4-page Case Study - Posted 3/14/2008

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Manutencoop

Environmental Services Firm Consolidates Infrastructure, Improves IT Management

Facility and environmental services provider Manutencoop Group was losing productivity due to a fragmented and inconsistent technical infrastructure. Besides improving its IT systems and streamlining applications, the organization wanted to simplify software distribution, updating, and licensing while keeping costs down. Manutencoop chose a Microsoft® Enterprise Agreement for its licensing solution and Software Assurance for future updates and other benefits. The group put Windows Server® 2003 at the core of its solution, consolidated its servers from 39 to 14, and improved systems and IT management by 80 percent. Manutencoop has optimized the management of business software packages and, without incurring additional costs, can update to the latest versions, all while taking advantage of dedicated training services and free resources for IT professionals.

Situation

Manutencoop is an Italian leader in the integrated facility management industry and environmental services (specifically, waste management). The Manutencoop Group is active in management and maintenance services such as cleaning, technical services, and landscape maintenance; administrative management of real estate; and cleaning and sterilizing linen and surgical instruments for healthcare facilities. In the waste management sector, the group provides services for collecting and transporting urban and hazardous waste. Manutencoop Group operates throughout Italy and services major private groups, public organizations, and healthcare facilities.

In recent years, Manutencoop has expended a great deal of energy in organization and training, to improve the quality of its services. In 2005, its management realized it needed to reengineer its information system to ensure strategic effectiveness 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We’ve obtained excellent results, recording an 80 percent overall improvement in the management of systems and infrastructure. Lucia Bernardini Infrastructure and Network Coordinator, Manutencoop Group

“Over time, management had become very complex, due also to the fact that it was difficult to supervise and control such a fragmented architecture,” explains Lucia Bernardini, Infrastructure and Network Coordinator, Manutencoop Group. The coexistence of miscellaneous systems generated practical and operational issues, which negatively affected efficiency.

Manutencoop needed to reorganize its IT infrastructure. “The management costs of this sort of infrastructure had become considerable,” continues Bernardini. “There was a need to standardize structures and centralize systems.” The goals were to simplify management, increase security and integration, render processes more efficient, and reduce management costs. Organization-wide planning foresaw a reduction in the number of servers and the optimization of existing software applications.

Manutencoop also wanted greater flexibility in the ongoing management of existing systems. Specifically, IT coordinators sought a simpler licensing solution that would address consolidation and standardization. They also wanted to be able to easily update software as technology evolved without having to update contracts or do more administrative work to manage licenses.

Solution

“Considering that our domains based on Microsoft Windows NT were working well, the most natural evolution was to extend the use of Microsoft technology by choosing the path of consolidation for all varieties of applications,” says Bernardini. Manutencoop teamed up with Progel, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and together they formulated a new infrastructure model and a selected a set of new technologies. The Windows Server® 2003 operating system was the focal point for the new platform, taking advantage of its Active Directory® service for managing identities. “Once we had chosen and implemented Active Directory, a natural consequence was to go with Microsoft Exchange Server for managing e-mail traffic,” says Bernardini.

Next, Manutencoop implemented Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 for its systems and configuration management activities. In addition to taking care of the hardware and software inventory, SMS helps the group with software deployment and the installation of updates (Microsoft and otherwise) at both a client and server level. “Since we didn’t rely on a dedicated IT process, and couldn’t really control operations remotely, we were wasting resources in servicing and on-site maintenance. In this respect, the decision to go with SMS 2003 proved very important, since it helped us to manage the radical change we were performing,” says Bernardini.

For the purchase of client and server licenses, Manutencoop chose the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, a simple, flexible, and affordable way to buy the latest Microsoft software products, and took advantage of the benefits included in Software Assurance. “Thanks to Software Assurance, we were able to migrate to Windows Server 2003 R2 as soon as it was released, without additional costs for the purchase of licenses,” says Bernardini, “and this enabled us to further improve our goal of consolidation, reducing our initial infrastructure’s 39 servers to the current 14, taking advantage of the centralized backup services within the new version.”

SMS and Software Assurance helped smooth the group’s migration to Microsoft Office 2003. Under the Home Use benefit within Software Assurance, Manutencoop provided the group’s holding company, Manutencoop Societá Cooperativa, with Microsoft Office on their laptops so they could become familiar with Microsoft technology. The Home Use Program provides company personnel with a copy of an application for their personal use.

Benefits

The refreshed IT infrastructure at Manutencoop Group, backed by Software Assurance and an Enterprise Agreement, has made management of systems easier and productivity has improved. The IT team enjoys easier software updates and employees are taking advantage of new, in-depth training opportunities.

Streamlined IT Management and Easier Licensing

“We’ve obtained excellent results,” comments Bernardini, “recording an 80 percent overall improvement in the management of systems and infrastructure. What’s more, the adoption of technologies such as Windows Server 2003 R2 and SMS 2003 has allowed us to centralize a series of services, thereby significantly cutting down costs and management expenses.” In turn, the group has been able to reorganize its IT personnel, who now exclusively take care of the company’s business support activities, resulting in greater job satisfaction.

Considering that our domains based on Microsoft Windows NT were working well, the most natural evolution was to extend the use of Microsoft technology. Lucia Bernardini, Infrastructure and Network Coordinator, Manutencoop Group

In the short term, the company intends to implement an operation management system for its servers, so as to further simplify management processes. With the updating of licenses included in Software Assurance, Manutencoop will be able to choose whether to migrate directly to the new Microsoft System Center Operation Manager from Systems Management Server.

Increased Productivity and Flexibility

The new distributed file server technologies integrated in Windows Server 2003 R2 have also enhanced business continuity. When local file servers fail, the group’s remote sites are automatically rerouted to the central server, without users noticing any change or disruption. “After the migration, we immediately noticed a high degree of stability in our infrastructure,” says Bernardini. “Previously, faults were a common occurrence for print and file sharing, not to mention e-mail, creating operational stoppages that we’ve now totally forgotten about.”

“All our users have been able to appreciate the value of the new systems, even learning new strategies and time- and information-management processes,” says Bernardini. For example, partners and management teams are learning to use Microsoft Office programs. “We had decided to provide our people at the Cooperativa, roughly 700 partners, with portable PCs. Thanks to the Home Use Program, we were able to install an Office license on each device, benefiting from the program’s very substantial software purchasing discounts,” clarifies Bernardini.

The group appreciates the flexibility of mobile communications now. “Mobility was another benefit, derived from the migration of e-mail from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange Server. Through Microsoft ActiveSync®, we included palm-top and smart-phone devices in the e-mail service,” continues Bernardini.

Provided Free Training and Planning Support

Among the advantages of Software Assurance are classroom training provided by the partner. Progel provided twice as many vouchers for training as originally expected, all free of charge, and also implemented an e-learning platform for company staff. The Manutencoop Group was able to create a training program for its IT personnel, capitalize its resources for new employees, and set up a support tool for future training.

“We wanted to seize the opportunity to make the most of the new Microsoft platform’s potential features, beyond its simpler functions, so as to pair up technical knowledge with behavioral procedures that would become a company standard,” says Bernardini. The group developed advanced time-management modules for sharing calendars, activities, and organizing mail in order to make the most of innovative features in the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client.

Using Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server, Progel created an environment in which users could communicate with their teacher via a virtual classroom. Taking advantage of the online training content made available by Microsoft through Software Assurance, Progel set up a series of content, comprising in-depth training on application tools and company identity, which Manutencoop can offer to newly hired employees.

As another benefit from Software Assurance, Manutencoop obtained TechNet Plus free of charge, a subscription offering the company’s IT professionals all the resources necessary for planning and managing deployments, resolving technical problems, and receiving support for Microsoft solutions.

 “Of course, we haven’t stopped, and we’re proceeding with what has now become a constant level of technological progress within the company. We’re working in the direction of optimizing the client, and for the future, we also intend to improve our server management,” concludes Bernardini.

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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 Progel products and services, call +39 051 6639411 or visit the Web site at:
www.progel.it

For more information about Manutencoop products and services, call +39 0513515296 or visit the Web site at:
www.manutencoop.it