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For 30 years, TIA, Inc. has delivered custom documentation and training solutions for their 500+ customers on national and international projects. TIA is in the business to help their clients access the information they need to do their jobs - in 30 seconds or 3 clicks. TIA solutions reduce organizational risk and maximize employee productivity -- so you can successfully implement your corporate objectives. TIA starts with their library of Business Processes and ERP Tasks to build end user documentation and training for Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and SAP.
TIA ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES:
A critical issue for TIA was its previous product was not a customer tracking tool. With their current software not working effectively for them, TIA began using Excel spreadsheets to track and maintain their lofty list of customers and prospects. TIA knew they needed an improved system to keep better track of their pipeline. In moving forward, TIA wanted to invest in a more up-to-date, easy-to-use CRM solution to manage their long sales cycle and customer care. Looking into other products besides Oracle CRM On Demand, TIA thought they were set on a solution until a past email sparked an interest in Oracle. A call was made to AMX, and TIA saw a demo of Oracle CRM On Demand. “As soon as I saw it, I knew that was the solution I needed and wanted,” Daya Haddock, CEO and President of TIA, Inc., says of Oracle CRM On Demand.
THE AMX SOLUTION:
With the confident decision that Oracle CRM On Demand was the right solution for them, TIA and AMX got to work upgrading spreadsheets of information to a robust CRM solution. Once the contacts were uploaded, data clean up began to merge duplicate contacts and purge out-dated information.
“Oracle CRM On Demand is working very well for TIA.” Daya continues, “We have the flexibility to try new things with our marketing campaigns. And I love that I can see the data in my face. I know what is happening with my leads, prospects, sales forecasting and sales pipelines.”
TIA went live on Oracle CRM On Demand in the Spring of 2009. They now have a solid CRM solution that they love and a tool that will grow with their business.
Best-of-Class AMX and JD Edwards Technology Provides Illumina With Complete Enterprise Solution – hi-end software, custom development, quality consulting and total integration.
As a high-tech organization specializing in genetics research and synthetic DNA manufacturing, Illumina’s business processes are very complex and must be executed with precision. Only the JD Edwards and AMX International enterprise solution could provide the robust functionality, system flexibility and the quality results that Illumina demanded.
Organization Profile: Providing Next-Generation Genetics Research and Manufacturing
Illumina, a leading biotech organization headquartered in San Diego, California, provides genetic scientific research and development as well as synthetic DNA manufacturing for companies throughout the world. Illumina manufactures DNA to aid in medical field research.
Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) develops next-generation tools that permit large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary technology will provide the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. For more information about Illumina, visit www.illumina.com.
Organizational Challenges: Hi-Tech Start-up Company With Very Specific Business Processes
As a very technical and detail-oriented start-up organization, Illumina recognized the need to implement a Tier I enterprise software solution that would provide immediate ROI and benefits well into the future. The Illumina management team recognized that selecting a Tier I enterprise system was a very serious financial investment and their selection would require the perfect fit to meet their short-term and long-term corporate goals and strategies.
“The Illumina executive team and board of directors realized that this selection was absolutely critical to the success and long-term viability of the company,” said Craig Fowler, director of business applications, Illumina. “They recognized that this would be a substantial investment and that their new enterprise system must provide rapid results and a measurable ROI.”
Illumina had very specific challenges and requirements in selecting their new enterprise system, including:
- Tier I functionality to accommodate complex testing and manufacturing processes.
- Ability to accommodate nearly any kind of product imaginable.
- Flexibility to adapt as business processes change.
- Scalability to develop and make custom modifications.
- Reasonably priced.
After a very thorough research and selection process, Illumina selected JD Edwards as their new enterprise software solution and AMX International as their implementation partner of choice.
JD Edwards OneWorld: World-Class Functionality, Adaptability and Scalability
Illumina selected JD Edwards OneWorld as a result of its ability to handle complex manufacturing processes and opportunities to develop and make modifications in the future.
“As a result of the complex nature of our business, we didn’t have all of the answers early on in terms of what exactly we wanted our new JD Edwards enterprise system to do,” said Fowler. “We did know that JD Edwards was an excellent choice for us because of the capability to implement changes through processing options, data selection or user-enabled tools that would enable us to touch and change functionality quickly.”
After Illumina purchased JD Edwards, they began searching for an implementation partner. After two meetings with AMX, a new partnership was solidified and contracts were signed to perform this work. This selection was based on the quality people, advanced skill sets and years of experience that would be required to make this project a success.
“Only AMX International had the right resources that we felt would make this project a success,” Fowler said. “It was their level of knowledge of the JD Edwards system, their ability to identify and map our business processes logic and their expertise in implementing JD Edwards in complex working environments that influenced our decision.”
The AMX Complete Solution – Part I: Implementing JD Edwards OneWorld
AMX International’s team of quality technical and applications consultants knew that Illumina’s implementation of JD Edwards OneWorld would be challenging. However, they were confident that their years of experience and expertise with JD Edwards implementations would provide a successful project.
“One of the primary challenges we experienced during the project was the ‘unknown’. We didn’t know all of our business requirements so we were required to define them as we went through the implementation process. In addition, we did not want to be limited to a specific design or set-up requirement that would not allow us to make modifications ‘on-the-fly’ as our business evolved.” Fowler continued. “As a result, we ended up implementing a very generic, flexible solution that allowed us to grow and expand with it and further define requirements as they came to the forefront.”
Two months into the implementation project it became very apparent that Illumina’s requirements were so unique that JD Edwards, or any standard enterprise software system, would not be able to meet their demands. AMX realized that unless modifications were made to their existing implementation strategy that Illumina would not be satisfied.
“This was a very difficult time because of the challenges we were running into in trying to make the standard JD Edwards system work to meet our needs. It was mandatory that we all sat down and said ‘time out, stop. We are going to consider a tremendous modification to meet our flexible, but unique, requirements for our currently defined products’,” said Fowler. “We also kept in mind that additional products were not defined yet and that scalability and flexibility must be available in the future. We did not want to design ourselves into a corner but at the same time we could see the need for a substantial modification to our JD Edwards system.”
“AMX made it very clear that Illumina would be required to design and develop a custom modification and at the same time continue to implement OneWorld,” said Fowler. “AMX did an excellent job at ensuring Illumina had the right expectations and opened up the channels of communication so that there were no surprises.”
The AMX Complete Solution – Part II: Custom Development and JD Edwards Integration With Quantifiable Results
The idea that Illumina was now going to entrust AMX with a very substantial software development effort this early in the implementation cycle was somewhat daunting. Illumina was hesitant because they didn’t want to be tied to a fixed, hard coded and specific solution that would not be flexible enough to incorporate future products.
“AMX did a great job at helping Illumina feel comfortable with this development effort. Their consultants always kept JD Edwards solution flexibility and Illumina’s future product requirements in mind,” Fowler stated. “Although we had a major software development effort taking place, the OneWorld implementation – including finance, distribution and manufacturing - was still going forward on schedule.”
Despite the fact that a major modification was being made, AMX’s expert consultants did not make any changes to the standard JD Edwards processes. The majority of work was completely new development and new functionality within the JD Edwards toolset. AMX drew very distinct lines of new functionality and existing functionality and integrating the two together.
Two primary goals during this time included:
1) Not changing the standard JD Edwards processes so that Illumina was much more upgrade-compatible in the future.
2) Developing this modification utilizing the JD Edwards toolset to support the upgrade compatibility.
Using the JD Edwards toolset, AMX International’s OneWorld developers began the development effort. They determined a phased approach would be the most effective with phase I being the initial development effort and phase II providing fine tuning and performance adjustments.
“During phase I one of our unique challenges was with customer work orders, sales orders and processing part numbers. Standard JD Edwards functionality has a part number limitation of 30-35 characters. Illumina’s part numbers range between 200-300 characters. In addition, we needed to take a part number, parse it into segments, analyze those segments, perform logical functions and evaluations and then create item numbers on-the-fly if they don’t already exist,” Fowler explained. “We came up with a ‘family factor’ process, which segmented the part numbers into like categories. We then used the UDC table series codes to define those factors and then, based on the combination of those factors, applied logic towards it to identify if we had made that specific string of DNA before. If we had not, then the item would be created automatically. This is very impressive functionality and happens with the click of a button.”
“Considering the massive volume of data processing that is taking place, we knew that a fine tuning phase would be needed,” Fowler said. “In phase II we enhanced the performance of the system. The end result of this development effort is that hundreds of thousands of DNA strings are being pushed through the JD Edwards system in, quite literally, a matter of seconds.”
Future Enhancements: CRM and Web-Enablement
Although AMX and Illumina have completed this portion of their JD Edwards project, it is only the beginning. Illumina has future plans to implement web-enablement and CRM. These two solutions will be key in the company’s go-to-market strategy in becoming more manufacturing and product oriented.
“As we transition into a sales organization we have identified these two solutions as excellent opportunities to take us down the road to success. In today’s world, you have to have that marketing and sales machine up front and while we have some of that in place, it is not nearly as sophisticated as what we need,” said Fowler. “Additionally, CRM and web-enablement will allow us to be more competitive. DNA is leading-edge technology with strong competition. We have the only truly integrated Tier I backbone enterprise solution with these capabilities – the competition is operating on homegrown, outdated legacy systems. The benefit is definitely in our favor.”
AMX Project Team: Creating A Long-Term Partnership
The AMX and Illumina partnership has been solid from the beginning. Illumina, with its focused sense of direction and dedication to success, entrusted AMX’s expert consultants to provide custom development and implementation services. By working together, the Illumina project was a huge success.
“Our AMX and JD Edwards project is definitely viewed as a success within the walls of Illumina.” Fowler complimented. “Thanks to AMX we now have a fully-functional, consistent, stable enterprise backbone that core business is running on day-to-day and we have not interfaced with any home-grown solutions. In addition, we have a very specific, customized and robust solution that has automated and streamlined our sales order processes. We now have the opportunity to further lead the industry as we leverage off of our new technology.”
Company: Metawave Communications
Metawave Communications…Leading the way to OneWorld Xe
Metawave was one of the first five organizations to ever implement and use OneWorld. Now the company is showing the industry the advantages of OneWorld Xe.
Organization Profile: A Global Leader in Wireless Antenna Solutions
With more than 300 employees worldwide, Metawave Communications is a global leader in providing wireless antenna solutions that increase voice and data capacity for wireless carriers and enable wireless service providers throughout the world to compete by optimizing the use of their radio frequency spectrum.
Metawave is committed to client satisfaction and utilizes state-of-the-art wireless technologies to provide efficient and cost-effective solutions. The company's SpotLight® smart antenna offerings provide operators of CDMA, GSM, analog and next generation 3G wireless networks with cost-effective capacity solutions that improve wireless network performance. Metawave's smart antenna systems have been deployed worldwide by leading wireless service providers to meet rapidly increasing demands for wireless voice and data services.
Founded in 1995, Metawave is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with offices in California, Mexico, New Jersey, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Taipei and Texas.
Industry Challenges: Updating Metawave’s Infrastructure and Technology
Metawave’s existing OneWorld enterprise solution has operated efficiently for the past three years and has provided the company with streamlined business functions and quality end results. In recent years, Metawave’s complex business processes and detail-oriented workflow required new technology and integration to its contract manufacturer and other third-party applications. As a result, upgrading Metawave’s existing OneWorld solution to OneWorld Xe became an emerging urgent need.
“In reviewing our existing OneWorld system, we found that a lot of our business processes were broken,” said Dave FitzPatrick, Chief Information Officer at Metawave. “We looked at the Xe upgrade as a forum to update our business processes, not just upgrade the system with new technology. We brought in AMX to help with streamlining our business processes as well as our enterprise system and applications upgrade. AMX has added value to Metawave by providing us with a complete enterprise solution, including the integration of third-party applications, custom development and product extensions. In addition, AMX informed us about the way other organizations perform their business processes and advised us as to how we can be more competitive.”
The AMX Solution: Complete Solutions for Metawave’s Success!
As a result of Metawave’s excitement in enhancing business process functionality within its OneWorld enterprise solution, AMX realized that a rapid, yet comprehensive, implementation of OneWorld Xe would be required. In addition, a complete knowledge transfer would be required to ensure a successful project.
Metawave’s project included many different components, including applications and technical consulting, Configurable Network Computing (CNC) and project management work.
The expertise of AMX’s technical consultants enabled a rapid set-up of the technical environment and provided a smooth Xe upgrade. During the upgrade, AMX’s technical consultants provided the following solutions:
- Set-up of the entire technical environment.
- Server installation.
- Operating system installation.
- Hardware configuration.
- Designing the Xe infrastructure.
- Creation of the JD Edwards security rules.
- Assisted with the implementation of the Object Management Workbench and Solutions Modeler.
AMX’s applications expertise also played a major role in providing a quality Xe enterprise solution. During the upgrade, AMX’s applications consultants provided the following solutions:
- An assessment of Metawave’s existing OneWorld solution.
- Documentation of assessment results.
- Review of all business processes using the Object Management Workbench and Solutions Modeler.
- Conducted and documented executive scoping session.
- Implementation of Xe. – Job Costing
– Project Accounting
– Fixed Assets
– Custom Modifications
– Data Conversions
– Financials, Manufacturing, Distribution/Logistics
- Technical report writing.
- Foreign currency configuration.
- Technical consulting and integration of OneWorld Xe to third-party business process review software.
- Utilized JD Edwards’ OnTrack Implementation Approach.
- Project management.
- Pre- and post-implementation training and education.
“AMX has the ability to provide the right resources with the right expertise to get any job completed, from project management to implementation to integration,” FitzPatrick continued. “The people at AMX have much more in-depth experience than the consultants we have used in the past. That’s why we use them. They provide quality work and complete enterprise solutions. AMX saved a JD Edwards implementation at my previous place of employment, they have performed beyond expectation at Metawave and I’ll continue to use AMX for all of our enterprise solution needs.”
On the business strategy side of the Metawave project, AMX assisted in facilitating executive management meetings and provided a complete understanding of project goals and objectives, project management and manage project expectations.
Metawave executive management team meetings resulted in AMX providing the following business process consulting expertise:
- Sales Order process (Order to Cash) – Configurator, Intercompany, Order Accuracy (Substitutions)
- Procurement Process (Procure to Pay) – Receipt Routing, Approval Routing (Requisitions)
- Inventory Process – Cycle Counts, Cost Accounting, Movement Accuracy
- Product Development – Materials – Cost Accounting, Confugurator
- Financial Processes (Manage the Business) – GL, AP, AR, Fixed Assets, Job Cost
“To have AMX and Metawave’s executive management team in the same room discussing process development initiatives says a lot about the relationship and trust we have in AMX,” FitzPatrick concluded.
Quantifiable Results: Enhance Capabilities for Future Technology Enhancements
With the upgrade to OneWorld Xe, Metawave now has increased its collaborative opportunities to extend its products to the global marketplace and has increased its ability to more effectively manage its worldwide operations. In addition, Metawave now has the flexibility to advance its JD Edwards enterprise solution in the future to include integrated third-party applications and other product extensions, such as wireless, e-Business and Extended Process Integration (XPI), with minimal system interruption or modifications.
“Upgrading our enterprise solution to OneWorld Xe provides us with many advantages over the competition,” said FitzPatrick. “We now have the technology and infrastructure available to integrate our enterprise solution with our CRM solution and our contract manufacturer’s applications. In addition, we are well positioned to accomplish Metawave’s current and future goals and objectives.”
“Not only have we decreased financial costs but we have also paved the way to minimize future financial investments in our enterprise solution as a result of the flexibility, collaboration and cross-platform capabilities built into Xe,” FitzPatrick stated. “We look forward to utilizing our OneWorld Xe enterprise solution and maximizing on the advantages the Xe technology gives us over our existing enterprise solution and our competition.”
AMX Project Team: Committed to Complete Enterprise Solutions
As a result of the quality work accomplished by AMX’s technical and applications consultants, Metawave is now better positioned more than ever to produce and market their products globally.
“Metawave has an excellent understanding of how to implement and manage a JD Edwards project from start to finish,” said Allen Gill, USA West Area Manager for AMX International. “As a result of their positive attitude, optimistic outlook and dedication to accomplishing the project on-time and on-budget we were able to have great success in extending Metawave’s JD Edwards solution to include Xe.”
“It was AMX’s ability to provide Metawave with a complete enterprise software solution that provided a very successful project,” said Gill. “Having immediate access to the right resources for each aspect of the project, combined with our expertise in project management, product development and integration, enhanced our credibility from the beginning and further established AMX as the go-to business partner for JD Edwards OneWorld Xe upgrades.”
“Not only does AMX have the ability to provide the right resources for any project, they also understand the importance of being flexible throughout the project,” FitzPatrick continued. “Every implementation has its challenges, and Metawave’s was no exception. AMX did an excellent job at being flexible when issues arose and worked closely with us to plan and implement adjustments to minimize the impact these challenges had on the project. One of the key aspects to any successful implementation is flexibility and AMX understands the importance of being sensitive to clients’ needs and at the same time ensuring that the project stays on schedule.”
Company: Lightwave Electronics
With the assistance of AMX International, Lightwave Electronics recently successfully implemented a new JD Edwards software solution. This new system has given Lightwave Electronics a competitive advantage in its vertical market, with increased IT functionality and greater opportunities to expand its global manufacturing and distribution business processes.
Organization Profile: A global leader in the manufacturing and distribution of laser systems
For over 15 years, Lightwave Electronics has taken pride in being the premiere manufacturer of diode-pumped solid-state lasers which are compact, efficient, reliable, and a superior alternative to older laser technology. Lightwave has over 4,000 lasers in the communications, semiconductor processing, industrial, biomedical and reprographic industries and additionally provides sophisticated lasers to researchers in the scientific, aerospace, industrial, defense and medical fields.
Industry Challenges: Supporting increased growth, technology advancement and a global market presence
With continued growth and technology development, Lightwave recognized the need for a new Supply-Chain Management System. An old, inefficient system was costly, time consuming and demanding to operate. In order to continue its current level of operation, Lightwave looked to JD Edwards Software as a solution that would enhance all of its business processes and provide for a rapid ROI.
Lightwave chose JD Edwards because of the exceptional breadth and depth of functionality in its manufacturing, distribution and financial suites. Additionally, the company realized that a successful implementation could only be accomplished with a quality JD Edwards business partner such as AMX International.
The AMX Solution: Value-add and increased efficiency in all business processes
AMX International provided Lightwave with a solution that enabled the company to operate at a higher level of efficiency than ever before. AMX’s expert consultants installed JD Edwards Software, complete with manufacturing, distribution and financial modules, and provided complete training and support to Lightwave’s project team throughout the implementation process. In addition, AMX customized a project plan that provided for needs assessment, identified necessary resources and set timelines and milestones for accomplishing every aspect of the Lightwave project.
AMX Project Team: Providing the most experienced and knowledgeable consultants to ensure a successful implementation
Early in the project, AMX International identified the need for using their most experienced and knowledgeable consultants for implementing Lightwave Electronics’ new software solution. In order to ensure a successful implementation and meet Lightwave Electronics’ project requirements, AMX International selected quality consultants with expertise in the electronics vertical market.
AMX International’s project team was full of talent and resources. The team members had experience in Project Management, Manufacturing, Distribution, Financials, Needs Assessment, Solution Assurance, Data Conversion, Custom Modifications and System Integration.
Lightwave at a Glance:
| Enterprise Server: | IBM AS/400® |
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JD Edwards Suites: |
WorldSoftware™ Financials Distribution Manufacturing |
| Database: | DB/2 |