|
Autumn 1999
|
Teignbridge District Council has cut its IT costs by about £160,000 per annum, at the same time as improving user response times by a factor of up to 100, by migrating to a database and development environment from Open Software house, jBASE. Teignbridge DC expects to deliver benefits to its tax payers, such as improved services, from being able to use IT more effectively across its full range of activities.
Originally running Reality on an MDIS platform, Teignbridge DC recognised in 1998 that this system could not deliver the performance levels or expansion options it needed to achieve the efficiency targets it had set itself.
A full evaluation of the available options led to jBASE, running 250 users on an IBM RS6000 F50, as the most viable alternative, and a full performance-testing programme was designed. The IBM RS6000 was supplied by leading AIX/RS6000 re-seller, The AnIX Group, while Terminal emulation was satisfied by the Winnix terminal emulator.
The results were conclusive. All test tasks were completed significantly more quickly using jBASE, and some were 100 times faster. For example, a count of Council Tax payers was completed in 15 seconds, rather than 1500 seconds, while a bank reconciliation took 3 minutes rather than 60 minutes. An electoral roll count took 15 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes.
According to Dave Bracey, Head of IT at Teignbridge DC, the tests went considerably beyond the planned benchmark specifications. “In fact, we made the tests progressively more demanding until we reached a point where the MDIS machine could not bear a greater load,” he said. “We continued loading the IBM/jBASE machine until it was carrying much more than the MDIS, but it was still twice as fast.”
Although the changeover was a significant task, it was made considerably easier through the simplicity of migration reported by all jBASE users. In fact, the system went live on 2nd August 1999, exactly on schedule, and has already made an impact on the council’s ability to improve its service levels. Dave Bracey is delighted with the performance of the new system: “As well as improving performance and cutting costs, it also gives us the reassurance of Yr2K compliance,” he continued, “so our Council Tax payers are gaining in more ways than one. The new system also gives us the ability to expand in terms of additional processors and RAM, whenever we need it.”
jBASE Software LimitedLast Updated: 10 December 1999