Boise Cascade's management wanted a sophisticated web-based reporting system that interfaced with multiple host systems, and they wanted it completed in 3 weeks. For the application development team, the deadline seemed next to impossible. Read this case study to learn how they met this impossible deadline with the help of m-Power.
Results
Delivered a sophisticated web reporting solution in just 3 weeks
Met an impossible project deadline, despite being short a developer
Provided executives with real-time access to data
"[m-Power] is extremely intuitive. I did not have to learn Java to get this deployed. I'm an old RPG programmer, and all it requires is knowledge of your database. That was the big thing for me."
Case Study Summary
Who is Boise Cascade?
"Based in Boise, Idaho, Boise Cascade manufacturers a variety of wood products, including plywood, lumber, particleboard, paper, newsprint, and pulp. The company, which employs 10,000 people, also operates a fleet of trucks, vans, and trailers used to distribute its products and equipment around the country.
While BC's trucking division was successful, a competing trucking firm had surpassed it in one area: Web-based reporting. As a result, company management decided it needed a Web-based reporting system that was at least as good, if not better than its competitor's."
The Challenges
"The word came down from Boise Cascade's management in May like a ton of pulp: Develop a sophisticated Web-based reporting system that interfaces with multiple host systems, and do it in three weeks. For the folks on BC's application development team, that deadline seemed next to impossible to meet." And they were short a developer.
Solution
"After a week of training, an mrc developer arrived at BC's Boise headquarters to help Brewer and Skinner with developing the actual reporting applications. After a full week of development work, the first Web-based reporting applications had been hammered out, and m-Power was serving up Java servlet-powered HTML pages that gave BC's users the real-time access to the load data they needed."
Value
"The product reliably generates reports for about 60 users in under five seconds.
The future is bright for m-Power at BC. Now that he has some experience with it, Brewer foresees the tool becoming a valuable part of the division's initiative to modernize its legacy applications. First up? Some 5250 maintenance screens that may be better served as Web pages."
Full Case Study
mrc Case Study: Boise Cascade
This article was written by an outside reporter, interviewing Boise Cascade independently of mrc, and published by an outside news source. The above quotes are excerpts from the story.
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Boise Cascade Gets 'm-Powered' with mrc Reporting Tool»