Manor was born in 1902 from the merger between the wholesaler Maus and the retailer Nordmann. This department store group is now present in all regions of Switzerland. It employs around 8,000 people and trains 260 apprentices. Manor markets more than a million items from about 2,800 suppliers worldwide. Retail has become a highly digitalized sector. Therefore, a reliable, robust, and fast IT infrastructure is essential. In this context, Manor sought advice from the experts at dbi services in two areas:
- Supply chain applications: modernizing database infrastructures
- Business Intelligence: adjusting and stabilizing processes
CHALLENGES
- Supply chain applications: modernizing database infrastructures
The so-called LAS systems are used in Manor's non-food logistics centers. Warehouse management – from receipt to delivery, including storage – is controlled by this software, which is associated with warehouse automation systems. LAS is therefore an essential system for Manor's proper functioning. The concerned Oracle databases were still running on an OpenVMS cluster and needed to be migrated to a more recent version of the database, as well as to Windows Server systems.
- Business Intelligence
Manor had to improve the performance of its BI systems and optimize processes in this area.
SOLUTIONS
- Supply chain applications: modernizing database infrastructures
The database platform design, already carried out, was fully finalized by dbi services, and supplemented with well-adapted migration planning. The goal was to perform a fast and secure migration, with the support of dbi services experts, who have many years of experience in this field. The target platform was largely designed and managed by dbi services, allowing for troubleshooting and incident handling, even during operation, using a single provider thanks to dbi services' standards. - Business Intelligence
The experts at dbi services conducted a complete inventory of the existing BI systems and a detailed analysis of the processes.
RESULTS
- Supply chain applications: modernizing database infrastructures
Thanks to their experience and skills, the experts at dbi services were able to update as quickly as the scope of the task allowed, in efficient and autonomous collaboration with Manor's concerned IT services. Manor was thus able to reduce existing operational risks and find a reliable partner for incident management in the database environment, 24/7. - Business Intelligence
Best practices allowed an increase in power, particularly on the "Analysis services" part. Regarding the processes, Manor incorporated the recommendations of the dbi services experts in further development, thus improving stability and process speed.
ADDED VALUE
The expertise of dbi services consultants covers all the technologies used by Manor for relational databases, including highly available environments. Manor thus benefits from a single point of contact to operate its databases. In addition, the modern knowledge of dbi services experts also applies to older systems, allowing their migration to new technologies to ensure optimal operation.
Manor has chosen a dbi services SLA for a significant portion of its productive Oracle and SQL Server databases. The company can thus unload its internal resources for operational management, allowing its employees to focus on high-value-added tasks.