| "Because we need to maintain a strong link between legacy
data and the new environment, Microsoft SNA Server is indispensable.
We couldn't implement such a system without it."
Dave Juchniewicz |
Industry
Plumbing products
Business Solution
Client-server environment providing enterprise-wide information
services
Architecture
Worldwide network of 4 servers and 1000 client workstations
Products and Services Used
Microsoft Mail
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Select License Pak
Microsoft SNA Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Systems Management Server
Microsoft Visual Basic®
Microsoft Windows for Workgroups
Microsoft Windows NT Server
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Benefits
Increased productivity, database queries available in minutes
instead of days, timely information accessible globally operating without a global information strategy is one thing for
a company that's just opened its first overseas sales office.
It's another thing altogether for a $1.5 billion organization
with rapidly growing manufacturing, marketing, and sales activities
worldwide and 80 percent of its business outside the United States.
But that was the situation in early 1993 at New Jersey-based American
Standard World Wide Plumbing Products Sector (PPS), the world's
leading supplier of plumbing products.
"We were moving steadily from an AS/400®-based system to a distributed approach, but we really had no solid strategy or standards," explains PPS Director of Management Information Systems Dave Juchniewicz. "As a result, we frequently ran into snags securing or communicating line-of-business information on everything from shipping and invoicing to sales trends and customer support."
Database queries and reports were typical. Marketing people wanting a customer analysis, for example, might easily spend four to five hours coding in a specialized language just to build the report. Alternatively, they might wait several days for the IS people to do it for them. Compounding the problem was the fact that American Standard was also reengineering its core business processes. "Because of the difficulty in modifying minicomputer-based applications, we had trouble adapting our software to the new processes," Juchniewicz explains, noting that leaving such problems unsolved could have serious ramifications: "Worldwide, we saw that PPS could become more fragmented, less flexible, and less profitable."
| "With communications tools such as Mail and remote access
to applications, we're overcoming the obstacles of time differences
and bringing employees closer together. Already this system has
helped us get more done without having to increase headcount."
Dave Juchniewicz |
What PPS needed was an integrated system providing seamless access to traditional line-of-business applications across countries, languages, and cultures. Moreover, for logistical and cost reasons the system would have to function without administrative staff at every location. "We knew it wouldn't be easy to come up with the system we needed," Juchniewicz points out. "But we also knew that we had no choice."
Maintaining the Link
In mid-1993, PPS managers selected the Microsoft® Windows NTTM operating system as the foundation of their new distributed-computing strategy. "We figured Windows NT could help us quickly set up SNA servers, and we liked its support for symmetric multiprocessing," Juchniewicz says. "We also knew it could be instrumental in helping us install and administer servers in remote locations, where much of our business happens to be. With Windows NT everything was ready right out of the box, and we wouldn't need specialists in each location."
In August 1994, developers released the initial version of the client-server system. This system, which supports PPS's U.S. operations, relies on the Microsoft BackOffice suite of products. Windows NT Server is the network operating system, TCP/IP acts as the primary protocol, and Frame Relay provides a virtual connection for eight regional offices. Another server runs Microsoft Systems Management Server, which PPS is using for administering new software installation and system diagnostics. Yet another server runs a 2-gigabyte Microsoft SQL ServerTM database, providing decision support for 150-200 employees in marketing and sales.
On the network, two servers are dedicated to Microsoft SNA Server, which provides access to legacy manufacturing applications on a local AS/400 and one in Pittsburgh. "Because we need to maintain a strong link between legacy data and the new environment, Microsoft SNA Server is indispensable," Juchniewicz says. "We couldn't implement such a system without it."
The Microsoft Remote Access Services (RAS) built into Windows NT Server also play a crucial role for employees from New Jersey to California. Through a RAS link, sales representatives throughout the United States can regularly dial in to a major new sales-support application.
On nearly 800 desktops, Windows® for Workgroups serves as the operating system, while about 50 desktops supporting high-level security applications run Windows NT Workstation. Microsoft Office provides desktop-productivity tools and front ends to the Microsoft SQL Server-based decision-support application. Microsoft Mail provides the primary e-mail communication services.
Fast Access to Mission-Critical Information
Already the new system is helping PPS provide cost-efficient access to information globally. "Administrative costs are a major concern for any business relying on global computing," Juchniewicz says. "But because of the way the Microsoft BackOffice products enable us to administer the network, such costs are only one-tenth what they might have been under a Novell®- or UNIX®-based system."
Juchniewicz continues, "One of the major benefits of a Windows NT Server-based network is that each user has one account and one password, which provide the user access to shared information throughout the Plumbing Products worldwide network. In other computing environments this is not possible."
The new system also supports work-process reengineering. "With communications tools such as Mail and remote access to applications, we're overcoming the obstacles of time differences and bringing employees closer together," Juchniewicz says. "Already this system has helped us get more done without having to increase headcount."
One such benefit shows up in database queries and reports. "The customer analysis that used to take hours to program or days of waiting for IS to do is now available in minutes," Juchniewicz reports. Another benefit is improved access to mission-critical information for sales representatives and managers. "With an internally developed Microsoft SQL Server application, any qualified user can instantly see an up-to-date snapshot of how the business is doing," he says. "No longer do we stand at the fax machine, play phone tag across the international dateline, or wait for days for mailed reports."
A Valuable Opportunity
In the short term, PPS plans call for the replacement of Microsoft Mail with Microsoft Exchange Server and the development of a new Microsoft SQL Server application to support demand-flow manufacturing.
Meanwhile, PPS is moving steadily toward implementing the system at six regional hubs for its global network structure by the end of 1996-one hub each for North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia, China, and the Far East. By that time, PPS also intends to bring operations in Canada, Mexico, Central America, and Europe into one fully connected distributed computing network and to completely phase out the AS/400. As soon as hardware and communications infrastructures are in place, PPS plans to extend its distributed computing system to the Far East and China. In that same period PPS expects to see an increase of 50 to 100 percent in connected desktops, all running Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT Workstation, or Windows® 95 operating systems.
As Juchniewicz envisions it, the ultimate PPS global network represents not only a necessity but also a valuable opportunity. "Moving the business to a global network infrastructure does a lot more than streamline processes and expedite communications," he explains. "Most important, it helps everyone in the organization to see the business in a truly global perspective."
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Customer Support Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to http://www.microsoft.com.
