Project environment
State-of-the-art and with a long tradition: since its foundation in 1922, everything at PV Automotive has revolved around cars. The portfolio includes vehicle parts, workshop equipment and systems. Having grown steadily, more than 1,600 employees now work on the success of the Essen-based company.
Requirements & goals
The sales database is the central hub for PV Automotive. The ERP system, which was developed in-house, processes all inquiries regarding the stock and availability of all parts and is the first point of contact for the many connected external dealers. A failure would have a direct impact on sales and customer service and must therefore not occur. The existing, eight-year-old POWER infrastructure, on which the sales database and other applications ran, was already at its limit in 2016 - some evaluations had to be rejected or postponed, and backup times were so long that downstream jobs could not be carried out. For organizational reasons, however, the environment still had to be operated, explains Robin Czerwonka, Head of Network and Systems.
Planning for the new environment began in early 2017. As suitable premises were available on site, the new POWER was also to be operated again in the two data centers at the Essen headquarters. The collaboration with the previous service provider had "fallen asleep", as Reinhold Schreiber, Head of IT at PV Automotive, puts it. That's why they were looking for a new one. Among the bidders was UBL (now DATAGROUP), which had come to the attention of the PV team at POW3R in Hanover the year before.
PV Automotive opted for DATAGROUP Monitoring & Support for the old environment on a transitional basis. The subsequent decision to make the system and release change with DATAGROUP "was not a purely technical one", says Robin Czerwonka. "We simply felt we were in good hands with DATAGROUP. We quickly learned to appreciate the DATAGROUP way of working with personal support and reliable service."
Mr. Schreiber is similarly enthusiastic: "We can come to DATAGROUP with our concerns and often discuss initial solutions over the phone. We quickly realized that DATAGROUP doesn't just have experts in power. DATAGROUP did a wonderful job of understanding our needs and translating them into a tailor-made concept. At the same time, they provided crucial information for optimizations and alternative solutions."
The proposed new high-availability solution is a good example of this. The HA software impressed with its functionalities and also scored points with significant cost benefits. DATAGROUP brought its partners Pheron and QSL on board to provide the software service for the high availability solution. Questions regarding the integration of external processes in conjunction with the availability solution were clarified quickly and directly with the manufacturer.
Implementation
As the business-critical systems run on Power, the changeover had to be carried out with as little downtime as possible. DATAGROUP therefore coordinated a migration in stages with the final move on a public holiday weekend.
The final switchover to the new production environment was completed in just two hours on Easter Saturday 2018 and went "like clockwork!", says Mr. Czerwonka, who was on site for application testing and coordinated the tests of the externally connected locations.
Since the changeover, DATAGROUP has been monitoring the new POWER and is the first point of contact for PV Automotive when it comes to POWER support and consulting. The central control via the DATAGROUP ticket system also includes the components that partner Pheron is responsible for - monitoring of the HA software and the mirror, regular patches and annual switchover tests.
Project result
The newly implemented solution impresses PV across the board: the statistics jobs are now completed in 18 hours instead of six days. The daily closing is completed in four minutes instead of 25. There are no longer any mandatory downtimes during operation for backups, which means more productive time for the systems. Robin Czerwonka confirms that the applications have been running much more efficiently since the changeover, which not only pleases the IT team but also the users.
Reinhold Schreiber is also delighted with the result and how smoothly the various project partners worked together. He praises the DATAGROUP team for their reliable project coordination, which he has "never experienced before in 30 years of IT experience". "Great job! We have the feeling that we have achieved something good together."
About PV Automotive
Founded in 1922 and headquartered in Essen, PV has been synonymous with spare parts since its inception. Right from the start, it was all about cars. They have always remained true to this market and have grown steadily. PV is now a company with more than 1,600 employees. In addition to spare parts, PV customers also receive services that go far beyond the parts themselves. Workshop systems are an important component in their portfolio. Workshops and their needs are at the center of all their efforts.
Further information
