Stat9 specializes in designing and implementing solutions utilizing Manhattan Associates WMOS, SAP WM, EWM, OTM, SAP GRC, and IBM’s Sterling Integrator tools. Stat9‘s seasoned and experienced personnel have implemented industry leading Supply Chain Execution (SCE) applications throughout their professional careers. Starting with the founder and continuing through the entire senior management team, everyone on our team has implemented supply chain software as either a client, vendor, or third party integrator. We have direct, hands-on experience integrating these solutions in LIVE production environments across all industry channels.
Energy
This Major Gas distributor in North America needed to replace it’s old and unsupported system with a new breed of Microsoft.NET technologies to be efficient in energy delivery to it’s customer’s.
Client : Major Gas Pipe Distributor in North America
Business Need: Client provides natural gas and related energy products in a safe, efficient, and dependable manner. It is organized around two core businesses-pipelines and exploration and production. It owns North America’s largest interstate natural gas pipeline system-approximately 42,000 miles-transporting more than a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the country each day. Client’s current Pipeline Transportation System was built using Vision Jade (Versata offers a complete IDE for Java programming of GUI) which is no longer supported by the vendor. Therefore, the company wanted to upgrade to a new vendor supported computer technologies and turned to Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio .NET to replace an application built with Jade.
Solution: The project has involved two major phases. In the first phase we had designed a development environment that would permit all IT and business transformation work to be undertaken in a standardized and consistent way. In the second phase we implemented different modules for the application. All new applications interface with existing legacy systems with little to no modification of those systems. With the new web-based application a lot of problems that existed with the legacy application were resolved. This new application allows customers to conduct business with the client over the web which increased the client’s customer service capabilities and productivity of customer service department tremendously.
Benefits of the new application:
• Reduce exposure to unsupported software/hardware.
• Reduce difficulties to maintain operating systems at patched levels.
• Incorporate software that allows us to take advantage of new Web enabling and enhancing technologies.
• Reduce our dependence on finding programming staff with outdated skill sets.
• Build a common platform and core business system that will support eastern pipelines.
• Provide consistent presentation, look and feel for Eastern Pipelines to the customer base.
• Enable faster implementation of new or enhanced services.
• Make use of commonalities in business functions to standardize procedures where appropriate and make use of best practices.
• Enhance customer flexibility and functionality.
• Create a more consistent and efficient regulatory and SOX compliance environment.
Financial Services
This global fortune financial services firm needed a portal which can be used by internal employees to view the member medical history of all the subscribers, claims information, agent’s information and provider information with various security features for different users of the portal such as underwriters, agents and customer service representatives.
Client : A Fortune US Global Financial Services Major (Client)
Business Need: This Client has been a provider for Medicare supplement insurance, sold by over 4,200 agents nationwide. The Client required a portal which can be used by internal employees to view the member medical history of all the subscribers, claims information, agent’s information and provider information. The portal should provide various security features for different users of the portal such as underwriters, agents and customer service representatives.
Solution: STAT9 Technologies has helped the Client in Design, Development, and Testing of the ACI portal which has several pages of customer information in a structured way so that the user of the system can easily navigate through the portal. The users of the portal were given different rights so that the information of the customer cannot be visible to all the users of the system.
The portal has been built using following technologies Microsoft .NET 2.0, SQL Server 2000, C#.NET and ADO.NET. The portal has been made more secure using windows authentication.
All the customer data is saved in the SQL Server database, which is more secure. All of this customer data is being displayed in the form of reports to the internal users. The reports are built using SQL Server Reporting Services 2005.
Benefits:
With this portal it has been easy for all the users of the system. The advantages of the system are
• User Friendly
• Flexible
• It was easier and faster to retrieve the records of a customer.
• Secured.
This fortune American Bank required a clearing house type of solution for healthcare claims payment processing that enables providers to automate claims reimbursement and reduce administrative costs.
Company: A fortune global Bank in the USA (Bank)
Business Need: This Bank is one of the leading provider of electronic remittance services for Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) compliant transaction sets. Bank required a solution for healthcare claims payment processing that enables providers to automate claims reimbursement and reduce administrative costs. For electronic transactions, Healthcare Link should receive electronic transmissions or extraction of files from insurer sources. The data files should be customized, allowing payment information from paper and electronic sources to auto-post to practice management systems. The critical task of matching data to payments should be done automatically. Healthcare Link should also provide a powerful content management toolkit, including a payment search engine, online reporting, integrated workflow and reconciliation support.
Solution: STAT9 Technologies was deeply involved with the bank to develop a healthcare link website which is highly flexible and secure so the providers can login to healthcare link site and can automate the claim reimbursement. To support the transition from paper to electronic posting, paper payments and supporting materials are scanned at Banks Healthcare Centers of Excellence and converted to electronic files. To read these electronic files, the bank has adopted different solutions. Healthcare link website is built on the Microsoft .NET framework with technologies including but not limited to SQL Server 2005, service oriented architecture (SOA) and XML Web Services. The website has been built with four tier architecture model so as to make the system highly secure. To migrate the data from electronic files the Bank has written some flexible windows services which automatically detect the files and loads the data into SQL Server database.
Benefits:
With Healthcare Link the providers can:
• Auto-post transactions and accelerate cash availability
• Reduce reliance on paper
• Truncate paper and eliminate costs associated with storage
• Reduce salary expense associated with the claim-posting process
• Streamline customer service, research and inquiry resolution
Internet Media
This largest used media seller on Internet needed a Intelligent Receiver System so unworthy product does not enter the selling stream.
Intelligent receiving system increased the productivity massively and reduced throughput delays enormously.
Client: Largest Used Media Seller in North America.
Business Need: Client is a largest used book seller on the Internet in North America with offices and receiving warehouses spanning almost every part of USA and Canada. receives used book product and other raw material from various Thrifts and vendors across the world. But, to be really profitable and successful, Client should be able to decide which receivable product should be sold on Internet appropriately. There is no way for Client to accept all the raw material in to their warehouse. They needed a way to identify if a book is really worth to enter in to their warehouse. But, the problem was how we can decide optimally to accept a book or not. So, Client decided to develop Intelligent Receiving system (IRS) to cut huge costs of receiving unworthy product in to their selling stream.
Solution: Client found that it can solve its business problems by developing an Intelligent Receiving system using .NET Web Services and SQL Server technologies. Client asked STAT9 Technologies If we can develop a proprietary solution for them based on .NET 2.0 windows application with rich and a promising user interface that’s easy to access and maintain. IRS was designed, developed and deployed by KCS. Line scanners began using this new IRS system which will make various on-demand web service calls to determine if a product is worthy enough to be shelved in Client warehouse. If not, the system simply rejects the intake of this item. Microsoft’s .NET framework has been really helpful to Client because of its supreme UI controls and other code abstraction abilities. Communication with various web services over SOAP is highly robust and reliable with .NET technologies.
Benefits:
With this new Intelligent Receiving system, Client experienced the following benefits which changed the way Client does business today.
• Intake of highly efficient raw material that had the ability to provide maximum revenue to Client.
• Substantial reduction in shelving costs.
• Highly reduced maintenance costs of legacy systems.
• Drastically decreased the database space needed to store every item in the warehouse.
• Finally, the users of this new system were really impressed at the performance or throughput of this application.
“STAT9 Technologies improved critical business processes for us with their expertise and readily available solutions when we really needed the help. Now we use STAT9 Technologies every day to round out our software development and system integration needs.” – Michael ( Chief Information Officer )
Life Sciences
This American based Biotechnology company implemented SAP Document Management System(DMS) to help its data migration from an outdated legacy system used for document management to integrated SAP based one. With our help, the client customized its DMS to fit its unique documentation process for all the materials and to meet regulatory requirements. The DMS solution enhanced the accuracy of DMS reporting and increased the efficient handling of all type of materials and its related data.
SAP Data Management System Case Study.
STAT9 Technologies helps a large North American Biotechnology firm to implement their SAP Data Management System (DMS).
Company Overview and Business Need: This American based Biotechnology company (Client) implemented SAP DMS to help its data migration from an outdated legacy system used for document management to integrated SAP based one. With our help, the client customized its DMS to fit its unique documentation process for all the materials and to meet regulatory requirements. The DMS solution enhanced the accuracy of DMS reporting and increased the efficient handling of all type of materials and its related data.
Client is a global biotechnology tools company dedicated to improving the human condition.
Our systems, consumables and services enable researchers to accelerate scientific exploration, driving to discoveries and developments that make life even better. Client customers do their work across the biological spectrum, working to advance personalized medicine, regenerative science, molecular diagnostics, agricultural and environmental research, and 21st century forensics. The firm’s three research and development centers have produced a number of researches on DNA Analysis, RNA Analysis, Protein & Small Molecule Analysis and Forensics. The company has historical sales of approximately $3.5 billion, employs 9,500 people, has a presence in more than 100 countries, and possesses a rapidly growing intellectual property estate of over 3,600 patents and exclusive licenses.
These figures represent the culmination of a corporate growth strategy. “In the last 10 years, we have been expanding overseas by acquiring companies and launching start-ups,” explains the Client. During that time, Business Analysts explored ways to capitalize on the firm’s success. “We changed our approach to business from being product-centered to being customer-centered,” explains the Client. “This has been a focal point for our business at every level.”That decision would impact their 500 manufacturing professionals working in USA, UK and Europe. According to the Client, “We needed a system that would help our professionals be successful in maintaining of all types of related Documents for each and every material within a specific project. We also needed to make a leap forward in terms of the quality of our forecasting data to better manage our product data matrix.”
Solution: The search for a Document Management System (DMS) solution led Client IT managers to develop detailed requirements. Client wanted to be able to integrate it with their SAP systems so that they could pull data out of them. Given how they have, they also needed a solution that was big and scalable. And because their manufacturing and sales teams spend a lot of time away from the office, they needed a DMS system that could work offline, online, was Web-based. Three additional criteria included an economical total cost of ownership as well as a system that would be compatible with the firm’s processes and existing SAP Landscape. The solution also needed to facilitate meeting regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Client used a scorecard to rate SAP DMS, Globodox, and other available document management tools. Client chose the SAP solution because it meets their technology criteria and because it could integrate with their existing SAP systems. They really liked that the platform can easily be customized to the pharmaceutical industry and that the interface is so user friendly.
The initial phase rolled out core, out-of-the-box functionality to speed the SAP DMS solution’s deployment to the field. Technicians also migrated the legacy system and integrated with client’s SAP systems to be able to access and use data from them. The IT team also customized client records to suit the pharmaceutical industry. For example, the new authorization process to access the material data from a project than directly from material. Finally our implementation team, Configured workflows that run our project proposal process through the whole chain of sequential authorizations to access the documents. In USA, UK and Europe, about 500 manufacturing people and around 50 corporate managers and executives are using the SAP DMS solution. Manufacturing people use the SAP MM module to promote customer-centric relationships through networking activities versus traditional manufacturing action items. The solution currently provides some functionality to corporate manager’s use to access data in the business process. Executives use reports to monitor Material process documents and develop business intelligence.
Benefits:
Client managers were able to easily adapt the SAP Document Management Systems platform to their specific business practices. They took advantage of workflows, customizations, and integrations with previous data systems to optimize the utility of the solution. As a result, the implementation advanced Client’s migration from an old system to the integrated SAP Business culture. SAP DMS platform readily adapts to unique document management approach. Satisfied with the user interface, Client’s IT managers turned their attention towards other customizations. For example, they configured the project systems module to conform to a project based on networking and education activities.
Document data repository provides business intelligence capabilities. SAP DMS has become the primary information source for our client’s business because it captures their material and manufacturing activities which gives them more accurate material information and allows us to better react to changing regulatory conditions. With access to historical Material data, managers have begun developing business intelligence to guide them in their decision making. Business IT team creates reports that compare completed activities against the results that manufacturing team obtain.
Those reports have the greatest impact because they are able to make judgments about which activities perform on the materials and which don’t. Client realizes that they can do about 70 percent more in terms of analysis and evaluation than they could before with old legacy system. And for the same cost, they can process almost twice as much data.
Public Services
This state Agency required a data collection system to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) act of 2004.
Client: A State Education Agency in the USA.
Business Need: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, signed on December 3, 2004, requires each State to develop a six-year performance plan. This State Performance Plan (SPP) evaluates the State’s efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of IDEA and illustrates how the State will continuously improve upon this implementation. In alignment with IDEA, the OSEP has identified five monitoring priorities and twenty indicators to be included in the SPP. For each of the indicators, the State must report progress on measurable and rigorous targets and improvement activities over a six-year period of time in the SPP. These indicators are performance or compliance in nature.
Federal and State law set the determination of compliance targets. The SPP was submitted to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) for approval on January 30, 2006. OSEP approved the SPP on May 22, 2006. The first Annual Performance Report (APR) based on the SPP was due February 1, 2008. The APR will be made available to the public. The State will follow the sampling procedures defined by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to initiate the development of a statewide data collection system and provide baseline data. This data will be reported to OSEP annually. Based on feedback regarding an analysis of the sampled population, improvement efforts will be applied to the data collection process on an ongoing basis.
Solution: The solution will take advantage of the application developed for State Performance Plan, Indicator system to leverage the SQL Server 2005 Database, graphical user interface developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, hardware platforms and any other applicable technology to deploy Indicator systems more quickly and at a reduced overall cost. The application will enable a statewide data collection, evaluation and accountability to meet the specific requirements of the State Performance Plan Indicator systems. The application is also capable of generating aggregate reports by state, region and district using Microsoft SQL reporting services.
Provide system access through agency intranet or through outside Internet access by authorized users via the security system. Users of the application will be role and privilege regulated. The application must support approximately 700 users. About 250 may use the application at one time. Users for each Indicator will enter and create about 1 KB of data for each entry. The application must supports up to 40 MB of data in tables during the life of the application. The application interfaces various other systems. The application will also provide export capability to MS Excel for manipulation.
Benefits: The application will enable a statewide data collection system to meet the specific requirements of the State Performance Plan Indicators and enable the Division of IDEA Coordination to fulfill their mandated OSEP reporting in a timely manner and at reduced cost improving performance, productivity, collaboration with other state or agency to better share resources with other States or Agencies and mission critical needs that cannot be fulfilled more efficiently by other means and also develop systems using defined architecture that is efficiently and economically extensible for other future needs that support the mission of the State and the Agency leveraging Microsoft state of the art technologies. The application will facilitate improvement of the State’s performance on Indicators at the statewide, regional, and district level.
Retail
This major US Departmental store needed a comprehensive Quality Assurance services for it’s localised assortment planning process application which will enable it’s customers to recognize a greater clarity and relevance of offering in it’s stores.
Client : A Fortune US Retailer
Client Overview: Client’s Systems and Technology (ST) provides an integrated line of high-performance retail, electronic commerce and data warehouse systems for use at all levels within the client. Client’s Systems and Technology uses a mix of Internet, wireless, client/server, mid range and mainframe technologies to meet Client’s business needs. Client’s Systems and Technology management works closely with department store divisions, the corporate office and merchandise vendors to identify new opportunities and ensure that the company’s systems can adapt to changing business conditions.
Business Need: The retailer has decided to build a new Localized Assortment Planning system at it’s Stores. The system is named as ‘Affinity’. The Affinity Program is a key component of Client’s Merchandising Strategic Initiative. The Affinity Application will deliver a strong localized assortment planning processes, which will enable customers to recognize a greater clarity and relevance of offering. The Scope of this project includes integration of numerous applications, with the new Affinity Application. The introduction of the new Affinity Solution and its new functionality will also necessitate the integration of applications with other applications such as ST’s new Pack Order Quantity Optimization (POQO) and Affinity Eligibility Engine (AEE), also referred to as the Affinity Utilities.
The company needed a testing practice to test this large number of application touch-points (systems/applications) involved in the implementation. There were schedule conflicts involved between the different applications, limited resource availability and limited functional knowledge to the test support teams was also a big hindrance.
Solution: Testing strategy was established to deliver an end-to-end managed solution. Compuware’s CARS testing suite was leveraged to complement the teams testing strategy. The suite provided a robust solution which allowed the team to drive requirements definition through testing. Business requirements were prioritized and formed the basis for project test plans, ensuring that quality efforts focused on the functionality identified most important to the business. The testing strategy included documenting several key legacy systems and building test beds scripts to be used for regression testing.
These scripts were built with enough detail to allow new team members to quickly come in and get up to speed on the behavior of the application by simply reviewing the test cases. The new test scripts were used in several key projects throughout the year and proved very valuable as the overall quality of the projects were extremely high. Also, a risk based analysis was done on the project requirements along with test cases to help insure efficiency was applied to the testing strategy. Analysis provided oversight and allowed for monitoring of several key risk factors to determine which requirements were higher in priority than others.
The strategy began downstream of the completion of the documentation and writing of the test scripts. In this phase, QA began to automate the regression testing with Compuware’s Test Partner. The goal was to reduce the overall cost of quality by allowing the same number of test cases to be executed systematically versus manually. The automation was data driven allowing flexibility in the execution of the test cases as various data scenarios were executed with each test case. Leveraging this process for several projects, ST proved a savings of greater than 70% in both time and money.