Case Study

Large Retailer Improves Vendor Delivery Efficiency with New On-Line Scheduling System

Service:
Systems Development
Industry:
Retail
Engagement:
Full Lifecycle & Mentoring
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Fully automated web-based application eliminates lengthy and error-prone process.

Before Amentra

A premiere national electronics retailer employed a manual process for scheduling product deliveries to its regional warehouses. Vendors were required to call or fax appointment requests that would be manually scheduled by the retailer's associates. Lengthy and error-prone, this non-automated process tied down employees who could be better utilized elsewhere. Process automation by in-house IT staff was risky because internal developers, while talented, had little object-oriented and web development experience.

After Amentra

  • Vendors use a web-based application to schedule their own appointments.
  • Vendors receive immediate feedback on appointments (confirmations, scheduling conflicts, etc.).
  • Amentra's tailored mentoring and training approach enabled project team members to become proficient J2EE developers.

Evolution of the business process

Amentra partnered with the electronics retailer to develop a solution that fully automated the delivery scheduling process prior to the critical holiday season. Instead of calling or faxing an associate, vendors are now able to manage their delivery appointments - increasing efficiency and reducing overhead costs for the retailer and its vendors. The retailer's development staff received focused and customized J2EE and Java training to prepare them to take over post-production maintenance and expansion tasks. In addition, the retailer was able to shift their new in-house Java knowledge between projects - an additional benefit from their partnership with Amentra.

Applied technologies and expertise

The retailer's strategic technological direction required the use of BEA WebLogic Server as the as the Java 2 Enterprise Edition platform for the new application. In order to meet the approaching holiday deadlines, the retailer needed help from a partner with experience in J2EE development and mentoring. Amentra designed the application according to established J2EE patterns in tandem with the client's team. Amentra's years of experience mentoring developers in distributed computing technologies helped to accurately tailor the system architecture to the team's capabilities. Using open source toolkits such as Struts from the Apache Jakarta Project, the application consists of a standardized architecture that facilitates efficient development and encourages good design principles.

Technologies used

  • BEA WebLogic 6.1
  • Solaris 7
  • DB2
  • XML
  • LDAP
  • Single Sign-On
  • WebGain Studio
  • Macromedia Dreamweaver

Java/J2EE sub-technologies:

  • JDBC
  • JNDI
  • Servlets
  • JavaBeans
  • Log4J
  • Struts
  • Ant