Postal Service Expands MicroStrategy DeploymentPostal Service Expands MicroStrategy Deployment

The U.S. Postal Service is expanding its deployment of MicroStrategy Inc.'s business-intelligence software to as many as 30,000 employees to improve the efficiency of the organization's retail, financial, transportation logistics, and supply-chain management operations. The deal, valued at just over $5 million, is part of the Postal Service's ongoing efforts to adopt best business practices from the private sector.

About 1,000 Postal Service workers already use MicroStrategy to analyze retail data such as commemorative stamp sales and revenue generated by overnight delivery services. This data is stored in a data warehouse in Egan, Minn., that's based on hardware and software from NCR Corp.'s Teradata division.

Now the Postal Service is broadening those efforts. "We're expanding our data-warehouse capability to make it enterprisewide," says John Edgar, manager of enterprise architecture in the Postal Service's IT organization.

The data warehouse will now include the Postal Service's financial data, transportation logistics information, and supply-chain data--including information about outside contractors. Postal Service "knowledge workers" will use MicroStrategy, by way of an intranet, to analyze how the organization's truck fleets are deployed, for example, or look for better ways to manage purchasing activities, Edgar says.

The five-year contract, which MicroStrategy says is its largest in five years, includes more than $5 million of MicroStrategy software licenses and education and support services. The Postal Service also acquired options for additional consulting, education, and support services during the life of the contract.