Customer Registration System Upgrade
Scenario
An eight-year-old, out of support, and highly customized Registration Management System at a government training organization required an immediate upgrade.
Challenge
The system prevented the client from being able to launch new services. Furthermore it was slow, crashed, and caused outages with Customer Service. Finally it ran on unsupported Operating Systems. Over the years, teams of developers create new custom applications and reports to provide functionality the Registration System did not have. The upgrade was attempted and abandoned over many years.
Delivery
Designed an upgrade path involving data replication to allow a modern Registration System to work with legacy applications and reports. Project Managed a Software Development effort to create the necessary infrastructure. Lead an upgrade initiative to install, test and validate the new systems. Defined and rolled out a Change Management strategy to minimize the impact on staff and operations. Created and executed a Communications Plan and a User Training strategy. Delivered frequent Executive Updates and Documentation to keep the organization informed on progress and impacts.
Outcome:
New registration system launched and begun operating with minimal disruption to the operations of the company. The upgrade resulted in improved customer service experience for new registrants, reduced time to capture a registration, and new opportunities to provide self-service registration via the web. IT Networking team was able to bring internal systems into compliance, improve security, and support availability.
Software Development Management
Scenario
A Social Commerce development team at a major digital media company was working out of the headquarters and a remote office. To improve team cohesion, responsiveness, and productivity, the parent company decided to combine all development to a single location at its headquarters.
Challenge
Most of the subject matter expertise regarding the product, its code and maintenance resided at the satellite office. Majority of the remote team was not willing to relocate.
Delivery
Traveled extensively between both offices to familiarize with the individuals, their operations, systems, and code.
Documented the Development Operations at the satellite office, and designed a new DevOps process utilizing Jenkins, GitHub, Selenium and automation deployment tools.
Defined a pathway to moving all development to the headquarters. The move involved taking over DevOps processes, supporting team relocation, identifying new team members at headquarters and creating knowledge transfer opportunities.
Outcome:
A new combined team at the parent company headquarters, developing and owning the development process. New DevOps tools, and Agile SCRUM methodology rolled out to support the new team. The resulting work improved team morale and cooperation which contributed to a stable development process, improved code quality, and platform up-time.
Accounting (ERP) Platform Upgrade
Scenario
A 5-year old implementation of Solomon 6.5 Accounting Software required an upgrade to maintain support, improve performance and add new Project Management capabilities.
Challenge
The client utilized Solomon 6.5 (early Dynamics SL version) with custom developed integration to Project Management, and Customer Service applications. The overall system was buggy and resulted in frequently missing data. In addition, the system was also under-performing and required frequent developer support. A new version of Dynamics SL would not address underlying architectural issues.
Delivery
Launched an analysis to determine if Dynamics SL was an appropriate platform.
Defined a new system architecture consisting of a larger ERP Platform (Dynamics AX) as the new back office application that supports Finance, Customer Service, and Project Management needs.
Launched a development project to implement Dynamics AX as a core ERP platform in the enterprise.
Defined new data migration, integration, reporting, and technical requirements for the new platform.
Wrote technical and requirements portions of an RFP, defined evaluation criteria and interviewed candidate vendors as part of a selection process.
Outcome:
Deployed Dynamics AX platform and eliminated previously custom developed, unsupported and buggy applications. Eliminated need for data integration therefore minimizing data corruption issues. Finance team was able to start delivering greater insight and reporting via BI functionality in Dynamics AX.
CVENT Event Management System Migration
Scenario
A non-profit organization in Washington area utilized a custom built Event Management System. The system was no longer maintainable, and the events team determined that they would start utilizing CVENT SaaS platform and discontinue using the legacy application.
Challenge
Internal business rules required that a legacy authentication system continue to be used to allow past conference attendees to utilize their past credentials.
Delivery
Defined an integrated authentication strategy utilizing client’s forms-based authentication legacy system, and authorization tokens.
Designed integration strategy to integrate CVENT with email marketing systems.
Project Managed configuration and setup, legacy system enhancements, testing, and training.
Outcome:
The client has retired the legacy event management system and is fully utilizing CVENT to manage events and attendees.