|
 |
|
 |
Customer Profile
Oregon-based Mentor Graphics is a $ 650 million company that offers innovative products and solutions
that help engineers overcome the design challenges they face in the increasingly complex worlds of
board and chip design.
Business Situation
The company wanted to better control its distribution lists, especially as it brought new departments on
board. Mentor Graphics sought to save administrator time and improve its internal customer service by
making distribution lists more automated and accurate.
Solution
Mentor Graphics moved to a Imanami GroupID Automate solution from Imanami for more sophisticated
distribution list functionality, less hands-on management and faster updates for users, giving the company
better productivity from users and administrators alike.
Benefits
43 percent reduction in number of support calls to help desk
Greater management flexibility
Up-to-date information within 24 hours
Increased user satisfaction
Located in Wilsonville, Oregon, Mentor Graphics® is a world-class research and development company.
Founded in 1981, the company has sites in 72 locations worldwide, with approximately 3,500 employees.
A technology leader in electronic design automation (EDA), Mentor Graphics provides software and
hardware design solutions that enable organizations to send better electronic products to market faster
and more cost-effectively.
One of the keys to this company's success is clear communication. Mentor Graphics employees have to be
certain that the right information gets to the right people when they need it. An engineer not receiving
word about certain code freezes, for example, results in a loss of productivity for the company. To make
sure that important news reaches its intended audience, distribution list information must be kept up to
date. Enter Imanami.
Past Challenges
Mentor Graphics had already tried a distribution list management application from another company, but
the product didn't tier well and was time-consuming to manage. "Every time we needed to add or change
something, I had to spend half a day programming," recalls Robert Klohr, Mentor Graphic’s Messaging
Engineer. Supportability was also an issue. "Only Robert knew the ins and outs of the application,"
remembers Albert Rogers, Mentor Graphics Exchange Administrator. "And as we started to try more
complex distribution lists, the program became even more painful to use."
Part of the problem was that the company could not simultaneously update and use distribution lists. The
help desk could not look at the lists while administrators were updating them and had to wait until the
changes were complete.
This caused frustrations if administrators forgot to log out of the application and generally required a
tremendous amount of internal communication as to which lists were accessible…and accurate. "We had
no error reporting," remarks Rogers. "We were never sure if the lists were updating automatically, so we
had to manually force the updates."
In addition, the old application did not provide Mentor Graphics with the functionality its users required.
"Our old directory application didn't allow us to have any cross-site capabilities, which was a problem
because we have so many people in North America who need to administer distribution lists in Europe or
the Pacific Rim," says Klohr.
Imanami GroupID Automate for Automatic Updating
After examining some of the other distribution list products on the market, Mentor Graphics
chose to migrate to Imanami GroupID Automate, which is a powerful but easy-to-use application
that dynamically maintains distribution lists based on rules that are applied to an organization's
directory data. When users' directory information changes, GroupID Automate automatically
updates the appropriate distribution lists, so the lists are never out of date. This also reduces the
risk of miscommunications. Because distribution lists stay accurate, users receive the information
they need on time and can therefore be more productive.
"For us, GroupID Automate is fabulous because it doesn't just do simple queries," explains Klohr. "It
allows us to do more complex queries to really specify the people we want on a particular list -
and weed out those who don't need to be there." For instance, Mentor Graphics uses the GroupID
Automate's Dynasty functionality to build a list for each building on campus, with a substrain or
Dynasty for the offices on each floor. Rather than having a separate list for every single office, each
building list contains the applicable Dynasties. Not only do Dynasties reduce the number of
distribution lists, they are easy to change and manage; when changes are made to Dynasties,
those changes are automatically reflected in their corresponding larger distribution lists.
Due largely to its global nature, Mentor Graphics has a history of grappling with distribution lists.
The company has 36 Exchange servers spread throughout the world, a number disproportionately
high for its number of users. "Before, we had to have redundant lists because they weren't
dynamic," notes Klohr. "Now, with GroupID Automate's dynamic lists, we have functionality where
didn't have it before. The application has simplified our directory structure and helps us manage
our geographically dispersed environment."
The GroupID Automate installation went smoothly, although Mentor Graphics' unique topology
and Exchange environment contributed to one hitch along the way. "I identified the problem and
alerted Imanami right away," reports Klohr. "The next morning I had an email waiting for me with
two options of how we could proceed, both in the short and long term. " By that afternoon, the
problem was resolved. "End-to-end, it only took 24 hours- in fact, my help desk never even knew
about it!"
GroupID Automate for Automatic Updating
Using GroupID Automate gives Mentor Graphics a crucial tool for promoting efficiency
throughout the company. And unlike its predecessor, GroupID Automate allows the company to
manage distribution lists without constant worry as to their accuracy. Its added Dynasty features
provide the company with functionality that, although it may once have been considered optional
by management, is now viewed as a requirement.
The Ultimate in Flexibility
"This product has given us so much flexibility to map our distribution lists to our own business,"
says Klohr. "We can easily exclude people from our queries so users aren't bothered by mail that
doesn't pertain to them. For instance, we make it a practice to exclude our president from our
global lists so he can focus on the mail that he needs to attend to directly. We know he will be
made aware of anything significant because he has his own staff for that."
Because GroupID Automate is not hard coded, Mentor Graphics can literally tell it which fields or
custom attributes to use. "Imanami didn't make any assumptions about how a company would
use the product," notes Klohr. "They let me really tailor the solution, opening up or ratcheting back
the choices available based on our needs."
Additional Impacts
One of GroupID Automate's smaller features has made a big difference in the lives of Mentor
Graphics administrators. "In GroupID Automate, the templates alert us about whether or not a list
is scripted," explains Rogers. "We automatically know if we should manually update, or just let the
script run. I know this is a minor thing, but it's great to have the script alert already set for us, out of
the box."
Another automated function that saves time is that any directory change is automatically mirrored
in the company's distribution lists. "This certainly removes the potential for human error," remarks
Klohr. "Any extra spaces or misspellings in the course of data entry can really cause delays, but
automating directory changes helps us know that they are properly reflected in a time-sensitive
way." These Imanami GroupID Automate features save significant administrator and help desk time
and give them a productivity edge. "We have eliminated approximately 15 calls each week, which
translates into a 43 percent reduction," reveals Rogers. "Now I can focus on my other tasks without
constantly responding to the same issues over and over again."
Greater Efficiency Companywide
For users, the most important benefit of GroupID Automate is that it makes sure that they get
crucial information when they need it. "In our company, it's pretty serious if certain information
doesn't reach the right people," says Klohr. "If a user doesn't know about some scheduled system
maintenance, for example, he could lose a lot of work unnecessarily. Not getting information
definitely affects productivity."
The company also uses its distribution lists to keep employees abreast of personnel changes across
the company. Any change to director- or vice president-level employees results in a global email
because, as Klohr puts it, "although a company of this size can change often, it's important for all
employees to stay current since these changes can really affect the way we do business."
Because Mentor Graphics is a growing company that recently acquired three other organizations,
new and existing users find themselves moving from one team or location to another. It is essential
that their mail follows them as they make these changes. To make sure this happens in a timely
manner, administrators set GroupID Automate to update daily, so that directory information
changes will be reflected within 24 hours of the user's move. "Our users are getting more accurate
information in near real time," says Rogers. "We have configured GroupID Automate to run at 6 a.m.,
which is just after all the updates are automatically made to our other systems, so all changes are
already in the GroupID Automate system when our corporate campus starts its day."
Greater Stability
"The single biggest reason for us to switch to GroupID Automate was to gain user confidence,"
states Klohr. "We were losing credibility with our own internal customers, and we immediately
turned that around with GroupID Automate." Since the product's installation, user satisfaction is
way up. Users who send broadcast lists are saving time because the lists are accurate, and they no
longer have to worry about whether their messages are getting through. "Because we didn't have
error reporting capabilities in the past, users who had been burned before would repeatedly check
with the help desk to confirm that their lists were actually updated," recounts Rogers. "Now, the
system has demonstrated that the right mail is getting to the right people."
Future Plans
Now that Mentor Graphics has both GroupID Automate and GroupID Self-Service in place, decision
makers are looking for other ways to save administrator time and optimize their current technology
resources. The company is planning an upgrade to Exchange 2000, and GroupID Automate will
move with it. "When I implement Exchange 2000, nobody will see the difference in terms of the way
they handle their business. Users will still have the same single tool and won't have to relearn
anything." Concludes Klohr, "I am confident that our investment in GroupID Automate will serve
Mentor Graphics well as our system grows and changes. Our relationship with Imanami has
certainly turned out to be beneficial for everyone. "
|
|
|
