CCSS Helps American Software Achieve Cost Efficient `Lights Out` Status
Released on: September 2, 2008, 11:21 am
Press Release Author: CCSS USA Corporation
Industry: Software
Press Release Summary: CCSS, the automated solution developer for IBM i on Power Systems and System i, has helped American Software USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Software Inc. (NASDAQ: AMSWA), one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial Business Systems (ERP and Financial Management), automate their operations in a new ‘lights out’ initiative.
Press Release Body: CCSS, the automated solution developer for IBM i on Power Systems and System i, has helped American Software USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Software Inc. (NASDAQ: AMSWA), one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial Business Systems (ERP and Financial Management), automate their operations in a new ‘lights out’ initiative. American Software, based in Atlanta, sought to bring their System i machine and operations in-house where they would have the ability to increase resource efficiency on the machine and eliminate the costs of managing operations through a third party.
The iSeries 825 machine is critical to their business requirements. Configured as a multi- partitioned environment, standard product development, quality assurance testing and customer support activities are run from a primary partition and the Professional Services Division development and support are run from a separate, significant partition. The remaining LPARs are used for special projects such as Operating System Compatibility Certification testing of their standard products. Typically the machine supports 50 users but has been known to support more than 100 developers during peak product development times.
The team at American Software had implemented CCSS’s trilogy of automated solutions, QSystem Monitor, QMessage Monitor and QRemote Control and saw the in-house move as an opportunity to further enhance their automated operations for maximum performance, resource efficiency and sustainability of the ‘lights out’ status. Jane A. Moore, VP Enterprise Systems, at American Software, explains the move in-house was both a challenge and an opportunity for her team, “We found that there were fundamental differences between the way automation was used by a third party, and how we expected it to perform in-house – the underlying approach needed to be adjusted. With the machine in-house, we had hands-on access to not just automate issues away from the operators, but to really resolve reoccurring issues for a cleaner system with far fewer events requiring analysis. Now we reap the rewards of this approach on a daily basis. We have received outstanding support from CCSS as we have developed in house skills which set the stage for a quick start-up and a successful transition to in-house operations.”
The in-house location affords the American Software team the opportunity to create a bespoke automation environment and fully utilize the CCSS product functionality to meet the idiosyncrasies of their business demands. One such example is the team’s use of event monitoring. In this case, a second iSeries machine is used to run the company’s ERP system. As resources are tight on this machine, it is especially important that any exception conditions or events are immediately detected for fast resolution. Without this real-time visibility to issues, the machine could be vulnerable to a critical storage situation if, for example, there was a disruption to the system housekeeping activities during peak times. In this situation, the team would be alerted to the condition immediately, giving them time to resolve the issue before any negative impact on the business community could occur.
On their 825 machine, American Software has several background communication jobs that provide the integration between their development and QA environments to the web server application. It is imperative for them that any broken connections that occur are quickly identified, for otherwise they risk wasting a developer’s time in troubleshooting. The team also uses the event monitoring functionality to confirm availability of their Intel servers.
The in-house system migration at American Software proves that a successful ‘lights out’ status can not only help to reduce immediate costs but also, in the long term, can provide a positive framework for focusing on core business activities rather than troubleshooting system issues. Moore and her team exemplify what can be achieved with this approach. She says, “With reduced staffing levels it is increasingly critical that we do not spend unnecessary resources in crisis management. The CCSS solutions provide us with good tools for system monitoring automation, allowing us to be pro-active and resulting in a reduction of time spent reacting to system related problems. This allows us to focus on the development and maintenance of our core products as well as to provide quick meantime to resolution of customer support calls.”
ENDS
About CCSS
CCSS develops, supports and markets IBM i (on Power Systems & System i) performance monitoring and reporting, message management and remote management solutions. An Advanced IBM Business Partner, CCSS develops powerful solutions to support some of the world’s most demanding System i environments across many industries including insurance, banking, pharmaceutical and manufacturing. All CCSS solutions are IBM ServerProven.
Existing customers that rely on CCSS’s feature-rich solutions include leading organizations such as Volvo, Mattel, Newell-Rubbermaid, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Siemens Medical, RWE npower and Waterstone’s.
CCSS is headquartered in Gillingham, Kent, UK with key regional headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Bonn, Germany and Makati City, Philippines together with a global agent network spanning Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.
www.ccssltd.com
About American Software, Inc. Headquartered in Atlanta, American Software develops, markets and supports one of the industry\'s most comprehensive offerings of integrated business applications, including supply chain management, Internet commerce, financial, warehouse management and manufacturing packages. e-Intelliprise™ is an ERP/supply chain management suite, which leverages Internet connectivity and includes multiple manufacturing methodologies. American Software owns 88% of Logility, Inc. (NASDAQ: LGTY), a leading provider of collaborative supply chain solutions that help small, medium, large and Fortune 1000 companies realize substantial bottom-line results in record time. Logility is proud to serve such customers as Avery Dennison Corporation, BP (British Petroleum), Hyundai Motor America, Leviton Manufacturing Company, McCain Foods, Pernod-Ricard, Sigma Aldrich and Under Armour Performance Apparel. New Generation Computing Inc. (NGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Software, is a global software company that has 25 years of experience developing and marketing business applications for apparel manufacturers, brand managers, retailers and importers. Headquartered in Miami, NGC’s worldwide customers include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Wilsons Leather, Kellwood, Hugo Boss, Russell Corp., Ralph Lauren Childrenswear, Haggar Clothing Company, Maidenform, William Carter and VF Corporation. For more information on the Company, contact: American Software, 470 East Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta, GA 30305; (800) 726-2946 or (404) 261-4381. FAX: (404) 264-5206. INTERNET: www.amsoftware.com or e-mail: ask@amsoftware.com.
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