Business Assistance Combined

Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program

A Federal-State-University Partnership for Economic Development

ProjectProject

Cluster Based Information Technology Assistance

PresenterWayne Figurelle

Director, PennTAP (Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program)

PennTAPPennTAP

Technology-Led Economic DevelopmentTechnology-Led Economic Development

PennTAP of Penn State University engages, guides, and

empowers businesses throughout the Commonwealth by:

• providing objective and experience-based technical solutions and

cluster initiatives

• focusing on distressed regions

• enabling clients to succeed and thrive, stimulating economic

growth for PA

The PennTAP The PennTAP ProcessProcess

How clients hear about PennTAP

• Referrals• Presentations

• Website

Open CaseClient

Value added connection to

resources

• Third Party• University• Partners

PennTAP is a well-connected resource • 50% of PennTAP clients come from referrals from other organizations.

• After PennTAP provided value-added assistance, 60% of cases were then connected to one or more other resources for follow-up assistance.

• Utilizes University resources: Faculty, students, training and test facilities

• EDA, DCED and PENNTAP realize the importance of specific clusters to the Economy of Pennsylvania

• In 2005, these partners put together an initiative to provide Information Technology Assistance to identified PA clusters

• 2 Initiative Components – Industrial Clusters – Provide Technology Assistance to organizations in top PA

Industry Clusters

– Healthcare Services – Provide Technology Assistance to Healthcare Services Organizations

Cluster-based Information Technology Cluster-based Information Technology AssistanceAssistance

PennTAP Role

• Provide a Senior Technical Specialist positioned geographically in each region

• Provide a limited amount of Technical Assistance for Advanced Information Technology Initiatives

• Qualify organizations to insure client’s commitment to implementation and economic growth


PennTAP Role

• Drive the demand for affordable broadband access, through awareness and networking of regional users – especially in Healthcare

• Perform industry cluster focused seminars targeting specific technology issues

• Work with partners to get cluster-specific tools and data online

• Inform workforce partners on technology training needed by the cluster companies

• Inform university partners on technology and research needs of the cluster companies


Metric Goal(42 months)

To Date(6/11/08)

Companies Assisted 1,000 1,087Cases in Critical Clusters 75% 90%

Total Jobs (Created/Retained) 750 1,607ROI - EDA $ Invested per Job $1,600 $750

Total Economic Benefits $30M $49.4MROI - Economic Impact per EDA $ Invested $25 $41

Cases Resulting in Expenditures to PA Partners

50% 66%

Cluster-focused Outreach Seminars 75 106

Cluster Information Technology Project Cluster Information Technology Project ImpactImpact

Results to date have exceeded projections!

Maureen Collins-Williams

University of Northern Iowa

Regional Business Center

[email protected]

www.MyEntre.Net

mailto:[email protected]

The Challenge In Rural Regions

Entrepreneurship is Critical

What Do Entrepreneurs Need?

• Community Support

• Technical Assistance and Training

• Capital

• Networks

Around TheCorner Productions -Cedar Falls

Building Community Support

A Local Taskforce: EntrepreneursYouthEducatorsMinorities ImmigrantsCommunity leadersVolunteers Robert Lee, Dreamland Productions

-Traer

Thinking Differently

Immigrant owned Home based Spin-offsAdventurous Ag Technology

RootsMarket-Cedar Falls

La Chiquita-Waterloo

Technical Assistance and Training

• Convene Service Providers– Develop Master Calendar– Share Information– Share The Credit

Capitalization

Soy Basics-New Hampton$1.2 million

Sara Sheets-Independence$25,000

Chip/Darlene Schwickerath-New Hampton

$250,000

Networking!

New Statewide Conference for Small Business

Bi-Annual Regional NetworkingEvents

An Online Community

Free Webinars

• More than 2,000 Rural Iowa Entrepreneurs Are Part of Online Community

• 525 New Full Time Rural Jobs• 154 New or Expanded Companies• $21,100,000 Commercial/Equity Investment

• New Online Community January 2009

Dream Big. Grow Here.

Maureen Collins-Williams

University of Northern Iowa

Regional Business Center

[email protected]

www.MyEntre.Net

mailto:[email protected]

Presented by

Dr. Bruce H. Andrews,Professor of Management Science

andDirector, Maine Center for Business and Economic Research

(A joint center of the School of Business and the Muskie School of Public Service)at the

University of Southern Maine

November 11, 2008

OVERVIEW

I. The EDA University Center

II. The Client

III. The Business Problem/Opportunity

IV. The Technical Challenges

V. The Business Solution

VI. The Innovations

VII. The Impacts

I. THE EDA UNIVERSITY CENTER

• Full-time faculty/graduate-student driven

• University of Southern Maine talent pools– School of Business– Muskie School of Public Service– College of Education and Human Development– School of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology– College of Arts and Sciences– College of Nursing and Health Professions

• Other University of Maine System talent pools

– University of Maine at Orono– University of Maine at Ft. Kent– University of Maine at Machias– University of Maine at Presque Isle– University of Maine at Augusta

II. THE CLIENT: Hannaford Bros. Co.

(Business Strategy & Insights Department) • Fortune 100 grocer (subsidiary of Delhaize

America)

• $4,000,000,000+ annual sales

• 170+ supermarkets in ME, NH, MA, NY, and VT

• 8-11 departments/store

• 27,000+ employees

• ~6000 weekly sales forecasts

III. THE BUSINESS PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY

Efficient routine, automated production of almost 6,000 accurate individual one-year-ahead weekly forecasts by store, by department, and by sales unit (dollars, items, and transactions) and aggregated forecasts to support a wide range of planning processes such as

-Preparing financial projections

-Determining operating and investment cash flows

-Informing investor public relations communications

-Scheduling employees and store deliveries

-Evaluating store managers’ performance and bonus eligibility

and to help analyze the impact of competitive events/activities such as

-New store openings (Hannaford’s or competitor’s)

-Marketing initiatives

-Advertising budgets

-Promotional-flyer positioning and pricing (e.g., distribution, ad placement,

and ad size)

IV. THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES• Many complex weekly-sales time series, each

of which requires its own forecast

• Newer stores with limited data prohibiting use of “work-horse” ARIMA models

• Seasonal cycles with varying lengths

• Capturing relationships in hierarchical forecasts (e.g., sales of a store and its departments)

• Measuring the impact of competitive events

V. THE BUSINESS SOLUTION

• MCBER won the competitive-bidding process against two international consulting firms (SAS Institute and SPSS, Inc.)

• MCBER collaboratively designed, constructed, and installed a user-friendly, automated, statistical forecasting system to produce ~6000 highly-accurate forecasts of weekly sales for one year ahead

• MCBER collaboratively prepared system users’ instructions and conducted on-site training sessions

• MCBER is presently training new users, adding enhancements as needs/opportunities arise, and providing other user support services

VI. THE INNOVATIONS• Created a fully-automated, forecasting

system for use by non-statisticians that provided access to highly-sophisticated statistical tools

• Our “innovative” technical solutions for the five aforementioned technical challenges are published in the Spring 2008 edition of Foresight, a refereed journal of the International Institute of Forecasters, in a paper entitled “Innovations in Sales Forecasting for Large-Scale Retailers” (complimentary reprints available)

VII. THE IMPACTS• Hannaford

– Average weekly store-level forecasting error was reduced by more than half from 6.43% to 2.80%, an improvement in accuracy of 3.63%

– Average overestimation and underestimation non-offsetting penalty costs in a “typical” store were reduced by over $1,000,000 per year accumulating to about $170,000,000 annually at the company level

– Hannaford gained the capacity to analyze the effect of, and formulate responses to, competitive events based on the models’ ability to accurately estimate their sales impact in dollars, items, and transactions

• “Poster-child” project for USM, SB, and MCBER– Maine Legislature– Governor– Chancellor – University of Maine System– Southern Maine business community– Prospective students

• Faculty

• Research graduate assistants

• Professional forecasting community