Latitude Application Development Case Study The Extended Enterprise Delivered
Diagnostic System
Automotive OEM
A Big Three automotive company has over 4,000 dealerships in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The OEM communicates and transacts business with dealerships through a wide range of computer applications. Many of these applications for parts, sales, accounting, and diagnostic operations are mission critical and have to be accessible by dealership personnel. 1
Business Need
The diagnostic system used by dealership repair personnel consisted of system data stored locally at the dealership. Updating the system with new data occurred by distributing stored digital media. The OEM wanted a new system to: • Streamline system updates by maintaining a centralized server and new data distribution using the Internet. Warehouse data for trend analysis Reduce time spent by a technician in servicing a vehicle at the dealership Reduce dealership infrastructure deploy and maintenance cost Improve print quality and speed
Solution
To accomplish this high-visibility system, Latitude performed the following: • • • • Reverse engineered the existing diagnostic application Designed next generation thin client n-tier architecture Designed next generation graphic user interface prototype Developed proof of concept files for the architecture analysis
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The result was a thin n-tier web-based application that complied to industry wide standards (J2EE). The system allowed for migration to an alternate graphics standard that will provide greater compression and no loss of detail. The web was the vehicle for control software distribution.
Latitude Consulting Group
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LATITUDE CONSULTING GROUP CASE STUDY
Diagnostic System Results
• Reduced long-term overhead and infrastructure maintenance costs, particularly in the dealerships Reduced data distribution costs (cost involved in distributing CDs for technical manuals and diagrams) Reduced technical service delay costs at dealership Increased speed of data delivery and data acquisition process
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Latitude created a diagnostic system that standardized dealership service processes by providing a common dealer portal application. Standardization reduced dealership deployment and maintenance cost related to the diagnostic system.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information on this business initiative, contact Latitude at (888) 577-2797 or by e-mail to insights@latitudecg.com.