Case Study

The Challenge
A mid-size manufacturing company, with international sales and distribution, wanted a better way to work. A paper-based sales and marketing reporting system which only generated monthly and quarterly reports did not provide the information that regional sales managers and sales representatives needed.

Management wanted feedback on sales performance: trends, sales incentive programs, and quotas. They wanted to keep tabs on delinquent and slow-paying accounts. They wanted to know what was going
on – so they could manage.

Sales representatives wanted to spend less time on paperwork and more time on sales. They wanted information at their fingertips: inventory, pricing programs, order history, account statements, missing deliveries…

The company needed an interactive, real-time system for sales and marketing personnel to obtain current and accurate information on account and product sales data. However, they knew the task was Herculean with a 500,000 item inventory and 200,000 customer records. Five years of order and invoice history would amount to over 20 million records.

Users would include local LAN – connected users as well as telecommuting and WAN users. The system needed fast response time, since 80 percent of users would work via dial-up connections. Ideally, they wanted the system completed, released, and deployed within nine months.

The project was beyond the scope of the client's IT staff – especially with their existing workload. The decision was made to outsource to a firm with the engineering ability to do the heavy lifting. They chose Myxa.

The Engineered Approach
Myxa was involved with everything from technology selection, system architecture and design, prototyping, and software development to deployment. The use of Myxa's discovery development methodology was key to the overall system, since there were no clear written requirements or time to spend creating a detailed, written specification. The software would require:

a "thin"client approach to minimize desktop and remote computing support issues
a flexible, scalable architecture with the ability to add new functions and applications that build on the datamart
strong data warehouse components as well as transaction lookup functions
integration with an ad-hoc query tool for power users
nightly deliveries of raw data elements to be rolled into the application by midnight – to update the system by dawn
use of pre-aggregated data to meet performance standards – the updated data would have to be re-aggregated nightly

Myxa worked closely with the client's IT staff throughout the entire project to insure technology transfer. This transfer incorporated the development and delivery of customized developer training as well as assistance, review, and mentoring of the IT staff’s work on components of the system.

Using Unix, Oracle, and perl with a web/cgi-bin methodology, Myxa built a prototype of the system in six-weeks, using customer data. This prototype was used to:

prove that the model worked, that the technology was appropriate, and that the application would meet the overall goals
provide a tangible outlet to obtain key information on user requirements and system functionality
evaluate the state of the data and determine what data cleanup and migration issues would need to be addressed

Once the customer had reviewed the functioning prototype, work shifted to building a production system. Over the course of six months, Myxa worked with the client on data and database issues, page layout, and usage issues. Myxa built and delivered the sales and marketing system and was actively involved with testing and roll-out issues at the customer site. Eight months after the start of the prototype, the system was released to production – complete with end-user training.

The sales and marketing system was released in record time for the company, and user acceptance has been extraordinary. Not only was the initial release a tremendous success, but adopting Myxa's multi-phased release methodologies has meant that the system has continued to evolve, expand, and improve.

The Result
The sales and marketing support system has been a boon to the marketing and sales department. Having real-time access to critical account information and the ability to perform analysis on account, territory, and product activity, has been a vital part of the company's success.

This system formed the cornerstone of a new technology paradigm that has rippled throughout the entire company. The intranet has become the portal to all information to which users need access – from the company phone list to breaking news. Additionally, the IT team has transitioned from an AS\400-centric organization to a multi-platform team maintaining and deploying a system based on AS\400, Unix, and Windows NT/2000. Myxa’s transfer of technology enabled the IT team to radically expand the department’s competencies to include Unix, Oracle, Web, perl, and Java. By following Myxa’s methodologies and the new software foundation, the department is producing corporate technology solutions in one-third to one-half the time it took a few years ago.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.myxa.com, or contact us at 610-234-2600.