extensive custom-coded components and simplifying the back-end architecture, the family-owned winery successfully de-risked its critical IT infrastructure, making the system significantly easier to support and scale over the coming decade.
With a clean, stable core now established, Brown Brothers is well-positioned for future data initiatives, including bringing financial reporting online and rolling out comprehensive internal dashboards to give teams a unified view of operational performance from the vineyard to the retail shelf.
