Microsoft Customer Solution Manufacturing Industry Case Study

Manufacturer Improves Content Management, Collaboration, Search—and Customer Satisfaction

Overview “In contrast to our previous portal experience, Country or Region: United States Microsoft got our employees collaborating faster Industry: Manufacturing—Oil and Gas and easier—employee use of the portal improved Customer Profile significantly after the migration to Microsoft.” Exterran provides sales, operations, maintenance, fabrication, service, and Kumar Mantripragada, Project Manager, Exterran equipment for oil and gas production, processing, and transportation. Based in Exterran—a service and equipment provider to the oil and gas Houston, Texas, it has more than 11,000 employees. industries, formed from the merger of Hanover and Universal— had an enterprise portal, but employees shied away from it Business Situation The company had a technology portal because it was difficult and time-consuming to use. This that was difficult and time-consuming to resistance affected global collaboration and was a potential use, which hindered adoption by employees and created an impediment to roadblock to the company achieving its growth targets. To boost the company’s continued growth. collaboration, Exterran worked with Infosys Technologies, a

Solution Microsoft® Global Systems Integration Alliance Partner, to create

Exterran migrated its communications a more usable portal based on Microsoft Office SharePoint® platform to a comprehensive collaboration solution powered by Server 2007 and complemented with other Microsoft Microsoft® technologies, including a communications technologies. Employees find the new portal to more usable enterprise portal, real-time Web conferencing, and security- be faster, easier, and more effective to use. Document uploads enhanced instant messaging. are faster, too, saving hours on major projects. Most important,

Benefits Exterran’s solution is helping it to win more business, expand its  Boosts portal use global reach, and build customer loyalty.  Speeds document uploads  Enables faster, richer, more accurate searches  Supports customer requirements “We had aggressive Situation per month. Because the intranet design Collaborating and sharing information with didn’t integrate with the Windows Server® growth targets that more than 6,000 employees throughout the Active Directory® service that the company depended on our being world can be a considerable challenge for already used, employees needed a any company, and this was the challenge separate user name and password to log able to use technology facing Hanover Compressor Company, a on to the portal. When they forgot those to the fullest. But we leading maker of equipment for the oil and identifiers, it took at least a day or two to gas industry. As a result of a 2007 merger reestablish their credentials. weren’t using technol- with Universal Compression Holdings, ogy as successfully as another major oil and gas industry While the portal supported document equipment manufacturer, the company now sharing, it offered no “synchronous” or live we should have been.” manages collaboration and information communications such as Web meetings or Stephen York, Vice President, Business sharing among more than 11,000 instant messaging. Instead, employees Technology, Exterran employees. either would travel halfway around the world to meet with colleagues and The rapidly increased scale and the need customers, or they’d set up conference to suddenly support vastly increased calls and send documents using e-mail— numbers of employees and customers with the result that some people might not could have been too much for the merged receive the documents, so multiple company, now called Exterran. But it versions of the documents would be wasn’t. Exterran was ready. created, and version-control problems would ensue. Even when the system A few years earlier, that wasn’t the case. worked, the e-mail system could get Hanover had adopted a portal solution for clogged with massive computer-aided collaboration and information sharing design (CAD) drawings, at tens of running on a Linux system. megabytes per document.

The intranet’s user interface was unfamiliar No more than 200 Hanover employees— to employees, making it difficult for them to out of 6,000—adopted the portal over three use. Creating a site on the portal took at years, and those employees created only least two weeks, according to Kumar 20 sites. “Even before the merger, we had Mantripragada, Project Manager, aggressive growth targets that depended Collaboration Program, Exterran. “Building on our being able to use technology to the a screen for the intranet was a big effort fullest,” says Stephen York, Vice President, even for a developer,” he says. “Business Business Technology, Exterran. “But we users couldn’t do it themselves, so they weren’t using technology as successfully had to wait for the Business Technology as we should have been.” Department.” As the capabilities of collaboration Setting up new workflow paths or other technologies increased, so also did the portal enhancements was also time- expectations of the company’s customers. consuming; the development team didn’t For some customers, a portal through get to more than two or three such projects which they could communicate and “We realized that the collaborate in real time with the company— Hanover worked with Infosys, a Microsoft and in their native languages—was a Global Systems Integration Partner, to Microsoft technologies requirement of doing business. Even when define user requirements and shape the for collaboration did the it wasn’t required, York and his colleagues portal solution. Infosys quickly prototyped realized that lacking a state-of-the-art portal new features requested by the company, best job of meeting our was hindering their ability to provide full often overnight, using a global team. requirements.” service, especially in locations where they Thanks to the software’s built-in capabilities didn’t have a physical presence. and Infosys’ global delivery model, the Kumar Mantripragada, Project Manager, project team worked across multiple time Collaboration Program, Exterran Solution zones, reducing the time to review the “We did our due diligence to review the prototypes. collaboration products on the market,” says Mantripragada. “We realized that the During the development process, York Microsoft® technologies for collaboration visited Infosys in Bangalore, India, to get a did the best job of meeting our first-hand view of the Microsoft technology requirements.” and to refine the long-term plans for the portal. Going for the Best Price/Performance Ratio and the Best Road Map “Infosys was extremely helpful, and their The company had another reason for participation both accelerated our adoption choosing Microsoft. “We weren’t a and helped to ensure a successful project,” Microsoft shop; we had only two enterprise says Mantripragada. solutions based on Microsoft technologies The new portal went live in four months, —Microsoft Exchange Server and Active shortly after the commercial release of Directory,” says Mantripragada. “But we Office SharePoint Server 2007. Infosys wanted to set up a Microsoft environment customized the look and functionality of the because we felt it offered the best portal and provided deployment, price/performance ratio and the best road configuration, training, and support map for the future. This was our ideal services. In addition to providing users with opportunity to act towards implementing a platform for collaboration, the project that move.” team deployed features available out of the box with SharePoint Server 2007, such as A visit to the Microsoft Technology Center localized weather and links to other useful in Austin, Texas, gave Hanover company information, to encourage employees to executives the opportunity to see Microsoft return to the portal throughout their day. collaboration products in action and to discuss the shape of a potential solution. Garnering Popular Support The company decided to adopt Microsoft To help demonstrate the value of the Office Office SharePoint® Server 2007 in August SharePoint Server technology and to build 2006, while the software was still in beta enthusiasm for the new portal, Stephen release. York presented the collaboration, content management, enterprise search, and integration features at a worldwide meeting “UsersGiven thebecame nature self- of of executives and managers held at the accompanied the e-mail and shared disk company’s Houston headquarters in drive approach. reliantmy work, with uploading the portal September 2006. “That’s where the buzz verydocuments quickly, to both the as about SharePoint started,” says Mantripra- Cannaday used the calendar function to gada. “We demonstrated a range of chart interview schedules for his team and consumersSharePoint andsite savesprovi- technologies over three days, but the one to track progress. He used the document- dersme hours of information. compared to thing that everyone took back from the level security capability to give two of meeting was ‘SharePoint.’ Our people Hanover’s outside attorneys access to Theywhat Ilove experienced it.” immediately wanted to put SharePoint specific folders and documents that they before.”Kumar Mantripragada, Project Manager, Server to work.” needed, effectively turning the site into an Collaboration Program, Exterran extranet. Brad Cannaday, Director of Compliance, One of those early adopters was the Exterran company’s Legal Department, which was “I was able to control access to the site preparing for the merger of Hanover and down to the document level to ensure that Universal into what would become our attorneys could access what they Exterran. needed, whether they were employees or consultants,” says Cannaday. “That was “I had to coordinate the gathering of two enormously helpful. Our outside attorneys 18-wheelers’ worth of information— said this was the most effective, organized thousands of documents—regarding the information-gathering effort they’d seen.” merger,” recalls Brad Cannaday, Director of Compliance, Exterran. “Previously, we The success of Office SharePoint Server in would have handled this massive the merger effort, combined with its information request using e-mail and successful use for Eastern Hemisphere shared disk drives, and it would have been collaboration projects, helped build support unbelievably time consuming. After I for the technology at Exterran. One year gained some experience with a SharePoint after deployment, the portal includes more site for sharing and distributing our policy than 100 sites—five times the number built documents, I saw it could be extremely with the previous portal. Frequently used valuable to us in responding to information by employees around the world, the portal requests regarding the merger.” is the home page for every Exterran employee. Cannaday used the tools built into Office SharePoint Server to create the document Enhancing Collaboration libraries and folders that the Hanover With its new portal in place and in use, merger team needed for information Exterran continues to advance its requests. The attorneys on his team collaboration efforts. The Business gathered the information and uploaded it Technology Department uses the Microsoft into the site. Everyone on the Hanover Office InfoPath® 2007 information- team was able to access the site in real gathering program to collect and send data time to see which documents had been for internal audits. The Business Data acquired, eliminating the duplication of Catalog capability in Office SharePoint effort that Cannaday says would have Server makes it possible for employees “With SharePoint anywhere in the world to search and “The SharePoint site interface appears as retrieve inventory information from the a user-friendly Web page rather than a document libraries and Oracle ERP software without leaving the complicated collection of folders on a lists, a large collection portal or needing to access the Oracle shared network drive, the nested application directly. arrangement of which makes searching for of files and metadata specific data a long, tedious process,” says can be presented in a The company has adopted the Microsoft Stephen L. Hood, Network Architect and Office Live Meeting hosted service to SharePoint Administrator, Exterran. “With single, well-organized encourage real-time Web meetings among SharePoint document libraries and lists, a view for quick access.” employees and customers around the large collection of files and metadata can globe, and it is preparing to adopt Microsoft be presented in a single, well-organized Stephen L. Hood, Network Architect and Office Communications Server 2007 to view for quick access.” SharePoint Administrator, Exterran offer security-enhanced instant messaging among colleagues anywhere in the world. Not only that, documents upload to the SharePoint sites faster than they did to the Benefits previous site, according to Cannaday, Exterran finds that its people are making which is a particular advantage when users greater use of collaboration and search need to upload large quantities of technologies, with the result that the documents. “Given the nature of my work, company is more competitive and better uploading documents to the SharePoint able to support its customers. site saves me hours compared to what I experienced before,” he says. Boosts Portal Use Single sign on with the rest of the Most significantly, department site company’s technology environment makes managers can create and customize it easier for employees to access the portal, workflows, document libraries, and other reducing help-desk requests for portal aspects of the portal that previously password resets. Familiarity with the required intervention by Business Microsoft Office user interface also Technology staff. This means that users eliminated much of the training needed for have what they need much faster and can the new portal. innovate on new products more quickly, and the Business Technology department “In contrast to our previous portal is freed to focus on adding strategic value experience, Microsoft got our employees to the infrastructure. collaborating faster and easier—employee use of the portal improved significantly after Enables Faster, Richer, More the migration to Microsoft,” says Accurate Searches Mantripragada. “Users became self-reliant Searching for information—especially with the portal very quickly, both as information about people elsewhere in the consumers and providers of information. company—is a faster, richer, and more They love it.” accurate experience with Office SharePoint Server, according to Mantripragada. Because the portal is integrated with the Active Directory service, search information colleagues in the United States, and the on Exterran personnel is as up-to-date as portal makes that collaboration possible. their Active Directory listings and includes “Project management offices halfway employees’ phone, e-mail, and other around the world from each other have business contact information. visibility into the same documents at the Mantripragada and his colleagues say that same time,” says York. “They can access SharePoint Server search results are more those documents and work together in relevant and speedier than what users saw virtual meetings as though they were in the before. same room. That’s vitally important in furthering our ability to act as a single “We’re a very large company that doubled company with global reach. It enables us to in size with the merger,” says work on bigger projects, to offer better Mantripragada. “SharePoint Server gives solutions, and to accelerate innovation on us the ability to find colleagues anywhere in new products, because we can bring all the world to provide the expertise we need appropriate resources to bear, regardless to deliver for our customers.” of where those resources are based.”

Supports Customer Requirements, Exterran also uses Office SharePoint Helps Achieve Global Business Goals Server to quickly set up project sites while Microsoft collaboration technologies are in the proposal phase, before the company helping Exterran to better meet customer has won a customer’s business. “We use needs—and thus, helping the company to the technology to show customers how we reach its global business goals, according will collaborate and share information with to York. them if we get their business—and that helps us to win that business. We’ve had “Microsoft technologies are enabling us to so many positive comments from our expand our presence throughout the world, customers about the Microsoft technologies in places like the United Arab Emirates, that we know they’re a clear contributor to Singapore, and Russia,” says York. “We our growth.” can instantly share information and work with customers in places where previously we’d have to spend hours or days to move information. The multilanguage capability in SharePoint Server makes it easy for us to offer portals in the native languages of our customers. All this means we do a better job of supporting our customers and building customer loyalty.”

For example, York cites the company’s growing business in Asia and the Middle East. Exterran’s engineers at those project sites work closely with engineering For More Information Microsoft Solutions for the For more information about Microsoft Manufacturing and Oil and Gas products and services, call the Microsoft Industries Sales Information Center at (800) 426- Manufacturing and oil and gas enterprises 9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft must compete in an increasingly global Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- environment. Success depends on finding 2495. Customers who are deaf or hard- ever-greater efficiencies throughout the of-hearing can reach Microsoft text enterprise, while developing a greater telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) agility to react to local and global market 892-5234 in the United States or (905) opportunities. These challenges are best 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 answered with technology from Microsoft United States and Canada, please and its partners. contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Microsoft-based solutions offer much Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com needed value to manufacturers and oil and gas service and equipment providers who For more information about Infosys are under increasing pressure to generate products and services, call (510) 742- greater returns on the assets that they 3000 or visit the Web site at: have employed. This focus on efficiency www.infosys.com/microsoft scales across all the critical functional areas—from getting products to market For more information about Exterran faster, to streamlining the supply chain, products and services, call (281) 854- optimizing the manufacturing operations, 3000 or visit the Web site at: and generating new revenue streams. www.exterran.com For more information about Microsoft solutions for the manufacturing industry, go to: www.microsoft.com/resources/manufacturi ng

Software and Services  Technologies  Microsoft Office − Active Directory − Microsoft Office Communications − Business Data Catalog Server 2007 − Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Partner − Microsoft Office Live Meeting  Infosys Technologies − Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

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Document published May 2008