4-page Case Study - Posted 1/16/2007

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Nine Network Australia

National TV station pioneers commercial management system to boost revenue, cut costs

As a national commercial free-to-air TV broadcaster, Nine Network Australia needed to maximise income from its advertising stream. Its existing technology was outdated, hard to use and unsupported by the original provider, so an upgrade was due. But the company wanted an integrated broadcast solution it could expand into all business areas, with potential beyond sales and traffic management. It used Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 to build a brand new system that made work processes, especially its advertising sales operations, more flexible and efficient. Following a two-year development, the new installation is meeting and exceeding all expectations and achieved ROI after one year – four years less than projected.

Situation

Founded in 1955, Channel 9 is Australia’s highest rating free-to-air television network, with 1500 employees and a total revenue of A$870 million in FY 2005/6. In 2001, in the face of new technologies

We wanted a single, end to end solution we could integrate everything into. Microsoft development platform for enterprise solutions gave us that, with a minimum of technical risk.  Vikas Patole IT Program Director Nine Network Australia

The DEC Alpha-based system Nine Network was using was outdated, hard to use, and by 2001, unsupported by the original provider. Designed in the 80s, it was a legacy installation that could not be properly maintained or modified to support the business needs evident some 20 years on.

Vikas Patole, IT Program Director at Nine Network says: “We had started the move towards Digital TV broadcasting, and there were also business issues we had to consider like convergence, centralisation, and multi-channel support. We knew our old VMS-based legacy system and hardware were no longer up to the job, so we started looking for a replacement.”

An upgrade was obviously due, so the company looked at various options. One of the key requirements was a comprehensive end-to-end solution that could be expanded into all business areas, rather than a highly-specific advertising sales solution that failed to fulfil Nine Network’s broad business requirements for the next decade.

“We looked at several off the shelf solutions, but concluded none of them really met our needs. What we wanted was a more sophisticated and agile solution than what they offered,” notes Patole.

Patole emphasises the company was also keen to develop a single platform system that allowed end-to-end business processing; one that would be capable of expansion to other business areas in the future, such as the broadcast programming area.

The implementation team set concrete objectives for the upgrade, including improvements in productivity, higher efficiency and reduced costs. They also required support for multiple advert scheduling and a more streamlined booking and inventory management process. All these would lead to more efficient processes resulting in improved customer service, faster report deliveries and reduced operational costs.

“We were looking for a solution that we knew would offer us technology suitable for ten years time, not for today,” says Patole. “We were cautious, because the media industry in Australia is busy revamping itself, so we had to take care to get the right answers.”

Solution

The 9Vision Program within Nine Network Australia was established in early 2001 for technology transformation and business process re-engineering. Patole and his 50-strong team spent the next two years developing the new system and refining the business process until it was ready to go live in September 2003.

“We realised that going with a single platform and a single vendor would reduce integration risks related with integrating diverse technologies,” adds Patole. “We wanted a single, end to end solution we could integrate everything into. Microsoft development platform for enterprise solutions gave us that, with a minimum of technical risk.”

Patole’s team decided on a business-based solution built around Microsoft® .NET Framework and Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000. Nine Network plans to upgrade the system to .NET Framework 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 by the end of 2006. The application is being enhanced to incorporate Program Acquisition, Program scheduling, Promotions and Presentation modules.  All customer details and on air programming data were stored in the one system, enabling much faster and more accurate lookup of availability, rates and any bonuses earned. The new system features also allowed users to make

It was exceptional. Working with Microsoft gave us real peace of mind.  Vikas Patole IT Program Director Nine Network Australia

An average of 50 developers and engineers worked on the development process for the first two years, and work on the Sales and Traffic modules was finished on schedule in September 2003—and on budget too. “This was a multi-million dollar development, but we came in on budget,” says Patole.

During the final testing phase, Nine Network used Compuware to apply the best possible quality assurance processes to the project. Since then, the installation has excelled in reliability with no downtime in three years—a critical factor for a time-sensitive industry such as TV broadcasting.

Once the development phase was finished, the team shrank to three, working on ongoing maintenance and enhancements. The results have been well received by end users who underwent on-site training to familiarise themselves with the new system.
“Users needed some specialist training as they were not used to using a mouse. We also wrote all the manuals, and instituted business and usability training,” says Patole.

Now staff can much more accurately project and approve all discounts, bonuses and rates for on-air advertising. This allows sales staff to be freed from back-end office work and to focus more on sales activities and to respond more rapidly  to proposals and bookings than with the previous system, and has also resulted in a happier workforce, says Patole.
“The users are now much more self-sufficient. All the important variables can be changed without asking for IT help, and they can get answers on screen. There is now no need for them to call the IT department to update the latest required information,” he adds.

Using Microsoft® .NET Framework and Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 with the Ebusiness Development Framework (EDF) from Technology One, the system generated reports using Crystal Decisions and Microsoft® SQL Server™ Reporting Services. The 9Vision development team also built data warehousing facilities. This integrated setup allows for very sophisticated Business Intelligence information to be fed back to the sales team, using SQL Server Analysis Services to help analyse available inventory and customer purchasing behaviour.

Designed-in EDI (electronic data exchange) now gives buying agencies all the scheduling and pricing information they need using direct data exchange, and the new Excel-style user interface incorporates full drag and drop capability for ease of use. This enables a more effective use of resources to help maximise advertising revenue. This notes Patole, is something that had been difficult using the previous system, and led to extra workload and time overheads for the sales staff.

Hardware was supplied by HP, with HP DL580 and DL530 servers used for SQL Server, App Server and DP server. The 200 distributed desktops are running on Microsoft® Windows® XP and Citrix Access Platform. The installation also employed a range of desktop applications including Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6, with Microsoft® Internet Information Services version 6.0 and Microsoft® Transaction Server providing the Web site and sales application access for sales staff at the distributed company sites.

Ongoing development will see the system extended into Finance and on-air Programming by 2007, with further potential expansion to other business areas catered for by the migration to .NET 2.0 and Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005. “SQL Server has proved very easy to maintain, and also enabled us to keep costs down,” adds Patole. “The report services are now impressively fast.”

Benefits

The new installation has brought major increases in efficiency to Nine Network’s sales department, leading to better control of business expenses, much less helpdesk involvement in day-to-day running of IT, and more accurate tracking of on-air inventory. Even better, the benefits of the single system have brought a dramatic reduction in the expected ROI from five years to one year.

Increased sales and advertising revenue

Since the new system has gone live, the sales department has seen a notable increase in both sales and profitability, says Patole. “We have increased sales revenue, controlled inventory and reduced operating costs with this single system,” he asserts. Previously, even if a customer changed or even cancelled a booking, the ongoing credits would remain the same—the system could not account for the changes. Now, sales staff can instantly see what the situation is, and maintain rates and give bonuses accordingly.

Reduced costs through better operational efficiency

By introducing a system that enabled complete user control over variable parameters such as rates, discounts, and customer ratings the operational efficiency has increased notably. Previously IT staff were required to make changes but now the sales staff themselves—or the Business Unit—can make their own changes without involving specialist staff. In addition, communication with customers is now much clearer and more accurate.

Improved reporting and Business Intelligence (BI)

With the implementation of Datawarehouse & BI functionality all business staff can now access much more useful business intelligence than previously, with minimal support from the IT department. For an organisation that generates a high volume of analytical reports, this was a major boost to efficiency. “This was almost an unexpected benefit,” says Patole. “We now have a much better ability to analyse data, and to respond more accurately on proposals and bookings as a result.”

Faster response by operators

Using the new system has also seen a reduction in response time for the sales team to only a couple of seconds. The single system, standard interface, window-based has seen much greater efficiency—and a seamless transition between proposed and booked advertising airtime. This is something not possible previously. “The other bonus is that the sales team themselves are much happier than with the old system,” adds Patole.

In the end analysis, the new installation exceeded performance expectations. “The fact that we used .NET framework meant we could re-use objects and modules. This helped us keep development costs down and maintain a consistent framework,” notes Patole. Not only has this meant the new system has been good for business, but there is also a strong likelihood that sales of the system will be made to overseas TV stations, further boosting profits for Nine Network.

“We are now seriously looking at the possibility of selling this system to other TV stations overseas. That is something we did not envisage during the initial stages,” says Patole. “We received excellent support from the Microsoft staff, who gave us great on the job assistance,” says Patole. “It was exceptional. Working with them gave us real peace of mind.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Technology One products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.technologyonecorp.com/

For more information about Nine Network Australia products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.channelnine.ninemsn.com.au

Microsoft Communications Sector

Microsoft Communications Sector delivers integrated, adaptable, comprehensive solutions built on innovative software. These solutions help communications service providers develop, deploy, and evolve customised and differentiated offerings that enhance the user experience.

For more information about Microsoft solutions for the Communications Sector, go to:
www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published October 2006