Champion Air

Charter Operator Saves Tens of Thousands Via Microsoft Software

 

 

 

Champion Air

Champion Air, based in Bloomington, Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul), is a full-service charter operator. Originally formed as MGM Grand Air in 1987, it is now the largest dedicated provider of charter flights in the airline industry. Champion Air operates a fleet of 16 Boeing 727-200 aircraft serving a varied customer base that includes major tour wholesalers, professional and college sports teams, corporate incentive groups and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Business Need

Champion Air was utilizing 10 different applications to manage e-mail, file servers and desktops, including Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (utilizing local accounts) and Microsoft Windows XP. When the time came to update its Novell suite of applications, including the GroupWise personal information manager, the company found that the mixed Microsoft-Novell environment created problems for end users. The Novell system was not readily equipped to integrate with Microsoft without a daunting financial investment. A lack of synchronization proved cumbersome, resulting in a need for duplicate user accounts and password difficulties. Maintaining two non-integrated systems led to an increased number of desktop and network performance calls to the help desk. Additionally, Champion Air found its existing solutions utilized a third-party product for PDA synchronization. It required an annual operating cost, considerable man hours to maintain and it consumed a great deal of disk space and memory on the company’s server.

Solution

Champion Air determined that the best way to meet these challenges was to migrate from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to handle e-mail, calendars, contacts and task lists, including remote access through Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The company called on Solbrekk, Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in Golden Valley, Minnesota, that had previous experience with migrating companies from GroupWise to Exchange, using Quest migration tools.

We would have spent at least $15,000 to $40,000 more had we used another solution provider. Rich Rhodes Director of IT Champion AIr

Champion consulted with Solbrekk’s vice president of sales and its operations director to evaluate the organization’s specific needs so that Solbrekk could recommend and design the best solution on a timeline that would keep Champion Air up-and-running while the migration progressed.

From beginning to end, the implementation took just seven days. Champion Air’s internal IT staff prepared the corporate desktop machines and its Citrix environment in advance of the changeover. The in-house IT team removed Novell software from the desktops and servers to prepare them for the migration, trained users, set up servers, installed Exchange Server and initiated the configuration. The lead developer for Champion Air also made certain the company’s custom applications were set for the transfer. The finalization of the Exchange configuration included a plan to allow for PDAs to be synchronized through the Exchange server for employees in the field. Solbrekk engineers then installed the migration tools over a two-day period.

Benefits

Champion Air reported that it realized savings of at least $30,000 in software costs by choosing Microsoft instead of remaining with Novell. Additionally, the changeover came in $2,250 under budget because labor costs were reduced as a result of the project completing two days earlier than forecasted.

Champion Air’s all-Microsoft environment has given the entire organization a lift, with desktops and networks now performing much closer to their full capabilities. The company streamlined its ability to synch to PDA devices while reducing operating costs and resources needed to complete this vital business task. Help desk calls have plummeted as a result of streamlining the IT environment with Microsoft technology. As users begin to fully employ the ability of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to integrate with applications, even greater efficiencies are expected to emerge.

Of particular importance for Champion Air, the migration to Microsoft was seamless and relatively easy. “Having no downtime is a big deal for an airline,” observed Champion Air Director of IT Rich Rhodes, “and that was what was provided—a complete migration with no downtime for a single user.”