Casablanca

From internet provision to cloud services

Casablanca INT started out as a specialist for fixed internet connection. Over time, it has expanded its range of services to its own data center, IP telephony and IP VPN. Instead of the original few servers used by the company at the beginning of its operations, a modern data center with a total area of ​​1,600 m2 is operated. Also, the data connectivity now available has multiplied over the years. From the progressive development of information technology, the project Casablanca INT presented together with Hewlett-Packard, VMware and AMD in 2012. It is a Big Blue One cloud service based on a high level of security provided by the HP TippingPoint solution, a geographically separate data backup, guaranteed cloud availability and unlimited computing power.

“This area is now our main development goal. It should become a key part of our service portfolio and at the same time a key market segment. However, we will still rely on the complexity of the services we provide,” said Pavel Hodinka, project manager of the company, responsible for the implementation and operation of the information system. The company has a turnover of 160 million CZK and employs 80 employees. Its key customers include corporate clients, primarily manufacturing and service companies such as Pražská energetika, Zepter International, Moira, and IC Energo. The company holds the ISO 9001: 2000 certificate.

Why focus on advanced erp products

“The telecom business process lay-out and IT infrastructure assumes acquiring and deploying an ERP system that would create its backbone to connect its own applications to automate specific processes and implement atypical outputs and assemblies. This is especially true of our surveillance and monitoring systems, which would not make sense to re-develop in the ERP system as its modules,” explains Pavel Hodinka.

An integral part of the evaluation criteria was, of course, the cost and time required for the implementation project. That is why the team of responsible employees did not recommend dealing with offers from SAP or Microsoft Dynamics products, which were both very burdensome in both regards. Therefore, the final round of the tender was attended by ABRA Software and Asseco Solutions with their most advanced ERP systems, which are ABRA Gen and Helios Green.

Pre-implementation analysis to the final decision

Casablanca INT finally decided to acquire and deploy the ABRA Gen ERP system. Mr. Hodinka evaluates Geno’s victory as very close and states the following advantages, which ultimately decided in her favor: “At first, both solutions seemed to us to be almost identical. However, ABRA still looked more open and offered better opportunities to gradually acquire additional modules. A significant advantage was the complete source code documentation that ABRA was able to provide us.”

As with many other projects, the “tongue on the scales” is the quality of the consultants, their understanding of the client’s needs and the ability to address all requirements in a timely and proactive manner. Pavel Hodinka states: “During the presentation of ABRA Gen, we greatly appreciated the practical experience of the lead consultant with the system, who showed us not only its features, but also on simple and understandable examples of customization options. It was more important to check and whether we can rely on the quality of its employees,” says Pavel Hodinka.

“I think this procedure is worth considering in every competition. During the pre-implementation analysis, specific processes and procedures are addressed, and it is in this situation that it can be well revealed whether the expected ERP solution and professional consultants will fully meet all requirements. Usually, both critical points of the project and positive aspects are encountered, which confirm to the contracting authority the correctness of its choice. An important factor is also a possible final adjustment of the price, which occurred after the disclosure of some facts in our case. That is why I can only recommend this procedure,” concludes Pavel Hodinka.

Main features and scope of the overall solution

The selection of the supplier and information system was completed in the summer of 2008. The pre-implementation analysis was already completed, followed by the actual implementation of the system, which took a total of four months. ABRA Gen was put into operation on January 1, 2009. It is used by 35 concurrent users, through thick client technology and a three-tier client / server architecture. Thus, the server for the operation of the Oracle database engine, the application server and the terminal server for accesses from the external environment are separated. In particular, there is also a server for web services, which connect to the core of the ERP system internally developed applications.

The company uses ABRA Gen modules to completely ensure economic, personnel and payroll, asset management and warehousing. The system also covers purchasing, sales logistics and customer relationship management. It also includes workflow infrastructure applications and managerial decision support. The overall solution includes the necessary monitoring of systems, measurement of data transfer, energy, etc. Due to the need to process a huge amount of data from these processes, the choice fell on ABRA Gen, which is built on top of the Oracle database engine and is thus able to submit in maximum performance in this area.

Main benefits and development for the future

The benefits from the implementation of the implementation project were reflected in several areas. The first was the fulfillment of three main requirements – unification of the database, ensuring a uniform version of the truth on all outputs and ensuring that data is entered into the system only once.

„Splnění uvedených požadavků se projevilo v urychlení a zkvalitnění práce uživatelů. Rovněž se výrazně snížila chybovost některých operací, k čemuž přispělo nové nastavení procesů. Všichni zaměstnanci napříč firmou dnes dokážou tato fakta potvrdit,“ uvádí Pavel Hodinka.

“Meeting these requirements has resulted in faster and better user experience. The error rate of some operations was also significantly reduced, which was helped by the new process settings. Today, all employees across the company are able to confirm these facts,” says Pavel Hodinka.

“Similarly, other processes, such as the management of reminders and their distribution, have accelerated and improved. Therefore, we continue to focus on the widest possible automation of all processes for which it is possible. For example, in the case of a cloud service, we are working on the introduction of a credit system enabling payment automation. This approach will not only streamline our processes, but will also be reflected in the price of customer service and thus help maintain the company’s competitiveness,” adds Pavel Hodinka.

“Another significant benefit I have already mentioned is the openness of the system and the flexibility to adapt it. The rapid implementation of change by our own people again helps not only to improve processes, but above all to support our own business. We can then pay more attention to customers and improve the services provided, which is directly reflected in the company’s financial results,” concludes the list of benefits Pavel Hodinka.

Custom adjustments and specific solutions

Important custom adjustments included the development of automatic invoicing features. The issue of forward and reverse invoicing, sorting at branches, situations where invoicing services are, if not, or excluding them from invoicing, etc. were addressed. The key was to set the invoicing rules correctly and fine-tune the whole process, down to the details of automatic payment matching. from bank.

Another process for which functions had to be programmed into the system according to the company’s requirements concerned the establishment of services. For this purpose, a standard CRM and activity module was used, which was modified to be able to automatically generate services for merchant offers. Simultaneously with the implementation of the ABRA Gen kernel, it was necessary to adapt the interface for connecting external agendas so that the logic of the entire system was maintained.

It was primarily a portal for merchants, which was originally created by the company’s technicians and which provides an overview of customers and the services they receive. This portal draws master data from ABRA Gen and some other internal subsystems in order to ultimately provide continuous overviews to its users, in which nothing important must be missing. The operation of the customer portal is related to the provision of a new cloud service. Through it, clients can register and create a virtual server, configure it and pay for ordered services. This internally developed functionality is again connected to ABRA Gen so that all master data can be retrieved and saved back for the implementation of the necessary agendas in the field of accounting, invoicing, etc.

All these adjustments were managed by the company’s employees. And it was during custom modifications and connections of internal subsystems that the much-anticipated feature of the new solution became apparent – openness and simplicity for adaptation to user requirements, which can be implemented by trained employees of the user company.