CHALLENGE

The U.S. subsidiary of a Korean automotive company needed a vehicle allocation system that allowed car dealerships to check inventory, request specific makes and models, locate vehicles across North America and view historical sales. They also required a fast, reliable way for dealers to determine whether potential buyers were eligible for car loans.

Our challenge was getting real-time information from corporate headquarters to their 820 dealerships nationwide in a web-based, highly-scalable environment. The system had to be intuitive, highly secure and accessible to more than 10,000 users.

SOLUTION

Guidance developed six increasingly sophisticated iterations of their Order to Delivery (OTD) system in order to meet the company’s evolving needs and requirements. What began as a VB desktop application evolved into a .NET application fully integrated with WebDCS and the AS400/IBM i system. Our partnership spanned nearly 10 years!

We also built a BizTalk system that the automotive company used for more than eight years. Its function was to help dealerships communicate with their Capital Lending Department to quickly determine if potential buyers could get financing.

Both the BizTalk and OTD systems were designed to tie into security mechanisms that protect data and integrate smoothly into a larger corporate IT framework.

Technologies and software include:

• .NET integration and customization
• ASP.NET/C#
• XML
• ActiveX Data Objects
• Microsoft SQL Server
• BizTalk
• SharePoint
• Managed services and maintenance

INNOVATION

• Ultimately, we created a transaction-based system that behaves like a deep analytics engine. Not only are the reports and data drill-down capabilities sophisticated and extensive, they’re accessible in real-time. We continually optimized the system for maximum speed and efficiency.