Providing Development Resources - NML

A hand drawn system architecture diagram

National Milk Laboratories (NML) tests milk on behalf of milk buyers.

NML were in the process of taking over two milk laboratories from other organisations, inheriting disparate business processes and laboratory management systems, when they commissioned the services of The Solution Works to develop the core functionality of Phoenix, the new laboratory management system envisioned by NML.

Testimonial

"The development of Phoenix was a significant undertaking by NML – the system is large and complex – but it provides us with the flexibility we need to meet the changing needs of our customers, while enabling the laboratory staff to work effectively and efficiently, doing more work with the same resources. The Solution Works has worked with us throughout the design, development, deployment and operation of Phoenix – we have found them to be an excellent partner, helpful, resourceful and innovative." Barney Kirk, IT Systems Manager, NML

Implementation Goals and Objectives

NML set out to achieve the following business goals:

Implement consistent business processes across multiple milk testing laboratories in order to increase efficiency and flexibility
Develop a laboratory management system to facilitate the business processes, enabling the organisation to do more work with the same resources and provide improved customer service tailored to individual customer needs
Provide support for comprehensive reporting on data from a single site or across the whole organisation
Provide access to historical data from each site

Project

Hands belonging to a group of people overlapping

Phoenix is a large and complex system managing the core business processes of the laboratories, ensuring consistency across laboratories, and increasing efficiency and flexibility.

Laboratory process management

The laboratory process management elements of the system are based on WIN32 applications and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with SQL Server replication, enabling each laboratory to work against a local database whilst ensuring that all data is available centrally for analysis and reporting.

The software integrates with the laboratory hardware enabling test results to be automatically imported into the database for review and analysis.

Customer management

A web-based interface developed in ASP.NET is used for administrative and support activities by the NML Customer Services team as well as proving direct access for NML's customers. The web interface runs against its own local database maintained via SQL Server replication.

Reporting

Reports are run from the central database, with reports automatically scheduled and generated on completion of testing, and transmitted electronically to various recipients including customer representatives. The report presentation was implemented in-house by NML using Crystal Reports.

Services Provided

The Solution Works provided the following services to NML, working to our ISO 9001 / TickIT certified Quality Management System.

Service	Comments
Providing resources for each stage of the software development lifecycle
Requirements	The Solution Works spent much of the initial stages of the project working on site at NML's laboratories alongside NML IT and laboratory staff members to gain essential insight into the work and processes of the laboratories. We then documented the existing processes of the laboratories and how the existing software systems fit into to those processes. The TSW project team worked closely with NML to specify the requirements of the new laboratory management system to meet NML's business goals.
Design	NML required a distributed architecture for resilience and efficiency, enabling each laboratory to work against a local database whilst ensuring that all data is available centrally for analysis and reporting. The Solution Works, in collaboration with NML IT staff, designed the system architecture around SQL Server replication to support this. The TSW project team designed a flexible and extensible data model to support the data and reporting requirements of NML's existing customer base and to enable the data and reporting requirements of new customers to be supported with minimal effort. We designed various software modules to support the laboratory operations, each focussing on a different aspect of the laboratory processes, from integrating with laboratory equipment to monitoring testing progress.
Construction and testing	The Solution Works developed the new system to tight timescales, constructing software to implement complex business requirements to handle large volumes of data. The completed system underwent rigorous system testing by the TSW project team before being released to NML for user acceptance testing.
Deployment and training	The Solution Works assisted NML in the process of adopting the new system and provided onsite training and assistance to the users.
Transforming and migrating legacy data	The Solution Works provided resources to manage and implement the transformation and migration of data from the legacy Oracle-based system to the new data model implemented in SQL Server 2005.
Support and maintenance	The Solution Works provides ongoing support and maintenance services to NML, with agreed service levels to ensure a response in a timescale appropriate to the priority of any operational issues that arise. We also continue to provide development resources to NML to support the evolution of the system.
Providing database expertise
Microsoft SQL Server	The Solution Works implemented the system's data model using Microsoft SQL Server, initially in SQL Server 2000, before moving to SQL Server 2005 when it became available, taking advantage of the additional benefits in SQL Server 2005, particularly in relation to database replication.
Oracle Database Server	The legacy system at one of the laboratories was based on Oracle Database Server. The Solution Works developed an interim system, based on the legacy system, using Oracle Database Server to enable some of the required new business processes to be implemented quickly. The TSW project team also performed the initial data migration from the Oracle-based legacy lab systems to the new SQL Server system.
Providing software integration experience
Integration with hardware devices	Barcode scanners – milk samples are identified by barcodes at sample registration and during testing Laboratory analysers – test results are imported directly from laboratory test instruments

Benefits

The Solution Works and NML worked together closely to develop a complete end-to-end solution providing the following benefits:

Benefit	Description
Consistency	Strategic web-enabled system, managing NML's core business processes, enabling implementation of consistent processes across the laboratories, increasing efficiency and flexibility.
Configurability	Configurable at the system, laboratory and customer level, enabling NML to provide improved customer service tailored to individual customer needs and to do more work with the same resources.
Efficiency	The lab process management elements utilise database replication to ensure the individual labs can work efficiently while providing centralised access to all data for reporting purposes.
Automated reporting	Reporting is fully automated with reports generated and distributed automatically by SMS, e-mail, fax and post on completion of laboratory testing.
Web-enabled	NML's customers can access their data (e.g. view test results, maintain contact details for automated reporting) via a web application over the internet. The web application is also used internally by NML Customer Services to assist with customer enquiries.