CASE STUDIES

IT project case studies

CASE STUDY NO.1 | Performance Testing/QA Project

The client needed to performance engineer the TPCE work-stream projects like Duke Energy Primavera P6 client and Web based applications, Enterprise Project Control application and Project control tools. Performance Engineer is to determine the application performance when concurrent user load handled by the application/web/Database servers during the performance executions.

Client specifically wants to achieve the performance engineering standards and process is followed properly across all the deliverables and provided the application without any performance issues using the performance engineering tools.

Most of the applications are created with high security system using Citrix technology which is very challenging to login into the application and finding the solution from varies vendors like HP, Oracle and Ecosys team to resolve the issues.

Simulating the load into the application server is very challenging using the automation tool like Hp and Unified Functional Testing technology tool.

Staffor will create and build the Performance Test strategy document, Test plan, Performance Test scripts & Scenarios using the Performance tools (Jmeter & Loadrunner) to simulate the load into the application and database servers. Later we will create the test summary results document to analyze the servers during the performance executions.

This project is targeted to be complete by end of March 2017. The performance scripts will help minimize business loss during high volume system load keep business constant and issue-free. Will also improve the revenue and profitability from all PCE projects.

CASE STUDY NO.2 | C# Web development/Billing project

The Client
The largest electrical power holding company in the United States which delivers energy to approximately 7.3 million customers.

Our client wanted to expand the retail, non-regulated side of their business. Specifically, they needed a way to automate the retail side of their business in ways which would allow them to expand and grow their retail business unit.

Automation of this scale required the ability to process and synchronize data coming into the system in a high quantity of very large files very quickly.

Our consultants created two applications and a website that helped automate the enrollment of new customers, that monitored usage and handled invoices, and that processed and synchronized large amounts of data.

The client was able to increase their customer base, and therefor revenues at a speed that would have been unimaginable without our automated solutions. Revenue collections has been made more efficient and our client has been able to target large commercial prospects away from their competitors and increase their share of the growing non-regulated and retail business market.

CASE STUDY NO.3 | IT Infrastructure/Virtualization project

The Client
A large nationally recognized electric utility with 100 years of history and over 10,000 employees.

The client needed to collect meter readings from large commercial and industrial customers. Those readings are converted to billings to collect revenue (over 1 billion dollars of revenue).

The client’s system was running on outdated hardware and without conversion to the latest software there would significant extra costs incurred to support the system.

We virtualized most of the servers to allow us to introduce high availability. Also, in the event of a full-blown disaster the client could now recover in 4 hours or less, instead of a potential 48 hours under the older system. Our consultants also implemented a modern modem pool in the data center to allow a much faster call rate to customers. The new 92 modem system (replacing the older 8 modem design) can call out for meter readings with greatly improved speed, which allows for a faster collection of revenues.

Better equipment, a more reliable infrastructure, an increase in productivity, and a cost savings of 1.5 million dollars.

CASE STUDY NO.4 | Large electrical and gas energy provider

The various aspects of the gas side of the client’s business rely largely on manual systems which lack integration. The client wants to automate much of their systems and centralize their data to improve efficiency and better enable their internal systems to work together. Their current system makes producing timely and accurate reports difficult which wastes time, increases costs, and can lead to fines from regulatory agencies.

Several independent systems need to be collected into a single, shared solution. Previously manual processes need to be automated in a consistent way that can be applied across the enterprise.

A new data mart has been implemented for the gas side of the client’s business. The data from various systems has been integrated and individuals from the various gas operations can now talk together and share information more easily. Everything that can be automated has been.

The client’s processes and turnaround time for reports and analysis of their gas business is much quicker. Costs have been lowered and the potential for fines has been reduced.

CASE STUDY NO.5 | software system for development & testing teams

The Client
A large electrical and gas energy providing company.

The client wanted to implement and new software system that would be used be development and testing teams.

Ensuring that the application would meet the needs of the client. Maintaining proper configuration of the software and training teams to work with it.

Our consultant is working on an ongoing basis to identify any issues with the software and to work with the vendor to fix them, to train the client’s teams in using the software and to ensure that application monitoring tools are being used by the development and testing teams.

Implementing the use of this software and training team members in its use has allowed us to save the client costs ($5 million over 5 years) by reducing their infrastructural footprint, reducing their hardware dependency, and capturing errors at an earlier stage in the development cycle.

CASE STUDY NO.6 | hub for Different regions, systems, data, standards

The Client
A very large energy utility providing power to millions of customers.

The client needed to improve their customer relations and the ability of their sales reps to communicate with and better serve their customers. This was true for both their residential and business customers.

Different regions and systems of the client’s business had different data and standards. We had to understand the data for each system and bring it into one central hub. We also had to make that data easily accessible and useable by the sales reps.

A website overhaul was implemented to give customers more control over their accounts. For example, our consultant made it easier for the customers to change their communication preferences, change your email, your ID, etc, through the website. Also, all the various systems’ and regions’ data were brought together in one central hub and made available to sales reps through salesforce enhancements.

The client’s customers are now better able to manage their own accounts, and the client’s account and sales reps are now able to better serve the needs of their large customers and are able to formulate data-based and driven campaigns.

CASE STUDY NO.7 | Microsoft Messaging Platform For Oppenheimer Funds

The overall goal is to facilitate and support proficient and 99.99 percent available Microsoft Messaging Platform for Oppenheimer Funds. The interim goal is to upgrade the Lync2013 environment to SKYPE for Business by the end of the 2016 or early 2017.

This Project is a paramount component of the organization’s current Technology infrastructure plan and design. Additionally, it will automate several tasks which will reduce time and resources required to complete regular support and management tasks. The expected result is support and implementation cost and time savings and produce a more proficient, fault and failure prove system.

The unstructured nature of DNS and servers and other resources accompanied by inadequate documentation of the environment limited the ability to adequately learn and understand the system and requiring constant searches and retraining.

Provide an always available and proficient S4B 2015 environment. Increase the reliability of the Lync 2013 and fully transition from Lync 2010 to Lync2013.

By working with Microsoft and then Vantage, we were able to troubleshoot and fix archiving and client side errors associated with Lync 2013. We also supported several exchange projects including completion of the migration of public folders from exchange 2010 to exchange 2013 environment to complete the full transition to Lync 2013.

The system is more reliable, reducing support calls and tickets into the Windows software engineering team about Lync/S4B issue.

The Lync monitoring script reports every morning on the performance of the Lync server environment as well as other PowerShell scripts for retrieving system info and creating things like Common are phone etc.

The SKYPE for Business Server should result in an even better and more up-to- date system that also meets Oppenheimer Funds optimal infrastructure Engineering Goals. It’s recommended that a Wiki be established to document and continually update support activities and information.

CASE STUDY NO.8 | overhaul IT systems and cyber security

The client needed to overhaul their IT systems and cyber security to accommodate a series of changes to their business unit and to prepare to integrate with new resource vendors.

The client’s systems were running outdated software and had potential IT security vulnerabilities. They needed an overhaul of their systems so they could accommodate new vendors. They also lacked a systematically organized plan to ensure the necessary changes and new integrations took place in an orderly and efficient way.

We developed a change control plan and monitored the entire process to ensure procedures and processes were properly followed and implemented. We ensured clear communication occurred across departments and that the client’s systems were able to accept and work with the new third party vendors.

The client’s systems are more modern and better secured. By being able to accommodate new resource vendors they are able to increase their profitability by bringing in the right resources at the right time and right cost. The projected saving for the client is $1.5 million.

Engineering project case studies

CASE STUDY A | A large energy provider’s operations in the state of Indiana

The client wants to take advantage of the state of Indiana’s Transmission, Distribution and Storage System Improvement Charge (TDSIC) program. The TDSIC allows utilities in Indiana to receive special rate treatment for investments in transmission, distribution, and system storage. Therefore, the client is seeking to improve the safety, reliability and modernizations of their substations and power lines.

The 3 most difficult challenges facing this project are: the sheer volume of the improvement projects, aligning project plans and execution to meet outages, and coordinating between different functional departments to achieve synergy.

Our consultant’s main work for the client on this 7 year program is to create user friendly schedule templates, to ensure the schedules are driven by outage plans, and to provide the maximum project visibility across functional departments through ensuring good reporting. They are responsible for the project schedules, cash flow projections, and progress reports.

Ultimately, the client’s participation in the Indiana TDSIC program will result in increased reliability, sustainability, and safety in the power they provide their residential and business customers.

CASE STUDY B | new substations system designed and old ones upgraded

The Client
A large electrical energy holding company.

The client needed new substations designed and old ones upgraded to meet the growing power needs of a growing state economy.

The client has the strictest standards and of course everything must meet relevant codes. Also, the ability to not only design the engineering solutions needed but to properly and effectively communicate those designs to decision makers is required in such work.

Our consultant was able to provide modern efficient designs that allowed the client move forward in expanding their transmission and production capabilities.

The client has been able to meet the growing needs of the booming state economy and expand their own business revenue and client base as a result. Also, our consultant is now in a full time engineering position with the client earning a salary in the $60-90K range.

CASE STUDY C | modernize client’s transmission systems in Indiana.

The Client
A large electrical energy providing company in Indiana.

Our client was faced with the need to rebuild and improve their electric power transmission lines and substations in Indiana. Facing antiquated systems and a favorable climate for investment in new infrastructure our client needed a capable project manager to help their modernization efforts.

Our consultant has been assigned around 30 capital projects to modernize the client’s transmission systems in Indiana. They need to lead, manage, and coordinate a large number of team members from multiple departments. Also, they need to manage the sometimes competing interests of different departments or team members.

Our consultant focuses on coordination and issue resolution meetings, assertive, yet respectful leadership, and a willingness to put in more than a standard 40 hour work week when the demands of 30 projects requires it.

Our consultant is helping our client efficiently invest in the company’s future and to increase the long-term reliability of the electric power system and capacity they provide their customers in Indiana.

CASE STUDY D | tool to support eForms and associated work process

The client needed to implement a new tool to support eForms and their associated work process flows that will be no longer be supported by MetaStorm after January 2018. They were looking for a seamless, timely rollout of new tool with maximum stakeholder buy-in.

Business resources/SMEs needed to be available to assist in developing, delivering or attending training. New software development methodology had to be adopted and delays to system build avoided.

This tool is to have additional functions that will meet future business process workflow needs, enable consistent execution of business processes across the enterprise and continue to interface with existing systems at Duke Energy.

Staffor is building a Change Management Strategy to transition quickly with minimal disruption while bringing in stakeholders early in the process. We will assist those impacted in adopting the new processes and updated tools

We were able to positively influence the project team, keeping communication transparent and open while providing continuous support to the team during the planning phase of the project. Ensured Executive Sponsors and SMEs have early awareness of the project and how it will impact / benefit the organization.

CASE STUDY E | achieve performance engineering standards and process

CASE STUDY F | Remote capability to read, connect and disconnect meters.

Overall goal of the project is to read, connect and disconnect the electric utility meters in Indiana for billing remotely without sending a utility person to the meter site.

Client needed remote capability to read, connect and disconnect electric utility meters. The solution would improve efficiency, cost reduction, and reduce green house gasses.

On completion, project will reduce operating expenses and increase net income. For efficiency- accurate on demand billing, connect and reconnect customers remotely. Read up on utility standards and research internal/external available training.

On completion of deployment, a significant reduction in cost associated with meter readers and meter analysts.

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Case Studies