Creation of a custom auto compilation tool for a large sporting good retailer
About the Client
The client is one of the largest sporting goods stores in America with over 100+ years of retail experience. The client mostly provides sports apparel, footwear, hunting accessories, fishing gear, golf, and other equipment related to sports of all kinds. This sports retail store chain is has 27 locations in 13 states, including North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, Colorado, and Texas. The client will soon expand its reach to other states too. It is an employee-owned, privately held business and actively contributes to national and local charities.
- Industry: Retail and Consumer Goods
- Headquartered: USA
- Platforms: AS400 Platform
- Team Size: 3 Developers
The Challenge
The client’s retail stores are rapidly expanding. The accelerated growth demanded robust online systems to accommodate large amounts of customer data. The client was facing the following challenges in its old system:
The client’s old system was designed many years ago and did not have any of the advanced features users expect today.
The current ‘Purchase order’ field on the AS400 system was reaching its maximum limit because new stores were being added regularly.
The client wanted the ‘Purchase order’ field length to be increased because it is an important field for any retail chain.
To modify one field size it required changes to and recreation of 600 tables and 1400 other programs.
The biggest challenge was to compile all the components during production hours without the help of an auto compilation tool to speed up the process.
Our Solution
Programmers.ai approached the project with a systematic, step-by-step methodology.
Step-by-Step Field Expansion
Programmers.ai handled the project using a step by step approach. The developers expanded the field length of the ‘Purchase Order’ field.
Ensuring System-Wide Consistency
Our team extracted all the impacted tables and programs using the Impact Analysis tools and made the required changes in all the tables and programs.
Custom Tools for Seamless Integration
RPG developers at Programmers.ai created an auto compilation tool customized to the existing architecture of the client’s system and used it to compile all the components in the test environment first.
Efficiency Gains with Auto-Compilation
The client checked all the changes in the test environment, once testing was completed our team used the auto compilation tool for live deployment that was done within minutes instead of days.
Technologies Used
Our software architects and engineers are experts in using the latest technologies.
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RPG
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Store procedure
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MQT
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SQLRPGLE
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CL
Business Impact
Improved customer experience and engagement through intuitive navigation and interactive features.
Here’s how we did it
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Minimizing Downtime, Maximizing Efficiency
Auto compilation tool by Programmers.ai made sure that client’s system was down for the least amount of time and did not have a negative business impact on daily business.
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Deployment in Record Time
Automation of deployment reduced the time frame from days to just 45 min.
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Cost-Effective In-House Automation
In-house automation by Programmers.ai was cost-effective because purchasing a tool like this in the market would be quite expensive. They even reduce the feasibility of complex project implementation providing just 70% accuracy after a huge investment.
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Scalable System for Growing Business Needs
Expanding the PO field length helped the client to add new stores and allow for input of the maximum amount customer data without issue.
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Exceeding Expectations with Excellence
The client praised the Programmers.ai team for exceeding the expectations and delivering world class solutions on time.
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Building Long-Term Partnerships
The client went on to build a long-term partnership with Programmers.ai and working with our team on projects of all sizes.
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Over the past year I have worked with them, they have worked very hard to understand our highly customized system and troubleshoot things with little or no documentation while managing to keep the business up and running normally. Without the hard work and dedication they have shown, I know we would have had some issues causing downtime or lost production. I am looking forward to continuing working them in the next year as well.
I have been working with Programmers IO for more than 5 years now and I have been pleased with all projects and developers that I have worked with. We have had a few issues here and there but they have always fixed and made it right. They have been an excellent addition to our business.
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