Recent projects - Data entry and facilities management
Some recent projects
In the last few years, we have completed (or helped our customers complete) many major and minor projects, often in "panic" or "disaster recovery" mode. Without naming the compaines involved, here are just a few examples.
Key/Master & Key/101
Disaster averted!
A large mailing company had a problem - their old Nixdorf key to disk system wouldn't power up and they had work to be done. And service level agreements to meet. Their computer manager had used Key/Master at a previous job and called usl. "How quickly can you get us working with Key/Master?" Starting from scratch, John caught the 2 pm plane and, by 9 pm that night, Key/Master was installed on a dozen PCs, the most important 5 applications had been converted and data entry was in full swing! Not a single service level was missed.
By the end of the week, all the company's applications had been implemented in Key/Master, the staff had been trained and data entry keying rates were on a par with those achieved with the system that had been used for the previous 10 years. Not a single service level was missed.
Costs contained
A large insurance company was getting increasingly outrageous maintenance bills for its MVS-based online data entry software. They also found their old system hardt to keep up to date as the manuals left a lot to be desired. In under a week, we installed Key/Master, created applications that more than replicated their old systems (including intelligent look-ups to their online databases) and saved the company a fortune in software costs).
Upgrade to Windows
A major hospital needed its DOS-based Key/Master system upgraded to Windows to fit their standard PC operating environment. We discussed the future needs of their system and any shortcomings in the old system. As a result, we were able to enhance the Windows-based solution to reduce the number of edit errors getting through to the batch system. We also reduced the total number of applications used by introducing some EasyLogic into their applications to make intelligent decisions on which formats and fields needed to be entered.
A store too far
A retail chain had allowed 3 digits for its store codes when its systems were set up in the 1980s. And the day was fast approaching when they would open their 1,000th store. The people who had set up their Key/Master system in the 1980s had retired long ago. In less than a week, Cobbs Mil rebuilt all their Key/Master applications to include 4 digits, increased the size of a number of other fields, upgraded to the latest version of Key/101 and transferred all the work to Windows. At the same time, we had given the customer's staff a refresher course and taught them many of the new facilities in Key/101
Facilities & data center management
Meeting government reporting requirements
A teacher training college was having trouble giving their government department the increasingly complex compliance reports they required. "We usually had the information somewhere but getting it into a usable format in a reasonable time was a nightmare". So we installed Aperture for them and helped them gather the information from all their databases and spreadsheets into one place. In the process, we discovered many errors in the existing data that would have created major budgetting problems had they gone uncorrected.
Managing many customers' computer equipment
A large computer outsourcing company needed to be able to charge customers (and provide cost estimates to prospective customers) based on how much floorspace and power they used. They wanted to implement this system themselves rather than have us do it for them. So we provided advice on how it could be done and developed some of the inter-related database records needed to get the job done. We presented our ideas to the outsourcer and that system is now bieng used regularly to ensure that customers get billed accurately with each customer carrying its fair share of the common costs of the computer site.
Moving data centers
A large financial organisation was moving its data center across town. They realised that they didn't really know what equipment was connected to what and who owned and used much of the hardware in their computer suite. We installed Aperture'sTechDoc (later updated) and carried out an audit of all the equipment and connections. The audit turned up well over $100,000 worth of unused equipment and gave a clear picture of power needed at the new site.
Assembler programming
Software development
A leading minframe software company needed one of its products updated to take advantage of advances in the IBM operating systems. This long term project is still going on and the product has been significantly developed by us to become an industry leader in its field
Quick fix needed
After upgrading their VSE system to the latest version, a customer's home-written Assembler print routine ceased to work so that their high speed laser printer was printing garbage. In just a few hours we found and corrected the errant instruction and the customer's production printing didn't miss a beat.