Omnes

Omnes specializes in delivering global communication solutions to multinational companies, particularly in developing countries. Omnes sought a high-performance dial-up solution for quick, easy, and cost-effective deployment of its Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ financial application to regional offices that would allow it to maintain centralized administration.

Omnes implemented a thin-client/server solution with WinFrame, improving remote application performance by 80 percent while consolidating mission-critical financial information into a single, centrally administered system.

Presenting problem Omnes was formed in 1994 as the result of a joint venture between Schlumberger, the world s leading oil field service company, and Cable & Wireless Company, a telecommunications firm based in the United Kingdom. Initially, Schlumberger handled the financial processing for the entire organization. Total integration of Omnes financial processing was impractical for Schlumberger, however, and the need for an independent financial system became apparent.

The challenge: Deploy mission-critical financial and information applications across a wide geographic area.

The Omnes Houston office originally selected Great Plains Dynamics local area network (LAN) and later upgraded to Dynamics C/S+ for its basic accounting functions, which included accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, and fixed assets. The Schlumberger accounting centers in London, The Hague, and Paris maintained books on their local systems. Data was input, and summaries of the financial results were sent via e-mail to Omnes in Houston; the Houston office then entered the information into a management ledger to perform a worldwide financial consolidation.

Omnes approached Great Plains Software for assistance in improving worldwide WAN access to its financial system. Great Plains Software recommended WinFrame Enterprise as the preferred application deployment platform for its Dynamics C/S+ financial management software over remote dial-up and WAN connections.

Hardware and software The Omnes thin-client/server networking environment includes:

Omnes deploys financial management software across a WAN.

• Compaq DeskPro 100-MHz Pentium server with 64 MB of RAM
  
  
• Microsoft Windows NT file servers

Omnes uses WinFrame Enterprise to deploy Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ client/server financial management software across its global WAN to branch offices.

Solution and results Creating an efficient, worldwide financial system has been no small task for Omnes. Like most companies today, Omnes has a growing number of telecommuters and branch offices, making worldwide access to mission-critical applications and information a necessity for the efficiency of even its most remote operations. By using a thin-client/server solution, Omnes has extended the reach of its Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ client/server financial management software across its expansive global network to regional offices in London and Caracas via modem and WAN connections, respectively.

Omnes installed WinFrame at its Houston office and began initial testing from its London office. After testing Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ and WinFrame over its WAN, Omnes discovered that the thin-client/server solution improved remote application performance by as much as 80 percent. With WinFrame, all of Omnes application processing occurs in Houston rather than being pulled down across the network to remote desktops. As a result, far less data is moved back and forth across the network, and application response times improve substantially. Omnes reports that with Dynamics C/S+ running by itself over its WAN, it took about 4 to 5 seconds to tab from field to field. With WinFrame, it takes only 1 second.

Omnes strategic implementation of this technology resulted in a number of improvements for its financial organization, including allowing remote offices worldwide to simultaneously access and work with one consolidated financial database. This benefit alone offered greater overall efficiency, consistency, and accuracy in the gathering and analyzing of financial results. Implementing the thin-client/server solution also significantly reduced system administration and maintenance for each office, since remote users could access and share a single Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ database located at the Houston office.