Bell Canada - Overhaul of the www.bell.ca website
Bell Canada - Overhaul of the www.bell.ca website
Challenge
In spring 2008, Bell Canada decided to redefine its corporate image and brand positioning. The www.bell.ca website was an integral component to this new strategy. In June 2008, Abilis Solutions was mandated, in the utmost secrecy, to produce the new www.bell.ca site.
The objective was to be ready for the unveiling of the new image scheduled 14 weeks later, on 8 August 2008.
Solution
With an experienced team, accustomed to the www.bell.ca platform, Abilis Solutions put together, in record time, a multi-disciplined team of over 40 people. This team worked at an intense pace to reach the delivery targets.
The project was delivered on time, within budget, with expected quality objectives.
Benefits
- Support of Bell’s new corporate image.
- Improvement of the site ergonomics and the customer experience.
Deliverables
- Detailed analysis and inventory of the old site pages, CSS files and media content.
- Rollout strategy to avoid rewriting the entire site pages.
- Re-imaging of the remaining 1,900 pages to reflect the new brand image.
- Simplification of the site navigation.
Technologies and partners
- Java, Javascript, CSS, HTML, and Interwoven Teamsite.
- Bell Interactive, Web Bell Solutions, and Bell Systems & Technologies.
Air Canada Vacations - Site Redesign of www.aircanadavacations.ca
Air Canada Vacations - Site Redesign of www.aircanadavacations.ca
Challenge
Air Canada Vacations was operating with a website that was outdated, unstable and overly complicated to use. The content published on the website was retrieved and updated from different, sometimes incomplete and incompatible, systems which added to the complexity of updating the website.
Solution
A decision was made: to completely redesign the web site from A to Z! (www.aircanadavacations.ca)
The objectives were to renew the software and hardware infrastructure, to use the latest frameworks and development methodologies to make the site clearer and more efficient, while enhancing its reliability and maintenance. Consolidating the website content into one central repository allowed users to make updates in only a few clicks and minutes instead of waiting for the end of batch executions which previously took up to many hours.
Benefits
- Improved ergonomics.
- Simplified and streamlined content management.
- Integrated and standardized application that is easily scalable for future needs.
Deliverables
- Implementing a new web infrastructure (software and hardware) for all environments (development, test staging, production).
- Implementing a new content management system, Interwoven Teamsite.
- Leveraging on Google Analytics to track visitor information and calculate metrics.
- Defining and implementing a new and simplified site navigation structure.
Technologies and partners
- Sun Solaris 10, Interwoven Teamsite, Apache, JBoss
Office of the State Comptroller, NY ("OSC") - Audit of deviating projects and delivery of a new Government to Citizen (G2C) portal
Office of the State Comptroller, NY ("OSC") - Audit of deviating projects and delivery of a new Government to Citizen (G2C) portal
Challenge
In 2005, the three main projects were already running into difficulties (VendRep, Enrolment, SSA), with a fourth project, PARIS, ready to start. These systems, used by all civilians, business partners and vendors, were all running on different platforms, requiring multiple IBM WebSphere Portal licences.
Solution
Abilis Solutions audited the projects, and made technical, functional and organizational recommendations to the OSC. Abilis Solutions also suggested to integrate all systems on the same platform.
A new portal, managing payroll and retirement plans for all New York State’s public servants was developed. Additionally, Abilis Solutions implemented and supported the new enterprise framework integrating all G2C applications of the OSC (http://www.osc.state.ny.us)
All projects have since been successfully launched, with new releases currently being developed.
Benefits
- A common infrastructure for all systems, reducing the number of IBM WebSphere Portal licenses.
- A single point of access for all systems.
- A user friendly interface.
Deliverables
- Creating and supplying the Best Practices document for portal development and on-going support.
- Developing the portal integrating all systems.
- Creating and providing a portal restructuring document for the architecture and governance of the solution.
Technologies
- IBM WebSphere Portal 5.1.
Trader (Yellow Pages Group) - A new creation process for ad pages
Trader (Yellow Pages Group) - A new creation process for ad pages
Challenge
At the end of 2007, Trader mandated Abilis Solutions for the automation and optimization of its Ad Builder tool, for the purpose of selling used vehicles.
Solution
In spring 2008, the new version of Ad Builder became available on the Web, allowing the first Trader sales rep to create color promotion pages, through a simplified interactive 4-step process. The application’s ergonomics adhered closely to the business processes and working habits of the users.
Benefits
- Simplified process for users to create their own ad page from predefined databases, while allowing local data modifications.
- Greatly reduced previous required time for manual processing.
- Enhanced quality and consistency of ads.
Deliverables
- The solution architecture.
- Pages for the ad creation tool.
- The Integration of solutions with an heterogeneous infrastructure, such as a vehicle picture database system and a workflow engine.
Technologies
- Java, Javascript, CSS, HTML and Groovy.
- Intellij Idea, Subversion (source management), Jira (defects follow up and task management), Cruise Control (build), Jboss & Apache runtime, Webmethods (workflows) A Portal 8.1, Oracle DB and Interwoven Teamsite.
- Cumulus by Canto (vehicle image database), Digital Asset Management, PPG (content management), Wave 2 (ad page layout).
Upskin - SMARTRAK geo-marketing portal
Upskin - SMARTRAK geo-marketing portal
Challenge
How is it possible to define an audience calculation for a moving ad? Produce metrics equivalent to standard media (fixed board, newspaper) audience evaluation?
Solution
Abilis Solutions delivered a secure geo-marketing solution known as SMARTRAK based on equipment mounted on-board a vehicle memorizing the GPS location. It is an on-line portal as well as a complex mathematical model to mesure the audience of a mobile marketing campaign.
Benefits
- Detailed impact analysis for each advertising campaign.
- Comparison between the audience of a mobile campaign and other traditional media.
- Ability to better select drivers and routes for the purposes of the campaigns.
- Visibility predictions of campaigns and mileage forecasts.
- Geo-marketing service offering a monthly investment below $10 a month per vehicle.
Deliverables
- Statistical reports to track the effectiveness of each campaigns.
- Interactive maps showing density distribution and vehicle tracking.
- Association of drivers and campaign events.
- Pinpointing of the movements of a vehicle for specific campaigns.
- Self-serve capabilities for administrators and advertisers.
Technologies and partners
- Linux, Postgres, JMAP, GPS, JAVA and PDAs.
- KHEOPS Technologies.
Air Canada - Mobile check-in www.aircanada.com
Air Canada - Mobile check-in www.aircanada.com
Challenge
In 2006, Abilis Solutions and Bell Canada partnered with Air Canada to deliver a project aimed at providing a check-in application for Blackberry-type mobile devices.
Solution
A mobile infrastructure, independent from mobile phone manufacturers, and enabling the deployment of multiple value-added mobile applications.
Since the check-in application was deployed, many additional services have been implemented (e.g. “Notifications” and the purchase and reservation of tickets on-line).
(http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/mobile/mci.html)
Benefits
- Enhanced customer experience.
- New and reusable communications channels between Air Canada and its clients.
- New scalable infrastructure that allows Air Canada to add additional mobile applications.
- Limited maintenance of infrastructure and coding when new wireless devices appear in the market.
Deliverables
- A secured and scalable application infrastructure independent from wireless devices and manufacturers.
- Migration of existing “Web Check-In” application to the new mobile platform.
- Maintenance and management of the new platform.
- New value-added services.
Technologies and partners
- Solaris 10, Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1, Sun Java System Access Manager 7 2005Q4 and Sun Java System Identity Server 2004Q2 Mobile Access.
- Bell Canada.
Bell Canada - The new website www.bell.ca
Bell Canada - The new website www.bell.ca
Challenge
In 2005, Bell initiated a project aimed at completely revamping the design and customer experience for its consumer website, www.bell.ca, with a date of the unveiling of the new web site already announced, and therefore with no possibility of delay.
Solution
Despite the imposition of a very tight deadline, the new site went live, on-time and within budget. Abilis Solutions worked in partnership with Cloudraker and Bell to design the new site. Besides providing a vastly enhanced experience for Bell customers, the project has resulted in a content management system which is much easier for Bell.ca employees to maintain and manage.
Benefits
- Reduction of pages from 8,000 to 500 templates based on dynamic content.
- Expanded geographic coverage from 4 provinces to 10 provinces and 3 territories.
- Reduction of turnaround time for content creation and maintenance.
- Content management tool for use by non-technical users.
Deliverables
- Documents consolidating information from the requirements gathering sessions, functional analysis and use case definition.
- A new site structure based on the BEA Portal 8.1.
- The management of all new page content using custom-developed templates based on Interwoven Teamsite CMS.
- Development and integration of the new pages with existing bell.ca functionality (product catalog, online bill summaries, etc).
- Standardization and consolidation of previous disparate coding for forms and other functionalities.
Technologies and partners
- BEA Portal 8.1, Oracle DB and Interwoven Teamsite.
- Cloudraker.
Air Canada - Employee Portal
Air Canada - Employee Portal
Challenge
Air Canada wanted to centralize the access to principal tools and applications used by their employees. The portal needed to be the only point of access for all applications and it required to be accessible from anywhere in the world, for close to 50,000 employees, partners and retired staff. The information accessible by the user was to depend on their organizational roles, the division they belonged to and their hierarchy within the organization.
Solution
Abilis Solutions and Sun Microsystems became partners to develop the employee portal project, by offering an integrated and secure communication portal accessible in both intranet and extranet formats. The entirety of the available information was configured for management by a content management tool and updated by various Air Canada divisions.
Benefits
- Secure, robust and powerful solution.
- Common and scalable infrastructure for all users.
- Centralization and uniformity of the company’s tools and communications.
- Centralized site updating and activity management and control.
Deliverables
- A technical infrastructure supporting the intranet for worldwide availability.
- A secured environment based on authentication and access rights (LDAP).
- A Content Management Tool (CMS).
- A dynamic navigation and menu functionality for content personalization based on user’s role and access manager policies.
- Integration of external applications such as HR applications, video streaming, employee booking tool.
- Inclusion of a blog functionality for the company’s president and vice-presidents’ use.
- A portal search tool based on internal business taxonomy.
Technologies and partners
- Sun Java portal server (Sun portal, LDAP, Identity management, Secured remote access, single sign-on) on Sun Solaris 10 servers
- Interwoven TeamSite for content management
- Sun Microsystems
Bombardier - authentication and access management
Bombardier - authentication and access management
Challenge
In 2004, Abilis Solutions and Sun Microsystems partner up to implement an identity management solution for the Bombardier Aerospace division. The objective of this project is to manage and synchronize application user access for all Bombardier’s employees and partners in North America and Europe.
Solution
Based on the Access Manager and Secure Remote Access product from Sun Microsystems, the solution allows to synchronize the company’s repository at a global level. Furthermore, the automation and delegation of identity authentication processes and authorization of the main enterprise applications are now managed by the proposed solution.
Benefits
- Accelerated management of user access rights within the organization which go from taking many days to only a few minutes.
- Re-enforced security of the infrastructure.
- Easier information exchanges by allowing access to external partners.
- Increased control of user access rights and flexibility for Bombardier’s employees and contractors.
Deliverables
- An identity management infrastructure.
- Integration of the LDAP technology in three different centres (Montreal, Wichita-USA and Belfast-Ireland).
- An audit system and process for application access.
- A secure remote access linked to applications (VPN logic).
Technologies and partners
- Sun LDAP, Access Manager & Secure Remote Access on a Solaris platform.
- Sun Microsystems.
IATA - WebStar External portal
IATA - WebStar External portal
Challenge
In 2003, IATA approached Abilis Solutions for the production of the WebStar project. The system is exceptionally important for IATA because it is the management of an especially profitable activity for them.
Solution
It is an application allowing to manage, administer and communicate with the 15,000 travel agents members of the IATAN located in the United-States.
WebStar is the first Web/J2EE application type to be successfully deployed at IATA.
Benefits
- Reduced the traffic of the call centre.
- Enhanced the management of members and the monitoring of related revenues.
- Facilitated member management and monitoring system start-up.
- Reduced training overhead.
Deliverables
- Functional specifications and GUI design.
- Technical architecture and design.
- Holding the responsibility of developments and budgets on mixed delivery team (IATA and Abilis Solutions developers).
- Training for a team of IATAN developers in J2EE technologies.
- Standards and best practices for the system.
Technologies
- IBM WebSphere, DB2 and JAVA.
Xwave For the Virginia Department of Corrections ("VADOC")
Xwave For the Virginia Department of Corrections ("VADOC")
Project
System for the management of all criminal offenders in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Challenge
VADOC's 12,000 employees used 16 different legacy systems on a daily basis for the management of over 75,000 offenders in the Commonwealth of Virginia. VADOC required an integrated management system to replace the already existing applications and to interface with 21 external applications of the Commonwealth various police forces and administrative services
Solution
In October 2007, Abilis Solutions became the sole delivery team responsible for the entire programme. This in-progress 24-month project, being delivered in five main phases, provides a solution built on Microsoft’s .NET architecture. The new centralized solution guarantees data integrity and allows all users to access reliable and complete information in a highly secure environment.
Benefits
One system for all users. Enhanced quality and integrity of data which is now in real time, centralized and more up to date. Reduced maintenance and operational costs by decommissioning 16 legacy systems.
Technologies and partners
Microsoft’s .NET (ASP.NET and C#), SQL Server, IIS, BizTalk Server, SharePoint, Team Foundation Server, Browser client (HTML, CSS), and Windows Server 2003