NNG Genero Presentation

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Case Study 2 A Genero Migration Northcliffe
Newspaper Group Graham McLaughlin Salvador Dali
Museum London 30th November 2005
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Northcliffe Newspapers Group (NNG)

• A subsidiary of the Daily Mail Group
• Dedicated to delivering local news to local
  communities
• Core business is production and printing of
  newspaper titles
• Currently have 47 paid-for publications and 62
  free national titles
• Other key business functions include
• Electronic Publishing
• Retail News Division
• Contract Printing
• Leaflet Distribution Division
• Classified Advertising

http//www.thisisnorthcliffe.co.uk/home/
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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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About NNG IT

• NNG IT departmentalised into various functions
• Mercury IT based in Leicester, currently
  employing 30 staff
• Focussed on providing IT services for publishing
  and financial functions
• Core systems providing publishing and financial
  services
• Core systems have been continually developed over
  the last 13 years with
• Informix 4GL, Informix Dynamic Server v9.3,
  Unixware 7.1.3 platform
• 850 users spread across 22 sites
• Other projects have included developments under
  Windows using Visual Basic and SQL Server

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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The NewsCore Project

• The Northcliffe Retail NewsCore Project
  (September 2003)
• To deliver a replacement news management system
  for retail newsagents
• Must be completely autonomous to the local shop
• Must have the ability to collate sales and
  financial data centrally
• Finding a tool to complete the NewCore Project
• We considered Visual Basic and Visual C as
  development tools
• A Proof of Concept
• FourJs undertook a Genero conversion of a
  subset of the core system

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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The NewsCore Project

• Why we chose Genero
• Able to deliver a true standalone Windows
  application
• Able to run against SQL Server database
• Able to re-use existing I-4GL code
• Minimal developer training required
• Cost effective and quick to develop

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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9/5/2009
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Scoping the Project

• We set out a 12 month timescale based on
  lifespan of existing system
• 3 months database, software design and authoring
• 6 months development
• 2 months User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• 1 month pilot
• 12-18 month rollout
• One system per shop running autonomously
• One central system to maintain parameters and
  data standards
• Each shop system replicating their data to a
  central system
• Three developers were assigned to the project

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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Defining the User Interface

• Beginning the Genero Development phase
• Biggest challenge was designing the user
  interface
• Extended design stage by 6 weeks to test
  prototypes

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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Genero Overview

• To reduce time we converted our Debt Management
  software from I-4GL
• It took 4 days to convert and redesign the
  interface

Original I-4GL application
Genero equivalent
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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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Genero Functionality

• The system included functionality to use
  Wordpad for a letter editor
• Also included various file interfaces using
  channels

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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Project Timings

• Development Summary
• In total, 178 .4gls and 120 .pers complete the
  system
• Developers responded quickly to Genero language
• Using SQL Server instead of Informix posed no
  issues
• Actual development of software was within planned
  6 month timescale
• UAT
• 2 months of testing was originally planned
• An extra month of testing was required to
  complete
• Response from pilot implementation was favourable
• Simplicity of use was a key factor

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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Genero Overview

• Rollout
• Total number of shops to be implemented rose
  from 63 to 75
• 40 installed and running successfully
• Install at a rate of one or two shops per week
• Only 2 days of training per user
• Minor glitches have been solved with later
  versions of the client
• Minor issues with replication under SQL Server
  solved by SP4
• Feedback
• Shop managers find increased functionality
  assists them greatly
• Northcliffe Retail are delighted with the
  success of the project
• Northcliffe management have also been impressed
  with the timescales
• The future of NewsCore
• Minor feature enhancements and functionality are
  being added
• Once the rollout is complete, a 2nd phase of
  development will be analysed
• Could include features such as customer web
  interface

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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NNG Genero The Future

• The future for Genero in our organisation
• Northcliffe has committed to the redesign of our
  core systems in Genero
• Starting with the finance system as the first of
  our four core systems
• Using Genero to take advantage of Windows
  functionality
• We will re-design 70 of the system and convert
  30 of existing I-4GL
• Plan expects 12 months to completion using 6
  dedicated staff
• Complete re-design of database, using Informix
  Dynamic Server but we plan to re-evaluate this
  once all four systems are re-developed under
  Genero.

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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NNG Genero The Future

• Future Plans
• Considering Genero for any additional
  developments for our business
• Continuing development of the Retail Project

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Customer Presentation Northcliffe Newspaper
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9/5/2009
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QA
Intelligent Business Application Infrastructure