Manufacturer Saves 83 Percent on ERP System by Moving from Oracle to Microsoft

Microsoft SQL Server Customer Solution Case Study

Overview “Moving to SQL Server 2012, we will realize an 83 percent Country or Region: United States annual savings versus continuing with an Oracle/IBM Industry: Manufacturing—Aerospace solution and increasing our Cognos licensing to match the Customer Profile G&T Conveyor Company manufactures Microsoft functionality.” turnkey baggage-handling systems. Part Orin Owen, IT Director, G&T Conveyor of the Five Star Airport Alliance, G&T is headquartered in Tavares, Florida. G&T Conveyor, a manufacturer of airport baggage-handling Business Situation G&T wanted a new, more efficient equipment, wanted to save money by moving away from an reporting system and an enterprise Oracle-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. It also resource planning (ERP) system that didn’t force it to use an Oracle database. wanted to replace outdated Cognos reporting software. G&T will deploy the Glovia G2 ERP system that is now being offered on Solution G&T will take advantage of the Glovia G2 Microsoft SQL Server 2012, which G&T will also use for all of its ERP system running on Microsoft SQL reporting. By doing so, G&T will save 83 percent annually over a Server 2012, which it will also use to generate standard and ad-hoc reports. comparable Oracle, IBM, and Cognos solution. The company will reduce the burden on its IT department and gain a solution that Benefits Saves 83 percent annually easily communicates with its other software packages. It will also Reduces IT burden use self-service business intelligence features to empower Improves data communication Empowers users project managers, accountants, and shop floor personnel to do Improves competitiveness more with data. With more information available more quickly, G&T will improve its efficiency and bidding, thus strengthening its competitive position. Situation an IBM AIX platform. “We had a separate The G&T Conveyor Company manufactures service contract for a machine with a baggage-handling equipment and other separate operating system, all just so that airport equipment. G&T experienced rapid we could run Oracle,” Nipirakis says. That growth in the 2000s, and it is now part of drove up expenses. It was also hard to staff the Five Star Airport Alliance, a collection of because the systems required a separate companies that provides airports and skill set. airlines with systems, software, maintenance, and terminal services. Meanwhile, G&T ran several other Privately held and based in Tavares, Florida, databases on the Microsoft SQL Server G&T has about 1,000 employees. 2008 R2 data management software. All of its employees manage their time using “Data is at the heart of our business Kronos Workforce Timekeeper, and some efficiency as we strive to be a market engineers use a product lifecycle leader,” says Orin Owen, IT Director at G&T. management (PLM) solution. Both solutions “When our salespeople are out talking to kept data in SQL Server 2008 R2, and G&T airports or airlines, we need to know from found it difficult to communicate between our data about our production capabilities, this platform and the Oracle platform. our costs, and how quickly we can deliver for our customers.” G&T generated more than 400 reports, several of them designed to simply export Since 2005, G&T has managed data with data from Glovia G2 to Microsoft Excel Glovia enterprise resource planning (ERP) 2010 spreadsheet software, which systems. Glovia International, a subsidiary accountants and project managers use of Fujitsu based in El Segundo, California, intensively. The company generated the has long sold ERP systems for all sizes of reports using IBM Cognos 7.4, which it manufacturing companies around the needed to upgrade. Cognos 7.4 was slow, world. “All of the Five Star business units difficult to maintain, and no longer being use the Glovia system for accounting, and supported; furthermore, IBM charged a the manufacturing units also use it to significant licensing fee for each report define what we produce on our shop floor,” user. “We had to justify giving people says Alexandros Nipirakis, IT Software access to reports,” Nipirakis says. Development Manager at G&T. “Because the knowledge in the ERP system G&T thus had two primary needs. It needed represents our main intellectual property, a new, more efficient reporting system that the solution is incredibly important to us.” could better distribute data to users. And it wanted an ERP system that didn’t force it to G&T has generally been happy with the use an Oracle database. Glovia G2 ERP. “In the past two years, as we’ve gotten the solution customized to Solution our business, we’ve seen a significant Glovia was well aware of these concerns. return on investment,” Nipirakis says. But “We’ve seen growing market demand for G&T was frustrated that Glovia G2 ran availability on Microsoft technologies,” says exclusively on the Oracle relational James Gorham, Executive Vice President for database. To make its ERP system work Sales and Delivery at Glovia. “Many effectively, G&T had to run the database on companies told us that we were forcing

25 them to adopt Oracle technology that they reports. The company plans to go live with otherwise would not want. Often they were the ERP and reporting solutions in the last using other Microsoft products and had quarter of 2012. Microsoft development skills that they The new Glovia G2 solution uses SQL Server wanted to use for data management.” 2012 Reporting Services to generate about 100 reports, some of them very complex. It In February 2010, Glovia decided to make takes advantage of the Power View feature its G2 product available on the next to facilitate interactive data exploration, generation of Microsoft data management visualization, and presentation. It uses SQL software. It had already converted the G2 Server 2012 Integration Services to user interface to Microsoft technologies assemble data from multiple sources. And including the Silverlight browser plug-in. it offers interoperation with Microsoft “Converting the database was a natural SharePoint Server 2010 for document choice for our next step,” says Anil Sharma, sharing and workflow. Vice President of Product Development at Glovia. In November 2011, as Microsoft At G&T, the 110 ERP users will see little announced the coming release of SQL difference, because the user interface will Server 2012, Glovia asked if G&T would be remain largely unchanged. But behind the interested in deploying the new solution. scenes, G&T will eliminate its IBM AIX server and will store the ERP data in SQL G&T was delighted. “Glovia G2 is less Server 2012 Enterprise, which will run on expensive than its competitors. It provides virtualized HP ProLiant DL380 server more functionality, and it’s easily computers. SQL Server 2012 will also store customizable,” Nipirakis says. “We never other data, including time and attendance considered moving away from Glovia.” data from Kronos, which will be used by Running on SQL Server 2012 would address about 1,000 employees companywide. the primary drawback of Glovia G2 for G&T. G&T will use SQL Server 2012 Integration Meanwhile, G&T considered upgrading its Services to combine data from its time and reporting solution to the latest version of attendance and PLM platforms with ERP Cognos. But the price was high. “It was data. With SQL Server 2012 Analysis probably $50,000, at minimum, to buy the Services, it can slice and dice that data. And latest Cognos software and relicense our it will use SQL Server 2012 Reporting users,” Nipirakis says. “It would be silly for Services to run all of the reports it needs, us to do that when SQL Server Reporting including ones on ERP data that it Services comes free with SQL Server 2012.” developed many years ago, before Glovia reports were available. G&T is particularly By February 2012, the G&T IT department excited about Power View. “We may be was preparing for the upgrade. “Converting able to mitigate the need for many of our 400 reports, plus several small in-house existing reports if we can provide our end applications, is not a small undertaking,” users with tools to do self-service business Nipirakis says. But using the Microsoft SQL intelligence,” Nipirakis says. Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) tool, G&T simplified the migration of Glovia G&T is also excited to explore databases from Oracle to SQL Server 2012. interoperation between SQL Server 2012 Thus SSMA freed up the development team and other Microsoft products. “Many of our to work on custom applications and Cognos reports simply dump Glovia G2

35 data into an Excel 2010 document for our “When powered by SQL Server 2012, Glovia accountants,” Nipirakis says. “Now the G2 will be easier to install, maintain, and accountants may be able to import it tweak,” Nipirakis says. “Tasks that you had directly.” Similarly, G&T will explore to go through many hoops to do in Oracle, managing Glovia G2 workflows, such as the you can do by just right-clicking in SQL complex workflow that pushes an item Server 2012.” from design to build, using SharePoint Server 2010. Furthermore, the remaining IT workload can fall to a variety of Microsoft-qualified Benefits employees, rather than one Oracle and AIX G&T will use SQL Server 2012 to save expert. “Maybe 15 percent of my time has money and reduce its IT burden while been spent on the AIX operating system, improving data communication. With SQL which we are eliminating,” Nipirakis says. Server 2012, G&T will also be empowering “Additionally, I’m one of the only people users and improving the company’s around here who know much about Oracle, competitive position. but we have several people who can be very knowledgeable about SQL Server Saves 83 Percent Annually 2012. The business can better use my Because it can run the Glovia G2 solution capabilities developing applications than on SQL Server 2012, G&T can eliminate maintaining AIX and Oracle.” both its Oracle database and the dedicated IBM AIX infrastructure that solution Finally, the self-service reporting required. Furthermore, Nipirakis says, “SQL capabilities of SQL Server 2012 will also Server 2012 Enterprise, which is less reduce the burden on IT. “We probably expensive than Oracle, also gives us the have 70 different project management reporting services, analysis services, and reports, many of which are very similar to integration services that Oracle doesn’t.” each other,” Nipirakis says. “With Power View, I can provide project managers with G&T also saves money by using SQL Server the data model and say, ‘You guys slice and 2012 Reporting Services to replace Cognos. dice it however you want.’ That’s a lot Not only is it not paying for separate easier than essentially having 70 pieces of reporting software, but the Microsoft software that I have to manage.” licensing model also allows access to reports for more users. Improves Data Communication Moving all of its data to SQL Server 2012 Adding up those benefits, Owen will make it easier for G&T to integrate data summarizes, “Moving to SQL Server 2012, among systems. “In the past, it was a real we will realize an 83 percent annual savings pain to communicate between the Oracle versus continuing with an Oracle/IBM platform and the SQL Server 2008 R2 solution and increasing our Cognos platform,” Nipirakis says. “Now we can licensing to match the Microsoft easily communicate between servers to functionality.” grab data.”

Reduces IT Burden Owen agrees, noting that the result is to Along with those hard-cost savings, there is improve the effectiveness of the company’s a reduced burden on the IT department. ERP solution. “With SQL Server 2012, Glovia G2 becomes a better solution for our

45 needs, because it can integrate better with Microsoft Server Product existing applications such as our time and Portfolio attendance package.”

For more information about the Microsoft Empowers Users server product portfolio, go to: G&T is using SQL Server 2012 to empower www.microsoft.com/servers its users to make the most of data. Nipirakis says, “With the features of SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services, especially Power View, our project managers, accountants, and people on the shop floor can make their own reports that are useful to them. They no longer have to run to IT and say, ‘We need this report.’”

Nipirakis sees this as a direct result of switching from Oracle to Microsoft. “The Microsoft stack is much better at putting data in front of people than the Oracle stack, especially with the self-service reporting tools that come free with SQL Server 2012 but cost extra for Oracle.”

Improves Competitiveness With an improved ERP and better data availability, G&T can make better business decisions. “With SQL Server 2012, we can get more information faster and have a better idea of what we’re doing,” Owen says. “For example, we can have more accurate and more immediate information about our labor costs on the shop floor. That can help us optimize our processes and become more efficient. It also helps us optimize our bids, to charge the right price for our products. Both of those actions improve our competitiveness.”