The Randstad Group IT shared service center is responsible for the integration of the Randstad and Tempo Team software stacks. In addition, a great deal of customization is required for a large part of their customers.
To fine-tune this situation, Randstad chose to focus on Oracle. The Timelink project is part of this. Together with Contribute, they launched this project. We spoke to Sven Beterams, IT Manager Applications at Randstad Group.
Timelink
“Timelink was a true challenge”, says Sven Beterams. “On the one hand we had to replace old software stacks, on the other hand we needed to standardize the file formats for the performance of temporary workers.
Our major customers supplied more than 80 different file formats.Only part of this was processed automatically. In addition, a lot of customer-specific programming was involved. In 2009 we developed a new front office ourselves. Unfortunately, it still worked with the old AS400 system to collect all those different performance sheets.
With Timelink we can now handle most of them. To optimize file transformations, we use the Oracle Service Bus (OSB). The OSB middleware lends itself very well to managing this transformation logic.
The AS400 system has been disconnected now and we are processing file transformations very efficiently. This way we respond faster to the wishes of our customers.
Timelink is set up with modern architecture and new technology. You can quickly add new report formats and develop new features without having to dive into the code. This is very attractive for the business.
In addition, the entire process is much more transparent for the users now. Where it used to be a matter for IT, configuration work has now been transferred to more business profiles. Business is now responsible for the configuration according to its own wishes. “
Project approach
It soon became clear that Randstad Group could not only rely on the documentation. Therefore, in a second phase, all software in AS400 was examined to finalize the documentation.
Based on all data collected in the first two phases, we searched for a greatest common factor. How many customers with custom applications can they accommodate with the OSB functionality? How many unfortunately not? And which of those customers can they convince to start a conversation?
Eventually, the rollout eventually took three quarters, with one major release per quarter. The simplest, but not necessarily the smallest customers were discussed first. Then they covered the more exceptional and complex situations.
AS400 was turned off and the configuration work was transferred from IT to more business profiles.
Contribute as partner
All the while, Randstad Group worked with Contribute and its consultants. One of them, an OSB specialist and an expert in integration with external parties, has been around Randstad Group for quite some time. So if they are looking for a certain expertise or technical profile, they immediately know where to find the right person. In addition, they can always fall back on colleagues from Contribute, which is also an added value for their customers.
Due to the trust built up, it was only logical for Randstad Group to turn to Contribute to find an efficient solution.
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