Well known electronics and manufacturing company based in Manchester, UK.

Transcription

1 Case Study Customer Well known electronics and manufacturing company based in Manchester, UK. Profile The business is a member of one of the biggest electronic group based in Japan. Their organization is a worldwide electronics and manufacturing company, with sales in over 100 countries. Their range of products includes business machines, telecommunication products and machine tools. The UK subsidiary is based on the outskirts of Manchester and also serves as European headquarters. It provides sales, marketing, technical support, warehousing and distribution and customer support call centre for all UK customers. It markets a versatile product portfolio including, Colour & Mono Laser Printers, Fax Machines, Multi-Function Centres, All-in One Inkjet Printers, Word Processors, Typewriters, Labelling Machines, Sewing Machines. Project Title Product Data Management System (PDMS) Project Date The project began in December, Project Summary PDMS should allow users to store and maintain product information and organize output related information into logical categories. This information should be used to produce the relevant output documents in a customized format. Technologies Used A web-based, multi-user system was developed using Microsoft.NET (C#) with back-end in Microsoft SQL Server.

2 Solution Description Challenge Since the firm was a subsidiary of a larger enterprise, they received all technical product data via a master spreadsheet issued on an ad hoc basis from Japan. This spreadsheet contained technical details of several different products for different regions. The data from the master sheet was manually compiled into product-specific sheets. Such product sheets were a necessary intermediate to producing various output documents required for each product model. The master spreadsheet changed from time to time as updated details were released from Japan. A change history was included within the sheet; however, it was not always complete or accurate and so could not be fully relied upon. They were in need of a solution that would remove their reliance on the intermediary documents and allow seamless updates of data along with quick generation of output documents. Their basic requirement was to establish a central database system based on their standardized format within which they could consolidate the product data. The challenge was to explore and suggest the best way to create a well-structured and scalable system for the company in order to accommodate the different product models with no restrictions on the number of products or details that can be stored in the system. The system also needed to be flexible in terms of organizing the product details for different output documents and allow one click generation of up-to-date output documents. Solution A web-based, password protected and multi-user application was prepared that supported different levels of users. It presented a standardized format for documenting product details and accommodating different Products and models. A brief description of the system is below: User Management section handled the user rights to enter data, view, edit or generate output documents. For e.g., Administrators were able to work with all aspects of the system, Document Owners could only work with the output document related sections while Viewers were permitted to only view and print output documents but not edit data. With the Product Management module users were able to manage products and product details. Products were grouped according to Product Category, Model Name and so on. Few customized features of this section included, cloning products while including all their existing product details and adding replaceable tags for printing in the output documents. Bookmark Management was used to logically group information according to Categories/Headings/Details pertaining to output documents. Unique identifiers, bookmarks were used to point to the relevant Categories/Headings/Details. When printing output documents, the bookmarks in the document were replaced with actual data from the database. Template Management was used as the starting point for generating output documents. Users were able to design customized layouts using formatting and bookmark positioning, for the

3 related output documents types and products. These templates could be uploaded and associated with multiple output documents and products. For quick access and reference, templates could also be cloned, downloaded or used to generate bookmark lists. Output Management allowed users to review and generate output documents.

4 Result PDMS was an application which could store, edit, retrieve and reproduce product information from a central storage location into several types of output document types. Data entry, viewing, editing or generating output documents was dependent upon user rights. The main section of the system contained information grouped into logical categories with easy access to related products and template files of output documents. The implementation of the system resulted in: A standardized format for documenting product details Automated distribution of document workflows and workflow management Increased process efficiency by centralizing information distribution for all branch offices Reduction in time spent on updating and customization of output document templates Below are some sample screens of the application: Screen 1: Dashboard for accessing different sections of the system with quick links to the latest updated products

5 Screen 2: Data Management screen Screen 3: Product information screen with advanced search

6 Screen 4: Managing Templates Screen 5: Output screen for reviewing and printing documents

7 Delivery The application lifecycle covering requirement analysis, system design, development, testing and delivery was accomplished within a time frame of 2 months. Benefits The business organization acquired a bespoke web based solution that would allow them to organize, control and manage a wide range of products. This system ensured that any changes and updates in their product range could be easily accomplished and latest products were added seamlessly into the application. With the help of PDMS, they were successfully able to eliminate all intermediary processes that were previously necessary in the generation of output documents required for marketing and related activities. The new application was now able to automatically generate output documents of different product models with predefined data at bookmarked locations in customized formats. These documents were easy to save, download and print. Some key advantages which followed the use of this system were: Instant access to all product records from any machine using internet access Centralized management of distributed documents Increased document customization capabilities Seamless updates and support for customizable process workflows