The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Challenge
Following changes to their infrastructure and shifting requirements from their customers, Geneva Watch Group needed to make updates to their Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Distribution and Financial modules to keep them aligned with current business processes. While their development needs for projects could be intense for several weeks, demands would recede after final delivery.
Production issues, on the other hand, could arise at any time, often requiring development skills, sometimes on a critical basis. However, even with these needs, hiring a FTE was overkill. Additionally, while using temporary contractors had worked for specific projects, once an urgent need came up or a new project was started, previous contractors were unavailable. Continuous recruiting efforts and the onboarding of new contractors proved time-consuming and costly.
The Solution
GWG selected Allari’s Platform to provide development when needed for projects and production support eliminating the need to recruit continuously for contractors or hire an FTE when demand was far lower than 40 hours per week. Allari assigned a Support Manager and 3 Senior JDE Developers were assigned to the GWG team. Following the collective one-time onboarding of the Developer’s, GWG could initiate a development service request when needed.
GWG started the process by emailing specific requirements to Allari’s online helpdesk. Allari’s Support Manager reviews the specifications and assigns a Developer to begin resolution of the issue immediately or provide an estimate based on predefined cost/time thresholds. GWG only pays for development effort when demanded, with all time and effort transparently reflected through the online helpdesk. GWG does not pay for downtime or stops due to testing, user approvals or any other project stoppage. These stoppages can average from 25% to 50 % of an on staff or contracted developer’s time.
The Results
The development need for GWG for the first two months was about 110 hours of straight development time (designing, coding, and collaboration). The Allari Platform allowed them to get development services 64% lower than using a FTE.
One Allari developer completed an 80-hour project while a second team member completed nearly 30 hours of production support development. This parallel development would not be possible with either a FTE or a single contractor.
For GWG, gaining access to specialized development talent via Allari’s Platform has proven more cost-efficient by allowing them to only pay for development time rather than developer time. Also, Allari’s team approach has been more efficient by eliminating queue times created while waiting on a single FTE or contractor to become available.