MindTree helps a US Retail major enhance their retail platform performance, ensure quicker transactions and better customer satisfaction
www.mindtree.com/retail | email: info@mindtree.com
Executive summary Among USA's leading fashion specialty retailers, the client employs more than 10000 people and finds a place among the Fortune 500. All the more reason for them to immediately rectify the performance of their retail platform when they realized it was slowing down. MindTree helps them identify the problem areas and the reasons for the inconsistent behavior in the system, and recommends a solution that boosted system performance and enabled faster customer response.
Introduction A major player in USA's fashion retailer space, the client has stores across most states in the US, a strong presence on fashion racks, a couple of boutiques and a clearance store. In view of offering the latest, trendy fashion wear and better customer service to their clientele, they also connect to customers through their online presence and catalogs. The client had an existing IT system and application framework in place, and one of the systems included a retail solution. This solution, called the 'Central Point of Sale' enabled the store assistants to ring in the sales at the stores. Another key system included the Gift Card™ application, which enabled customers to redeem their loyalty points either online, or at the retail outlet.
Business Challenge The problem with the 'Central Point of Sale (CPoS)' application emerged when the senior management noticed that the system was taking slightly more time than usual to respond. This seemed to be the situation across stores. Concerned, the senior management ordered an audit of the entire IT System and discovered that CPoS system was not meeting the defined SLA response time. On the other hand, the GiftCard application had its share of frequent blips which caused transactions to abort without going through the processing cycle. Both different applications and different issues, but together, they were affecting the client's reputation as a customer-friendly and savvy store. The client viewed these flaws as a serious and critical system performance issue and was keen to resolve this so it does not affect their brand value in any way. The client approached MindTree with the CPOS application issue first and entrusted them with the task of identifying the root cause of the problem within 48 hours. The clause: No impact to the live environment and no system downtime. The timelines implied that new resources could not come on board, nor would MindTree be able to adopt a traditional problem identification approach. MindTree, with its existing team on site opted for an out-of-the-box approach to deliver effective results within the deadline.
www.mindtree.com/retail | email: info@mindtree.com
The Solution In one of those rare instances when real life imitates reel life, the MindTree consultant on the CPoS project, inspired by the film 'Apollo 13', decided to adopt the 'War room approach'.
They sought a complete analysis, identification of root cause, and a recommendation on appropriate action to resolve the issue within a challenging timeframe of five working days.
Representative teams from all the individual constituents of the IT landscape at the client place were asked to report to the war room. This included members from the partner organization who were responsible for implementation and maintenance along with the client's business practice experts.
MindTree conducted an in-depth analysis of the GiftCard Database performance from the application layer, to the infrastructure layer towards the application. This analysis involved the following steps:
Two conditions were imposed on the team: a. Representative teams from each components of the IT landscape should deliver the data/information/ reports asked by the resident consultant without compromising any data b. All members of this team are to comply with requests and answer all questions raised by the consultant without prejudice and bias. MindTree's vast expertise in delivering solutions to the retail space, deep domain expertise and penchant for innovative thinking helped them probe the issue with insightful questions. Answers to which helped in getting the relevant data and mapping the entire data flow process in 24 hours.
o Collecting the inputs pertaining to the different hooks that were required to be monitored o Noting the observations from the scripts logs and documentation o Synthesizing the two perspectives (DB backend to infrastructure & Infrastructure to DB backend), and collation o Analyzing the entire DB architecture o Developing a recommendation / fix matrix o Associating the potential risk (associated or periphery areas that this change could potentially affect or dependent on) o Providing final recommendation for the fix
On day two, the received data was analyzed, completed and presented to the client on a single slide adopting the graphic equalizer concept! A concept which has now become the de-facto review presentation standard at the client's place.
o Providing guidelines and scripts performance monitoring and analysis
The key findings offered insight into the crux of the problem, and remedial measures that could help in tuning the system performance and restore the response time as per the defined SLAs.
o Building scripts for Level 1 (Monitoring & Analysis) and also Level 2 (Detailed monitoring & analysis)
Satisfied with the approach to the CPOS application, the client approached MindTree again to outline a solution that would fix the GiftCard application.
www.mindtree.com/retail | email: info@mindtree.com
for
further
o Building a methodology for analysis, and remediation recommendations (fix matrix) with precise accuracy
At the end of five days, MindTree offered the client a complete analysis and the remediation recommendations.
IT Landscape ¡Microsoft SQL Server 2005 on 64 bit ¡SQL Traces ¡Locking, Blocking & Wait Scripts ¡Database, Instance & System analysis and monitoring scripts ¡Windows Performance Counters & configuration scripts ¡PAL (Performance Analysis Tool)
Business Benefits ¡ A holistic view and clarity on the application platform landscape and streamlining of communication processes amongst the various stakeholders thus enabling delivery of high quality of customer service ¡ The recommendations on the GiftCard system helped improve the performance by over 90% ¡ The Client's IT team also now have a better understanding of their IT landscape and the various in-built dependencies helping them plan and execute their IT enhancements and roll-outs more successfully
Conclusion With a clear recommendations approach from MindTree, the client was able to immediately address the pain points in the CPOS and the GiftCard applications that were impacting business. Impressed with MindTree's approach, their depth of domain knowledge and the skill sets of MindTree consultants, the client continues to rely on MindTree's expertise for all their critical IT concerns.
About MindTree MindTree Ltd. is a global Information Technology Solutions company co-headquartered in the U.S. and India. MindTree partners with its clients to create a transparent, value-based relationship. We build innovative solutions in a wide range of technology domains that enable our customers to succeed in their business goals. MindTree's Retail group comprises 600+ consultants offering solutions spanning the entire spectrum of retail value chain. MindTree's framework based approach allows customers to gain delivery excellence, faster time-to-market, and significant cost savings. We are focused on making the retail organization customer-centric by bringing together our expertise in the areas of multi-channel commerce, analytics, mobility, social media, supplier collaboration, master data management & point of service. Having partnered with retail leaders across US, Europe, Middle East, Australia and Asia, MindTree further strengthens its retail expertise with dedicated Centers of Excellence (CoEs) for Oracle Retail, IBM WebSphere, Sterling Commerce, ATG, SharePoint, and SAP-IS-Retail. The CoEs allows customers leverage best practices, processes, and re-usable components across different client engagements.
www.mindtree.com/retail | email: info@mindtree.com