NNR Global Logistics

Responsible for project managing his company’s migration to Sequoia, Chris Lifford, IT Manager for NNR Global Logistics in the UK, discusses the process and relates his experience with ASM.

"Such transitions need the effort put in up-front. Effective preparation for systems and users before go-live is fundamental, that means setting the right specifications for hardware and software, and delivering the right levels of user training.”

“For the Sequoia migration, I initially worked with ASM to examine the data on our existing GeMS system. We copied that data, analysed it, removing redundant or duplicate data, also using the opportunity to clean our customer database and ensure we loaded accurate data to Sequoia. ASM provided the data in a spreadsheet format, which I then filtered and sent to the relevant departments to refine. The clean data was then uploaded it in advance of us going live.”

“Prior to the Sequoia migration, I upgraded our servers, moving old physical servers to virtual servers. I already had one virtual host running four or five machines, one of which became the test server for Sequoia. Now, Sequoia is simply one of those virtual machines. Once ASM were ready to set up our live Sequoia system, the hardware and software necessary for our business operations was in already place.”

“Operational training is essential. I was determined not to have people ‘wandering’ into the system, they needed a good level of knowledge from the start. ASM provided both live and remote training, which included desktop-sharing and conference calls. Our people in London visited ASM’s offices for their training sessions, while people in Manchester and Glasgow used remote desktop training with an online ASM trainer. I experienced both live and remote training to gain an operations perspective, improve my understanding and hear typical questions. From the results, it’s clear that ASM’s training was well structured and gave users what they needed.”

“As part of the transition to Sequoia, ASM installed a fully functioning training system on the test development server, to allow users to perform entries and follow the process through. That also helped us check our data, and once we were confident, lift the data from the training system into the live system.”

“Sequoia is considerably better than GeMS, all the comments I’ve received have been entirely positive, our people find the interface much more user friendly, more efficient and faster. The screens are laid out clearly and logically, as a consequence it’s much easier to fill out information and create a more productive workflow.”

“We phased the transition one branch at a time, starting with Glasgow, our smallest branch with fewer users and lower transaction levels. That made it easier to iron out any wrinkles with less potential impact on the operation. Then we moved to Manchester and London, learning as we went with each transition. Consistently, our people were impressed with a smooth and untroubled process.”

“In summary, across the board, ASM exceeded our expectations. I’ve worked with ASM for many years now, in previous companies on similar projects, and have an excellent working relationship with their team. If you have a good relationship and strong mutual understanding you speed up the process, make it easier to diagnose problems and remove any issues.”