The Client
Engine manufacturer
The Challenge
This client has been a leader in the diesel engine manufacturing industry for more than three-quarters of a century. Supporting its large distributor customer base involved multiple applications, each with its own customer master information. A solution to share common customer information between these systems did not exist and as a result, end-users had to manually enter duplicate customer information in each system. This process was not only time-consuming, but was prone to error and misrepresentation of the same customer in disparate systems. Customer information was duplicated and stored in different databases with different numbering schemes, making it extremely difficult to produce consolidated customer reports.
The integration of this data across systems was identified as a top priority for the client. They also wanted this integration designed with expansion capabilities for the future to allow information from other business processes to flow between the systems.
The objectives were to:
- Permit distributors to have a truly connected source of customer information
- Create a single data store for customer information to be used across multiple systems
- Eliminate the manual re-keying of duplicate customer data entry
- Create a standardized, common customer identification numbering schema
- Create efficient communication of customer information between the sales force, sales offices, and corporate staff
- Provide a scalable solution to support the addition of future sources of customer information
The Haverstick Approach
Haverstick Consulting was asked to develop a middleware solution that would meet the stated business objectives. To create this solution, Haverstick Consulting:
- Conducted a requirements definition phase which included the use of facilitated sessions to gather project requirements and reach agreement on project approach and scope
- Conducted a formal design phase and delivered an architecture and design document which described in detail how the solution would be developed
- Constructed an Oracle-based central customer data store which houses the central master copy of all customer information
- Created a common transaction layer that provides standardized methods for external systems to select, add, update, or delete customer information from the central data store
- Created a data interface layer which allows the determination of data ownership, the assignment of a common customer identification number, and the integration of a name search solution to reduce the storage of duplicate customers
- Delivered a Participation Guide which describes in detail how existing or proposed systems interact with the common transaction layer
The Result
Haverstick Consulting delivered a scalable middleware solution that fully addressed the client’s customer data integration needs. The solution was completed on time under a fixed bid contract with an aggressive delivery date. Through active project management and a commitment to open communication and customer involvement, Haverstick Consulting delivered a total solution within the desired implementation schedule. The client now has a solution for sharing customer data and has eliminated the error prone and time-consuming process of manually re-keying data in disparate systems.
|
