http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/analpln/cs/darbypr.htm (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
| Updated: March 14,1996 |  Go To TechNet Home Page |
Industry
Health-care product supply
Business Solution
Corporate migration from mainframe to client-server PC network for access to and processing of mission-critical data; migration of consumer division's central mainframe database to Microsoft SQL Server
Architecture
Consumer Division: Microsoft SQL Server and Windows NT Servers with Windows desktop workstations
Products Used
Microsoft Windows NT Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Windows
Visual Basic
Visual C++
Benefits
Corporate wide: system support costs reduced by 99 percent, delivery of mission-critical information reduced from 2-3 days to 2-3 seconds, office productivity up by 30 percent; consumer division: dramatically improved stability, database-rebuild time reduced from 30-40 hours to a half-day
"With the robust and stable platform provided by Microsoft® SQL Server™, as well as the strong support of the Microsoft organization, we can confidently implement our most demanding mission-critical database applications."
Carl Ashkin
Chief Information Officer
Darby Group Companies, Inc.
As one of the top two suppliers of professional health-care products in the United States, Darby Group Companies, Inc., of Westbury, New York, has long enjoyed a reputation for high-quality and reliable customer support. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s Darby faced a common quandary. Like others in its industry, the $300 million company was pressured to cut overhead costs while maintaining product quality and customer service. Looking for a suitable place to begin, managers turned to the company's legacy information system, which was plagued by the usual problems of a batch-processing mainframe environment.
Foremost was the problem of support. Over time, the legacy system had come to encompass an assortment of hardware, operating systems, and applications, which made support both costly and difficult. "It was a nightmare to administer and maintain," says Carl Ashkin, Chief Information Officer at Darby. Access to mission-critical data was another problem. In the batch environment, managers could not get the information they needed, when they needed it, to make the prompt, informed decisions demanded in their increasingly competitive marketplace. Moreover, administrative workers had their own problems with information access and exchange: a lack of easy-to-use tools and applications. Finally, application development was stymied by the cost of upgrading or enhancing applications in the multiplatform legacy environment.
Infrastructure and Database Migration
In response, Darby information managers began implementing a strategy to migrate corporate information systems to a networked client-server environment running Microsoft productivity and development tools. Infrastructure development began in 1991, with replacement of the company's minicomputers and terminals with PC servers and client workstations on a Novell® NetWare® network. On the workstations, which ran the MS-DOS® and Microsoft Windows™ version 3.1 operating systems, the company installed Word for Windows, Microsoft Excel, Mail, the PowerPoint® presentation graphics program, and other Microsoft products.
In 1992, the information managers began focusing on the server operating system and central database in the company's consumer division. Because the Windows NT™ Server operating system and the Microsoft SQL Server database server were not yet released, they selected another, well-known SQL DBMS running directly on a NetWare-based server, and Darby developers spent the next two years migrating the data to the new platform.
"By helping us keep costs down, add features and services, and respond quickly to changes, Microsoft Windows NT Server can help us continue to be a major competitor in health-care products."
Peter Bavoso
Vice President of Information Systems
Darby Group Companies, Inc.
After multiple problems with instability, however, the developers realized that the SQL DBMS was incapable of supporting the division's 400,000-record database. Even worse, for each rebuild, the SQL DBMS was down for two or three days. Then, a week before the scheduled rollout in early 1994, the SQL DBMS sustained a massive failure, and all work came to a halt. Darby turned to Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server for help. Developers installed Windows NT Server version 3.1 on four of the NetWare servers and replaced the original DBMS with Microsoft SQL Server. In 90 days they released the new system, including database and applications. It now supports warehousing, inventory, purchasing, receiving, and many other division-wide applications.
Only a few months in operation, both the new corporate infrastructure and the consumer division's Microsoft SQL Server database system are providing benefits for managers and users at all levels. At the corporate level, the migration from a mainframe to a client-server environment has helped Darby cut annual support costs from $300,000 to about $2500.
As for mission-critical information, instead of waiting two or three days for vital data on sales, inventory, customers, or finances, managers now have such information in two or three seconds. As Ashkin puts it, "We can turn this division on a dime." Office productivity also is up. "With tools like Microsoft Excel on their desks, support staff can access and process data in real time, boosting their productivity by 30 percent," Ashkin points out.
Application development is another area of improvement. Using tools including the Microsoft Visual C++™ development system, the Visual Basic® programming system, and the Microsoft Access® database, developers are customizing and enhancing everyday as well as mission-critical applications. "It's astonishing how much easier it is to enhance or develop new custom applications, for everything from an online company phone directory to the second release of our central-database applications," Ashkin says. One application enhancement has saved Darby significant costs in a system providing communications between Darby and its customers and suppliers. Before, the company depended on a costly outside vendor for vital telecommunications support. Today with enhancements Darby developers have made using Visual Basic and by migrating the application to Windows NT Server, the company can run the application without need of the outside telecommunications vendor, slashing support costs from $100,000 down to $2000 annually.
As for the consumer division's SQL Server database, stability has been impeccable. "With the products' server-enforced data integrity and advanced fault tolerance, we've have no failures whatsoever in the system's three months of operation," Ashkin reports. Better yet, if a failure ever should occur, it would not severely disrupt business operations. "With the scalability of Windows NT Server, we can expedite this kind of task by using six, eight, or more processors," he says.
A Foundation for the Future
Looking ahead, developers are now migrating the central database systems in other divisions to Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server, with completion scheduled for the end of 1996. Again, the scalability of Windows NT Server is crucial. "With some 1000 workstations eventually accessing the database, we may need to use the more powerful RISC processors or SMP systems," explains Peter Bavoso, Vice President of Information Systems at Darby. "We're confident that Windows NT Server will help us integrate such technology without having to reengineer our infrastructure."
Developers also plan to exploit Windows NT Server version 3.5 for enhanced performance under TCP/IP and thus better access to Internet services. "As a major corporate strategy, we plan to do a lot of business using the Internet," Bavoso says. "We're happy to know that Windows NT Server 3.5 will help give us the power to do that."
Most important, according to Bavoso, is the foundation provided by both Microsoft SQL Server and Windows NT Server-now and in the future. "With these products, we've been able to develop enterprise-wide solutions that otherwise would have been unfeasible," he says. Strengthening that foundation even more are Microsoft BackOffice products Darby plans to incorporate, including Microsoft SNA Server and Microsoft Systems Management Server. "Considering the robustness and stability of Microsoft SQL Server and the additional functionality of Windows NT Server, we're confident that these products will help us remain a leading supplier of professional health-care products."
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Customer Support Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.
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