Schneider National www.schneider.com
Dispatch Execution Planning & Optimization Tool
Project Lead: Chris Plate, Research Analyst
Project Description: To reduce the complexity of dray dispatching, Schneider National developed the Dispatch Execution Planning & Optimization Tool. The Java-based application provides the trucking company's dispatchers with extensive information regarding loads, drivers, and available empty boxes, and it recommends cost-effective, operationally feasible dispatch assignments. More intuitive to use than its predecessor, DEPOT has already saved the company more than $800,000.
Industry: Transportation

The Schumacher Group www.tsged.com
Sales Force Automation
Project Lead: Douglas Menefee, Chief Information Officer
Project Description: Seeking to streamline sales force and recruiting operations, the emergency medicine management company rolled out a customized Salesforce initiative, integrating an array of applications, including a resource scheduling app and imaging solution for storing physician data. Tapping third-party AppExchange tools, the Schumacher Group was able to scrub thousands of records that were duplicates or misaligned due to poor data entry and to establish workflow and validation rules to ensure data accuracy into the future.
Industry: Health Care

Seagate www.seagate.com
Business Process Optimization Using Six Sigma
Project Leads: Earl Evens, Director of Business Excellence for Quality; Peter Gibson, Senior Staff Master Black Belt for Quality
Project Description: Seagate launched its Quality Process Mapping/Modeling Initiative to map projects and processes across suborganizations to objectively prioritize their value relative to quality as a whole. To identify new opportunities for performance improvement, the team implemented a Six Sigma and Lean enterprise modeling platform, centering on Metastorm ProVision. The project automated processes, removed redundancies, and eliminated archaic procedures, reducing product reliability reporting turnaround tenfold and cutting down defect rates on disk drive failure analysis submissions by 66 percent.
Industry: Technology

Shopzilla www.shopzilla.com
Datacenter Consolidation
Project Lead: Burzin Engineer, Vice President of Technology
Project Description: To enhance the shopping experience of more than 20 million unique visitors per month and ensure system availability throughout peak holiday shopping times, Shopzilla revamped its infrastructure to alleviate cache overloads. Implementing a solid-state disk SAN from Texas Memory Systems and 22 OnStor Bobcat NAS gateways to front two datacenters, the company consolidated its back-end architecture into a unified system capable of quick horizontal scaling.
Industry: Retail

Sinclair Community College www.sinclair.edu
Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence: Analytics/Reporting
Project Lead: Karl Konsdorf, Manager of Database Analytics and Reporting
Project Description: Seeking to leverage student data to help improve programming, budgeting, and enrollment, Sinclair Community College constructed an integrated information architecture centered around SAS software. Data regarding its students and the college's business activities is pooled and analyzed by the system, delivering reports to improve administrators' decision-making abilities. The initiative supports more than 75 departments, mining 10 years' worth of student data, and has proved instrumental in turning around enrollment and improving student success rates.
Industry: Education

Smart & Final www.smartandfinal.com
BAM for Real-Time Retail Operational Visibility
Project Lead: Anna Papp, Portal, Integration and Reporting Project Manager
Project Description: To decrease supply-chain downtime and provide real-time operational visibility, the retailer launched an Enterprise Monitoring, Visualization, and Management initiative. Leveraging SL Corporation's Enterprise RTView, the solution monitors 17 databases (both Oracle and SQL Server), four applications, 18 production and 11 test servers, and more than 50 active process areas.
Industry: Retail