Situation
A global Human Resource Consultancy Firm had a Global Compensation Data
Base application that was used by over 2000 companies. In that customer
base were most of the Fortune 500 companies. The application was exceeding
the current platform’s performance capabilities. This was causing
surveys and reports to take an excessive amount of time to complete. Users
were beginning to complain and the potential for loss of business was looming.
eRichards was brought in to address the current performance issues,
evaluate and select a new platform and migrate the application to Oracle
9i. The critical point here was to select the “best fit solution” for
the client while maintaining a high level of customer service.
Preliminary Approach
Select three market share leading platforms that could meet the application’s
requirements and benchmark the current application on each of these platforms.
Evaluate each platform with the following criteria: Performance, Reliability,
Availability, Security, Scalability, Manageability, Interoperability,
Adaptability, Affordability and Ease of Use. The platforms that were
chosen were: IBM’s pSeries 620, SUN’s Sun Fire V880 and Compaq’s
DL 580. Lastly we design a total solution that would fit the client’s environment – from
both a technical and staff perspective.
Objectives
The client requested help in three key areas: strategic platform
selection, Oracle migration, and technology integration. These were the
high level goals:
| • |
Select a platform to address
current performance issues and accommodate for future growth |
| • |
Create a benchmark matrix
for all selected platforms |
| • |
Migrate the current application
from Oracle 8.0.5 to Oracle 9i |
| • |
Evaluate the current database
architecture and verify it’s design |
| • |
Evaluate storage and high
availability solutions |
| • |
Automate the entire solution
so that it fit into the customer’s current environment |
| • |
Train and mentor the staff
on the new platform and technologies |
Approach
An audit of the current application was done to determine where all
of the issues existed (Discovery Phase). A project plan was assembled
that defined milestones and resources requirements. eRichards had only
a finite period of time to complete this project before the busy season
began. The plan was accompanied by several functional specifications
that defined in more detail the specific initiatives in the project.
These included the selection of: Database and Storage Architectures,
Clustering, Operating System, testing and finally implementation. In
preparing for the final migration, there were two dress rehearsals
to maximize perfect execution.
Priorities were outlined and following the discovery phase, the project
began. Weekly update meetings were held to keep the multiple initiatives
aligned. eRichards used the collective best practices and proven methods
gained from our previous successful implementations to avoid many of
the traditional pitfalls associated with critical platform and application
migrations.
Results
eRichards saved the client over $ 200,000 dollars based upon the
platform selection. Performance was greatly enhanced and feedback was
extremely positive from all parts of the world. The client now has a
stable, scalable and high performing platform that can respond to increased
usage, which in turn has produced more revenue.
An entire knowledge transfer was completed with the staff as well as
a complete set of system documentation. The staff was very comfortable
with the new platform.
Key Factors of Success
| • |
LISTENING to the CLIENT. |
| • |
Utilize best practices
and experience from other, similar implementations. This helps to
avoid the mistakes made by others while mimicking their successes. |
| • |
Development of a project
plan with clear objectives along with functional specifications for
major project deliverables. Planning with a clear understanding of
the objectives guides the entire process. |
| • |
Be sure to equip your
decision makers with data and intuitive tools to access that data.
An educated decision can help to better drive the business. |
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