Case Study

Sun Practices What it Preaches

Summary

Being the technology leader, Sun Microsystems holds the vision that everyone and everything will be connected to the network. It comes therefore as no surprise that Sun Greater China (GC) practices what it preaches: Using the Network to collaborate with its business partners. Sun and DMA Solutions worked closely in this project to design, develop and establish a web-based Partner Management services (PMS) for PRC, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Sun PMS becomes the core system where Sun and its partners collaborate and share business information.

Background

Sun's business is all about innovation. In today's complex world, innovation is increasingly about collaboration. Sun GC set the vision to collaborate more tightly with its partners by leveraging the Wb.

As an innovator of technology, Sun has adopted the Web-based model to work with its partners in early years. As technology advanced and business model changed, SUN GC realized that it is about time to redesign the Partner Management System.

Challenges

Early on, the Project Manager realized that the challenge is not purely technical. The proposed system must be able to support the working habit of people in different regions. It is business challenging that the process flow in different countries may differ.As a result, the new system must be able to handle multilingual and multi-cultural differences. The system must be flexible to cater for ever-changing business processes.

With partners scattered all over provinces in PRC, the System must be fast and efficient enough to allow limited bandwidth access

Solution

Based on the business requirements gathered from all three regions, DMA set forth to design the Partner Management System (PMS) based on the proven Java framework. The PMS was designed with flexibility in mind. Additional services can be added to the Partner Service without impacting the core system.

In Phase 1, PMS provides essential partner services, including:
- New Partner registration
- Partner membership renewal
- Partner self-service
- Workflow approval process for partner registration
- Multi-lingual support

Why partner with IBM and DMA Solutions

DMA, being a leading IT provider of Java technology, demonstrates excellent competencies in turning business ideas into technical solutions. Coupled with seasoned project management skills, the PMS System was delivered on time to meet the annual partner recruitment event.

Benefits

By establishing the PMS system framework, Sun now has a collaborative platform utilizing its Java Enterprise System to easily offer additional services to its partners. Through the System, Sun GC can recruit more partners that otherwise is not feasible. By helping its partners to do business, Sun benefits from increased revenues and raised partner satisfaction.

Future Plan

The PMS System for Sun GC has been launched since 2004. Phase 2 has already commenced in 2005. In Phase 2, more services are added to foster even closer collaboration between Sun and its partners. For example, the Competency Module has been added to let business partners check whether the technical skills requirements are met. It also guides the business partners how to attain those skills. Sun can review the business performance of partners and swift actions can be taken.