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Since 1994, Ascent has deployed a wide
range of technology and Voice Solutions for many of our
reputed clients in Financial/Insurance, Healthcare, Energy and
Manufacturing/Retail. Following is a brief listing of some of the
projects deployed by Ascent.
Ascent
helps pace university with Directory Assistance for six
campuses.
Access new markets and position yourself for future growth with an e-business.
Lower your costs and increase your competitiveness with an e-commerce customer service solution.
Make decisions better and faster with an Intranet solution with business partners.
Obtain greater employee productivity with an integrated data warehouse accounting solution.
Obtain more accurate and current financial data and better cash flow management with an integrated data warehouse accounting solution.
Increase control over finances by customizing a comprehensive financial package to business needs.
Increase sales with a web-based sales promotion solution.
Improve operational efficiency by consolidating data from multiple systems into one unified Oracle.
Optimize your network through performance analysis and network management services. database.
Integrate your accounting, inventory, order and customer services processes through a systems integration solution.
Ascent helps pace
university with Directory Assistance for six campuses:
Ascent Computing Group - Pace University
Case Study
August 23, 2002
Background:
Pace University is a
comprehensive PhD and Professional Degree granting private University
located in New York City (downtown and midtown), Westchester County (White
Plains, Pleasantville and Briarcliff Manor), and Orange County, NY. There
are over 13,000 students served by a staff and faculty numbering
approximately 2,500. One feature in Pace’s extensive “user friendly” phone
accessible information center is directory assistance, which is served
during the normal workday by a staff of telephone attendants. After hours,
a voice bulletin board system directs telephone callers to leave messages
at various designated voice mailboxes. In addition, a computer accessible,
web based, 24x7 on-line directory application called “White Pages” is also
available.
Business Challenge:
After hours access
to the telephone attendants for directory assistance was unavailable. In
addition, web access to the “White Pages” application was not always a
convenient method of obtaining directory information. Since the telephone
is more pervasive than the computer, how could Pace University offer its
student body and faculty 24/7 access to directory assistance via the
telephone without adding additional staff?
Solution:
Pace University called on the
services of Ascent Computing Group to discuss possible alternatives to
address this challenge. In business since 1994 and headquartered in White
Plains, New York, the Ascent Computing Group is a leading provider of
VoiceXML solutions. Ascent worked with Pace to research the problem and
developed a solution which required the installation of Ascent’s AscenTel
Call Manager Platform. This product includes the AscenTel VoiceXML
Interpreter running Philips Speech ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition),
Scansoft TTS (Text To Speech) and Intel’s Dialogic hardware components,
which access the Pace University SQL Server directory database. Now
students, faculty and even outside callers can obtain the same “user
friendly” directory information via any phone, anywhere, anytime, just by
speaking an individual’s name. As an added benefit, the Pace University
Computer Science and Information Systems School, which is researching the
new VoiceXML technology, now has a live application it can reference.
Contact:
Dave Hochman
DJH Marketing Communications
for Ascent Computing Group
718.415.3859
djh@davehochman.com
Francis J. Monaco
Chief Information Officer
Vice
President, I.T.
Pace University, New York
fmonaco@pace.edu.
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Access new markets and position yourself for future growth with an e-business
INDUSTRY: Healthcare
Business Requirement :
Client wanted to set up a channel to connect healthcare equipment manufacturers and
vendors with health care professionals. This channel needed to be
Internet-based, and leverage the brand equity enjoyed by the customer in the
speciality healthcare arena.
The Solution : An end-to-end e-business solution that provides an Internet channel for B2B and B2C
e-commerce.
Benefits :
The heath care institution greatly increased their marketplace reach and number of
customers, for the new B2B and B2B solution, as well as for all their
other offerings. In addition this solution provided a significant
additional revenue source.
Solution Highlights :
E-commerce business model
The business model and associated process definitions and revisions, provided the base
for creating this effective application. The application, including the
buying process, was developed with ease of use, speed and security as top
priorities.
Web-hosting infrastructure
All aspects of web-hosting were provided – from design to hardware and software selection
to implementation, tuning and deployment. The environment developed is
highly scalable and reliable.
Database definitions and architecture
A comprehensive and easy to update database, had to be designed and created in order to
support the dynamic inventory and sales requirements for the broad range
of health equipment and supplies that are part of this solution.
Web Site
A carefully branded and graphically attractive web site, with intuitive navigation,
was developed.
Technology
Windows 2000, IIS 5.0, MTS, Visual Basic, Visual
C++, ASP, Oracle 8I, Signio, PaymentPro, Verisign SSL
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Lower your costs and increase your competitiveness
with an e-commerce customer service solution.
INDUSTRY: Major brokerage firm
Business Requirement
Client wanted to increase customer satisfaction and improve employee productivity by
providing its customers with value added self-service financial tools.
The Solution: Easy to use, and powerful
financial planning assistance tools, which are available to clients and
customers through the Internet. These tools help customers plan their
investments for savings, retirement and education, through access to
critical investment device and the capability to run an unlimited number
of what-if scenarios.
Benefits : The brokerage house
lowered their cost of doing business by increasing the productivity of the financial
planners. These employees now spend less time doing repetitive
unremunerated work with the client. Questions and analysis that previously
required phone calls, and often did not result in any sales, are resolved
by the customers on their own, thorough this effective self service
financial application. Customers like having the capability to calculate,
analyze and perform financial planning, while they still have the option
call their financial planner whenever they want.
Solution
Highlights
Financial calculator analysis tool
Value-added interactive financial investment tool, available to
customers via the Internet
Technology
VB,VC++,
Java Script,COM/DCOM, ASP, IIs, DHTML.
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Make decisions better and faster with an
Intranet solution with business partners.
Industry : Major automobile manufacturer
Business Requirement
Find a more efficient way for retailer network and home office to communicate, including obtaining instant inventory information.
The Solution : Secure high availability Intranet that provides retailer with up-to-date access to home office/dealer parts inventory and other enterprise applications.
Benefits : Retailers are able to service their customers better and make better sales decisions through up-to-date access to the latest inventory information and instant communications with the home office.
Solution Highlights
Intranet design -
Designed client and middleware for the Intranet including firewall
security.
Developed front end GUI to be used by retail office and home office staff.
Technology
Java, EJB, XML
Enterprise Application Access- Made all 3270 based applications accessible to retailers from their PCs, using the secure Intranet. Technology
Java, EJB, XML, IBM Mainframes, CICS , DB2.
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Obtain greater employee productivity with an integrated data warehouse accounting solution.
Industry : Major consulting firm
Business Requirement
The human resources department needed a more efficient way to collect and maintain up-to-date information about the productivity of its management and technical teams across the globe. An easy-to-use interface was a critical requirement. Flexible viewing and reporting options were also essential in order to support decision-making on critical resource
requirements.
The Solution : Human resources personnel information data warehouse.
Benefits : Productivity of the human resources department was increased since virtually no time was needed to collect vital personnel productivity information. In addition human resources could make better hiring and promotion decisions. These decisions helped them maximize employee productivity, improve their overall quality and performance and cut costs.
Solution Highlights
Data Collection: Since the data extraction window from the source was limited to couple of hours, an effective data staging strategy was built which ensured the data reached the Oracle database within the required time-frame.
Technology
Using the STAR SCHEMA Design Technique, data is loaded from the source to flat files and then transformed and loaded to the target Oracle tables. SAGENT was used for data staging.
Data Interface
Designed an interactive and customizable web front end to be used by human resources to view the global team’s productivity data.
Technology
Java Foundation Classes (Swing)
Server Support : The data warehouse is maintained on Oracle server.
Technology
Sagent and Oracle server 7.3, PL SQL, SQL * Plus
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Obtain more accurate and current financial data and better
cash flow management with an integrated data warehouse accounting solution
Industry : Major consulting firm
Business Requirement
Complete and accurate system for managing cash flow, both revenue and expenditures in general ledger accounts.
The Solution : Centralized financial data warehouse application for cash flow management and historical data analysis.
Benefits : Instant availability of accurate data and reports results in better cash management and better financial decision making.
Solution Highlights
Database : A complex Oracle database maintains all the data and relationships required for an accurate and complete general ledger.
Technology
Data Marts
The data marts were designed using the STAR SCHEMA Design methodology and developed using
SAGENT. This information warehouse also involved data staging. This enterprise information warehouse consists of 115 tables. SAGENT was used for extracting and transforming the source data and loading the cleansed and transformed data to the Target Oracle Tables.
Data Reporting
Many different types of queries, including what-if scenarios, are available through an easy to use interface. The flexible design makes it easy for end users or technicians to rapidly add new reports or queries.
Used Oracle 7.3, SQL * Plus and Sagent with Oracle Reports.
The METADATA in this warehouse was used for impact analysis resulting due to change in the logic design or upgrade of the source / target database tables.
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Increase control over finances by customizing a comprehensive financial package to business needs.
Industry: Government
Business Requirement
Better day-to-day control of all aspects of finances, and more tools for improved long term financial planning.
The Solution : Development, customization, enhancement and maintenance of Oracle financial applications.
Benefits : Better financial management and decision making and greater employee productivity though ready availability of clear and comprehensive financial information.
Solution Highlights
Financial modules: Through needs analysis and an understanding of the existing system - accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, order entry, purchasing and fixed assets modules were customized to meet the client’s exact needs.
Technology
Oracle Financials
Forms and Reports:
New forms and reports were developed, and existing forms and reports were customized. The capability to easily generate new report types as needed, was also
provided.
Technology
Oracle applications release 10 SC. Customized forms and reports required registration of concurrent programs, creation of value sets and profiles using the application object library, setting up the printer style and report groups using system administrator, developing loader scripts using SQL*Loader, and validating of data using PL/SQL.
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Increase sales with a web-based sales promotion solution
Customer/Industry : Advertising company specializing in providing sales promotions for the retail industry.
Business Requirement
Client needed to find a way to make it easier, more efficient and profitable for retailers to run coupon-based sales promotions. The goal was also to reach more retail customers with each promotion.
The Solution : Internet based sales promotions and coupon distribution system.
Benefits : Advertiser increased their sales of coupon-based promotions. Retail clients are able to distribute and manage coupon-based sales promotions more efficiently and with less cost. Additional retail customers reached via the Internet, supplementing the existing method of coupon clipping from printed flyers.
Solution Highlights
Sales promotion setup
This application gives each retailer the flexibility to easily develop and run their own sales promotion system via the Internet. Through an easy to use and powerful graphical user interface retailers can control designing, grouping, timing, and distribution of their coupons on the
web.
Technology
Value Composer - Contains the Coupon Information (CIF) builder, HTML Builder based on the predefined templates and JPEG composer for creation of thumbnails. Used Java beans provided by HTML Builder and also created components to suit custom development needs.
Barcode Generation - Developed Java classes using the Barcode specifications to generate Barcode of types EAN-128 ( coupon extended formats 3 and 4), EAN-13, UPC.
Coupon Distribution - Through a Coupon Browser System, retail customers can view, download and print redeemable coupons. The customized printing facility is provided using a JNI (Java Native Interface) which allows smooth printing without user intervention. Coupon is scaled based on three factors: the resolution at which it is written, printer resolution, and width and height of the image. Implemented the solution using C/Windows SDK and provided a wrapper class in
Java.
Sales Promotion Management -
Through use of a database, all promotions and coupons are stored and available for future reference and reuse.
Technology
i Value Client Loader : Uploads the promotions onto an FTP server and stores the information in the related database for future reference by i.Value. Java server-side scripting (Servlets) are used to upload the files using HTTP POST. Tested by configuring the servlet on Java WebServer1.0.3. Implemented FTP-protocol’s (login, logoff, PUT) operations using Java to upload of files onto an FTP server.
Application integration
Tested the application flow from beginning to end, including all aspects of the user interface and associated business processes.
Technology
Created installations for i.Value, Composer and ClientLoader using InstallShield 5.1. Created custom DLLs and used InstallShield script to handle customized dialogs.
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Improve operational efficiency by consolidating data from multiple systems into one unified Oracle database.
Industry : Major drug company
Business Requirement
Company needed a way to manage financial data from all their global affiliates, including an efficient collection process that ensures all data will always be up-to-date. Financial data includes profit and loss, balance sheet, inter-company headcount, and inventory information.
The Solution : Intranet and client/server database application that
integrates/incorporates/ centralizes the collection and processing of all worldwide/global financial data.
Benefits : Financial management always has access to one up-to-date source for all their financial data. Operations are more efficient and management and employee productivity is enhanced.
Solution Highlights
Network architecture : Created an Intranet that has the links to collect data from multiple sources and locations and transmit it to a centralized Oracle database.
Web front end
Designed a web front end used by home office and global affiliates for entering and accessing the financial data.
Technology :
Oracle Web Server configured to use with Oracle Database, PL/SQL programming, SWL tuning.
Database module : Upgraded and integrated 9 different database instances, including two on Sun Sparc and seven on Windows NT. Created several data interface modules that provide for integrating data from general ledgers on SAP and BPCS systems
Hyperion and Cognos, Sun Sparc and Windows NT platforms. ER-Win for data modeling.
Reporting Modules : Critical reports, such as working capital and cash flow reports, can be generated on demand.
Systems Management : Tuned the database to ensure fast performance, and provided backup and recovery modules and procedures.
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Optimize your network through performance analysis and network management services.
Customer : Financial company
Business Requirement
Company needed a proactive process that ensures that its growth will continue to be supported by a robust high-speed available network. Also, the capacity and function of an existing network needed to be expanded - to double the number of users, increase the speed and availability of their in-house network as well as improve access to the Internet, while maintaining complete security for their in-house systems and data.
The Solution : Services and tools for ongoing performance analysis and capacity planning
Benefits : Orderly network growth and change removing unwelcome surprises that negatively impact customer service or employee productivity. Need for additional capacity and function can be anticipated and planned for.
Solution Highlights
Performance Analysis : Tasks included Perl scripts to generate and publish monthly reports for performance, utilization, and trend analysis.
Technology
NetSys Enterprise/Solver for base-lining of traffic characterization and analysis, performance analysis (resource efficiency and performance metrics).
Capacity Planning : Implement “what-if” analysis, capacity planning and implementation of configuration changes. Tasks included upgrade and implement capacity planning strategies and policies for global networks.
Technology
SNMP and RMON based tools NetScout, NetHealth, and Spectrum.
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Integrate your accounting, inventory, order and customer services processes through a systems integration solution.
Industry : Major farm/food producing/dairy company
Business Requirement
An efficient order processing system was needed for over 200 different dairy products. All business processes touched by ordering needed to be integrated with the central ordering system, including links to inventory, accounting, billing and customer service.
The Solution : Systems integration of order processing, accounting, inventory, and customer services, using an Oracle/SQL-based design/system.
Benefits : Better customer service and more satisfied customers are the result of an ordering system that provides a faster and more accurate response to all orders. Also processing costs are lower because of the integration of accounting and inventory functions with order processing.
Solution Highlights
Database :
An integrated database includes all order and related accounting and inventory
data.
Technology
Database design was done using Designer 2000 ???and (Oracle 8.x, PL/SQL, Designer 2000, Developer 2000, Forms 5, Reports 3.0, NT???)
Query/Reporting : A wide variety of reports or queries can be generated for purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, order tracking, order status, inventory status and profit earned.
Technology
These reports are created using stored procedures and triggers using PL/SQL to incorporate business logic. (?Oracle 8.x, PL/SQL, Designer 2000, Developer 2000, Forms 5, Reports 3.0, NT). Made extensive use of stored procedures and triggers using PL/SQL to incorporate business logic.
Windows NT 4.0, Oracle 8.0, Designer 2000, Forms 5.0, Reports 3.0, ER-Win
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