Offshore Software Development Case Study - Computer Hardware

Hitachi

Industry

Computer Hardware

Scenario

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) planned to enhance their 'Hitachi Unified Compute Platform for Oracle and SQL Server' with utility apps that monitor the health and growth of their client’s databases. HDS wanted to provide their storage clients with complete summary evaluation and trending of database environments. HDS conceptualized HiSED, a suite of utility apps to maintain their leadership position in the storage market

Customer Profile

Hitachi Data Systems provides best-in-class information technologies, services and solutions that deliver compelling ROI, unmatched return on assets (ROA) and demonstrable business impact.

Benefits

  • Ability to visualize client data instantly through reports & charts drastically reduced the support time
  • Migration to the newer technology platform helped to expedite analysis of customer data leading to more accurate business recommendations, translating into significant cost saving for their clients
  • Ability of business rules to be driven from database gave the ability to plug-in new business rules with minimum development effort, leading to enhanced maintainability & cost saving

Technology Used

  • Microsoft .NET
  • Visual Studio
  • Enterprise Library
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Dev-Express toolset

 

Congruent designed and developed parser, a metadata/business rule engine for Hitachi Data Systems that analyzes their customer's IT operations data

 

Software Implementation Partnership

  • Wanted to reinforce database storage offerings with high quality utility apps
  • Apps needed to be highly innovative to provide competitive edge over business rivals

    Since it's a new solution being conceived on-the-go with some pilot feedback, the product requirements were defined as:

    • Needs to be built incrementally and iteratively
    • Built using a feedback-driven agile development process
    • Development team needs to be highly flexible and receptive to changes
    • Development team to be well versed with proven, very best engineering practices
    • Development team needs to be highly innovative to digest the business context and come up with intuitive features

    • Hitachi wanted to leverage the offshore cost arbitrage. Hence, a development team from Congruent as their 'Virtual Team' was hired. The team worked with the Hitachi as one team using state-of-the-art collaboration & communication tools. Team used the time-zone difference to their advantage, both teams had 3 hrs overlapping, worked cohesively & ensured highly successful product launch.

What is HiSed Application?

Using VBA macros, HiSED tool is capable of gathering required data from database instance AWR reports, and populate them in an individual excel worksheet in a desired format. Then it populates the summarized data of all the instances in another worksheet. It also represents imported data in a Bar Chart, Pie Chart, Column Chart & other graphs available with the MS Excel dynamically.

The tool has built-in Excel Chart objects to visualize the data imported form AWR reports. The excel chart objects consume memory and it made the importing process hang and quits MS Excel. Hence ‘Excel Chart objects’ are converted into ‘Excel Data Bars’. The data bars are not graphically rich and was not legible in the exported PPT.

Congruent provided a solution to create those excel chart objects dynamically after parsing the AWR reports. As these chart objects are created at the end of the process, system was stable and provided an excellent usable report.

Engagement Model

This project was executed on a retainer model by a team of 15 members.

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