Case Studies
Case Study 1
Location: Western Europe
Industry: Major manufacturer
Scenario:
This particular manufacturer had a few hundred customers, but had thousands of articles with a few million more in stock. They were using an outdated
system, but everyone was happy with it.
The company had recently been purchased by a trust company, whose upper management required that an AS/400 system be purchased. As a result, new article ids
had to be created in order to be compatible with this new system.
Problem:
The mid-manager, due to a personality conflict with the IT manager had told those working under him to ignore the new system entirely.
While the new and very expensive AS/400 was left to gather dust in the broom closet, the IT manager was blamed. Upper management soon learned that the new
system was not being used and demanded that the IT manager make it a top priority to install the system and have all the article ids replaced in a very short
time. The IT manager was then faced with an all-too-common dilemma: fix it now, or lose the job.
Solution:
Within two months, I had him install a production planning system that was programmed in-house to connect the outdated system with the new one. This made upper management happy, and the mid-manager could continue use of the old system.
Result:
The IT manager redeemed himself in the eyes of upper management, and his credibility was restored.
Case Study 2
Location: Nationwide
Industry: Software
Scenario:
This case study involved 100 users working with a system that had been in development over a 10 year period. The task of the development team was to rewrite the old system with a new compiler and new user interface. Existing specifications were impressive, but were for some reason changed on a weekly basis, which ultimately downgraded the value of the software.
Problem:
The project managers refused to throw away inadequate and outdated source code because the expense of creating new code was too high. Office politics combined with other conflicts within the team had caused the project to be 6 months late, over budget and at a standstill. The contractor was on the verge of losing their customers.
Solution:
Within one year, I helped to push out two releases, got multiple budget increases and had every unrealistic deadline removed.
Result:
Two years later, the contractor is still earning a profit on the software and has a staff of five working on implementation of the software's new features.
Case Study 3
Location: Nationwide
Industry: Software
Scenario:
A piece of software with more than 500 installations and 25 users on average was due for a new version release in June. But, by October, nothing was ready to roll out. The software, when tried with different code bases worked with limited functionality. As a result, the majority of the software's programmers were busy fixing bugs.
Problem:
The software had next to no documentation and the team had spent more than the amount they had previously estimated. Clients were getting impatient, sales were on the decline, and investors were considering pulling out of the project altogether.
Solution:
The existing version was locked down. Then, all of the code bases were merged into one and documentation was created. We involved the clients in the testing, which got them interested and using the system again. We had every programmer report on their progress daily.
Result:
Within two weeks, a deadline was set for the first beta release of the software. The company delivered on time and got the approval of upper management to continue development.
