2 page Case Study - Posted 9/29/2009
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Microsoft Increases Release Compliance to 98 Percent with xRM Custom Solution
The Product Release and Security Services (PRSS) team at Microsoft wanted to centralize product release data, track customer relationships, and eliminate manual processes. The team implemented Microsoft Dynamics® CRM and the xRM development platform to build custom solutions. As a result, PRSS improved customer communications, increased release compliance to 98 percent, accelerated product time-to-market, and improved its ability to respond to business needs.
Business Needs
At Microsoft Corporation, the Product Release and Security Services (PRSS) team helps enable product teams across the company to deliver software with built-in security and integrity. The PRSS team offers two services to the product teams: prerelease and release services. The nine-person team tracks down new technologies and products to be released by Microsoft, identifies key stakeholders in the product groups, and supports those product groups with launch schedules and release road maps.
Because of the company’s size, and because it releases a long list of products each year—including point releases and beta versions—tracking down everyone responsible for developing code to ensure its integrity can be challenging. The PRSS team used manual methods to manage data, often tracking information in Microsoft® Office Excel® spreadsheets.
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Since implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we’ve been able to validate that we’re achieving 98 percent compliance—a metric that earned us the 2008 Trustworthy Computing Award. |
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Tony Balogh
PRSS Customer Partner Manager, Microsoft Corporation |
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Though each customer partner manager had been able to manage the releases for the product groups they were responsible for, the manual process could not track communications or capture other key relationship data. In addition, the manual system did not provide business intelligence that would enable the PRSS team to improve its services.
The PRSS team wanted a centralized solution that would help standardize the way it captures information and shares critical data with team members. It also wanted to better follow, enforce, and track the standard process for release management to ensure that every release meets criteria set by the legal, compliance, and manufacturing departments. And, in an effort to constantly improve its services, the PRSS team needed a solution that would make it possible to measure the integrity of releases with accurate business intelligence.
Solution
The Microsoft PRSS team decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics® CRM to help achieve its business goals. Identifying key contacts and maintaining traditional relationship management was part of the solution, but, in addition, the team also wanted to track consumption of its services and audit its touch points through the product release cycle.
The team liked the fact that Microsoft Dynamics CRM was built on the xRM application development platform—a Microsoft application platform layer that accelerates the development of relational, line-of-business applications through point-and-click customizations. “Despite our unique business requirements, we knew that we could easily create custom applications to meet our exact needs,” says Tony Balogh, PRSS Customer Partner Manager at Microsoft Corporation.
Multiple Applications with a Single Platform
The team built two xRM-based applications: one for tracking product team relationships and one for customizing product launch data to mine business intelligence. The team’s customization efforts consisted of creating custom entities and schemas. Data is captured and stored in a central database running Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 data management software. Once the initial solution was up and running, the PRSS team could continue to customize the solution quickly. For instance, the team can add custom fields and forms in a matter of minutes.
The solution provides a standardized tool that all customer partner managers can use. As of June 2009, the solution had 25 users, including executive-level managers. The solution is being rolled out to more than 100 users who will benefit from visibility into release information.
The PRSS team is continuing its customization efforts and is currently creating an on-boarding solution for internal customers who are new to its services. By using automated workflows, the PRSS team can send a welcome kit that includes service documentation and key contacts.
Benefits
The ease of using xRM enabled the Microsoft PRSS team to quickly implement and customize its solution, which is now helping to increase the company’s product-release compliance rate, improving time-to-market, and helping Microsoft respond to changing business needs with agility.
Fast Development Time
By using xRM, the team was able to quickly develop a solution that met its security requirements without a full team of IT personnel and developers. “The solution has an existing security model with a secure socket layer between the application and database layers, helping to safeguard confidential data without requiring additional customization,” explains Balogh.
Increased Compliance Rate
The PRSS team has a goal to ensure that 98 percent of product releases are managed through its services. Prior to implementing the solution, the team had 80 percent compliance. However, with its custom solution, the team can track demographics, improve communication with customers, and identify stakeholders in product groups—helping the team close the compliance gap. “Since implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we’ve been able to validate that we’re achieving 98 percent compliance—a metric that earned us the 2008 Trustworthy Computing Award,” says Balogh.
Accelerated Time-to-Market for Product Releases
With centralized product release information, data visibility, and improved communications, the PRSS team improved product release efficiency. As a result, it has helped improve time-to-market for product releases across the company by up to 94 percent.
Improved Ability to Respond to Changing Business Needs
The Microsoft PRSS team continues to customize its xRM-based solutions with easy-to-use tools. “We make simple changes every day—from adding a field to a form to customizing reports—and these take almost no time,” explains Balogh. Beyond that, the team can continue to evaluate its own services and make modifications to the solution to support new business needs with point-and-click customizations.
