1-page Solution Brief - Posted 3/17/2008

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SMART

Solutions Provider Increases Productivity by 20 Per Cent with New Development Tools

To enhance productivity and product quality, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner SMART wanted to upgrade the technologies on which its workforce management solutions were based. By redeveloping its eHuman Logistics solutions on the Visual Studio 2008 development system and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, the business is taking advantage of new development tools and enhancements to increase productivity by up to 20 per cent, accelerate time to market, and significantly reduce system bugs.

Business Needs

Workforce management solutions provider and Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner SMART offers a range of workforce management solutions known as eHuman Logistics (eHL). These Web applications are deployed across the commercial and health sectors, including the NHS, to reduce absenteeism and payroll queries, retain staff, and cut costs. Existing eHL solutions are built on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers, but SMART is now looking to upgrade this technology to:

• Enhance productivity and development, accelerating time to market
• Increase solution supportability for on-premise and hosted deployments
• Improve product quality and reduce bugs

Solution

SMART is now redeveloping its eHL solutions on the .NET Framework 3.5 and Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition. Developers are using built-in support for Microsoft IntelliSense® within Visual Studio 2008 to streamline testing, debugging, and quality assurance. And, by using Language Integrated Query (LINQ)—a key feature of .NET Framework 3.5—developers can easily write code for different data sources. The latest release eHL solutions, due for launch in July 2008, will use:

• Windows Server 2008 operating system with Internet Information Services 7.0 in the hosting centre.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database software with Reporting Services and Analysis Services enhancements, and new security and monitoring features.
• Gadgets for Windows® Sidebar, which will offer employees new functionality, such as a tool to check holiday entitlement, on their desktops.

Benefits

• Enhanced development tools set to achieve a 20 per cent productivity improvement.
• Developers write less code, leading to 5 per cent fewer bugs.
• Code Metrics in Visual Studio 2008 help developers to focus tests.
• Cycle for new releases to be cut from two years to 18 months or less, ensuring customers receive latest products sooner.
• Customers see significant improvements in quality of service.
• With Multitargeting in Visual Studio 2008, developers can support the earlier versions of eHL while working on the latest release.
• Customers benefit from optimum security and system availability.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published March 2008