Transoft Case Study

TRANSOFTCASESTUDY
Application
Integration
Transoft delivers web-based business intelligence solution
for VW Credit
“Transoft is the kind of company that wants and strives to
be a partner and not just a vendor. They come in and make
a full effort at understanding our business. They want to
achieve what we're trying to do.”
Jim Sibenaller IT Director, VW Credit, Inc.
At a Glance
CLIENT PROFILE
The Situation
Increasing demands for queries and reports impacting
IT productivity, and the need to avoid ad hoc report
development
The Solution
The Field and Finance business group at VW Credit, Inc. provides
Volkswagen dealers with financial services that enable them to place
cars on their showroom floors. Jim Sibenaller, IT Director, and Stu Lubor,
Field and Finance Project Manager, are responsible for the wholesale
floor planning application that supports that activity.
THE CHALLENGE
ODBC connectivity to legacy database, use Business
Objects to provide an easy way to enter queries and
generate reports.
The Technology
Transoft U/SQL and Business Objects, with Transoft
Gateway Adapters for Web-enablement.
The Benefits
• Transparent, state-of-art connection to legacy system
• No special skills needed for business managers to
access data
• Improved IT and business productivity
• Faster data-to-knowledge cycle for business managers
Faced with challenges to provide internal business managers with more
direct and faster access to data and to reduce the role of IT in query and
report generation, they partnered with Transoft to implement a Webbased, Business Objects solution featuring ODBC links to a nonrelational database via Transoft Gateway Adapters.
VW Credit and Transoft have been business partners for several years.
Transoft migrated VW Credit’s legacy application onto an HP UX
platform by converting code to Micro Focus COBOL and by converting
the database to Transoft's U/FOS database management system.
Once open systems issues were addressed successfully, priorities
shifted to business users and their needs to access data. VW Credit
views obtaining and using data as a knowledge process.
Jim said, “Our philosophy is to take data and turn it into information. We
then take that information and turn it into knowledge.”
But there were obstacles. Jim continued, “Users who had an 'ad hoc'
need for information had to write a request for IT to do a report.”
Programmers created a query, generated the report, and sent it back to
the users. Business managers had the view on data they requested, but
no flexibility. When an alternative ‘what if?’ scenario was desired, the
business manager had to submit another report request.
The Modernization Experts
Increasing demand for queries and reports
was taking productivity away from IT staff. Jim
said, “We had to find a way to get business
users the information they needed in a
manner that didn't keep IT professionals from
doing their jobs. We didn't want the IT staff
doing 'ad hoc' reporting any longer.”
THE TRANSOFT SOLUTION
VW Credit found the solution with Transoft
U/SQL and Business Objects. Transoft U/SQL
provided ODBC connectivity to the legacy
database and supported Business Objects
SQL commands by interpreting them,
searching the database, and returning
correct data.
‘‘
‘‘
You have to find the
experts in the industry to
work hand-in-hand with
your staff to solve business
problems.
Jim Sibenaller,
IT Director,
VW Credit, Inc.
Business Objects provided a flexible and
easy-to-use method for business users to
enter query and report criteria and to review
returned data with powerful analytic
functionality. Early results were extremely
positive, and VW Credit began a corporatewide upgrading and standardization on
Business Objects.
The IT department realized additional
efficiencies could be gained by placing the
application on the company Intranet.
Transoft was again retained to help deploy a
Web-enabled version of Business Objects
now connected to the legacy database with
Transoft Gateway Adapters.
The Transoft Gateway Adapters provide
browser-based access to non-relational data
via business applications written in HTML and
scripting languages such as Microsoft Active
Server Pages, and it supports ODBC and
JDBC SQL statements.
MAJOR bENEFITS
Projected efficiencies were used to cost-justify
the implementation, and benefits abound.
Jim cited the example of the new manager
now responsible for wholesale floor planning
by saying, “He couldn't get the information he
needed under the old system. He previously
would have to set up a formal IT project to
get reports and do analysis.
He can now get to that information whenever
he needs it.”
Stu added, “Users will have more direct and
faster access to the data they need to do their
jobs better.”
Commenting further on the system, Jim noted,
“All this is transparent to the users. They don't
know they're actually going back to the old-style
database. Their data has been transformed.
And they now have a transparent, state-of-theart connection to the legacy system.”
Additional good news is that business
managers do not need SQL skills to access
their data, so the transition was accomplished
without heavy investments in training and
change management.
IT, too, has been empowered, and can now
concentrate on development projects instead of
report generation.
Jim notes sophisticated features of the Transoft
Gateway Adapters/Business Objects solution
result in additional benefits: “It adds
effectiveness to Stu's department as we can
use the gateway internally to test, debug, and
do data cleansing. We can use the same
Business Objects reporting to drill down and
look at data when we need to.”
“I wanted to make us (IT) and the business
more productive at the same time. There are
not many projects that do both,” Jim said.
Implemented first in Libertyville to achieve
validation, the solution is being rolled out to
other locations and business users. Wholesale
managers will be using the application to do
profitability analysis, and the browser-based
format means the user group can easily scale
to include field users and accounting.
Jim commented on the ongoing VW Credit/
Transoft partnership by noting, “You have to
find the experts in the industry to work hand-inhand with your staff to solve business problems.
Transoft is the kind of company that wants and
strives to be a partner and not just a vendor.
They come in and make a full effort at
understanding our business. They want to
achieve what we're trying to do.”
VW Credit wanted to achieve faster, more
direct data-to-knowledge cycles for business
managers while simultaneously improving IT
productivity. The Transoft/Business Objects
solution has proved to be a winning
combination.
AbOUT TRANSOFT
Transoft is a leading provider of innovative and pioneering modernization solutions, with hundreds
of thousands of organizations worldwide using our products and services.
Our aim is to enable our customers to increase business value and maintain competitive advantage
by maximizing the potential of existing data and applications. This provides rapid return on
investment, reduced costs, improved productivity and efficiency, and the ability to manage
operational risk.
T: +1 770 933 1965 (US office)
T: +44 (0)1753 778000 (UK office)
E: newsolutions@transoft.com
W: www.transoft.com
With 25 years’ experience, and expert staff dedicated to servicing the needs of organizations with
legacy systems, we pride ourselves on a tailored approach to customer service. Major organizations
such as The Gap, L’Oreal, Boeing and Balfour Beatty have enjoyed the business benefits of a
Transoft application modernization strategy. We work with a large network of VARs, System
Integrators, ISVs and technical partners to offer unparalleled solutions.
Transoft is a trading name of Transoft Group Limited and Transoft Inc, which are a part of the CSH Group of companies. Transoft is a trade mark. © Transoft
Group Limited and Transoft Inc 2012. All rights reserved.