Computer Associates Unicenter TNG helps Central Florida Investments integrate and manage IT operations

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) today announced that Central Florida Investments (CFI), a leader in vacation resort management, has successfully completed the implementation of CA`s Unicenter TNG, the de facto standard for enterprise management. With the immediate goals of IT integration and proactive network management now in place, CFI is prepared to launch an ambitious eBusiness strategy with Unicenter TNG. CA Services will assist in further Unicenter TNG implementation opportunities to ensure that additional business requirements are met.

Based in Orlando, Fl., CFI has recently expanded to Tennessee and is about to open operations in Nevada. Faced with over $300 million a year in revenue and a rapidly expanding, heterogeneous IT infrastructure, CFI realized its expansion depended on integration. With a staff of approximately 5,000 and a relatively small core IT team, locating the ideal enterprise management and help desk solution was a top priority for CFI.

"Unicenter TNG and its Advanced Help Desk Option have been lifesavers," said Andy Crowder, CFI, IT director. "We can now engage in proactive systems management, have a much quicker response time and a high awareness of IT challenges before users ever become aware of them."

Before implementing the Advanced Help Desk of Unicenter TNG, CFI had no method of tracking the effectiveness of IT operations. As a result, help requests were constant, coming in via phone, fax, email or in person. Two full-time employees were needed at the help desk to write down requests, manually prepare IT request forms and relay data to field support.

"Whenever you`re forced to operate based on whoever shouts the loudest, you can be sure that service delivery will suffer," said Crowder. "I couldn`t tell where my staff was spending their time or even if we were treating the symptoms or fixing the underlying problems. That`s all changed with Unicenter TNG."

By integrating voice and data into one system, and running every help request through Advanced Help Desk, the company now comfortably handles over 3,000 help requests each month.

"Without Advanced Help Desk, my phone rang all day long and it was hard to get anything done," said Crowder. "I have peace of mind, as the only way to reach me is by Advanced Help Desk. That enables me to see who is requesting help, set priorities and decide how best to deploy my resources for the good of the company."

Under this system, all IT requests go to a main number and are immediately entered into a customized screen and broken down into different areas. A majority of the calls are resolved instantly at the help desk and the others are channelled correctly. If a request is transferred to field support, the client receives immediate notification. Field support is then paged and receives a description of the query, as well as contact information. If the client wishes, he or she can view the current status of the request from a browser.

Crowder uses Advanced Help Desk as an integral part of his management activities. "I pull reports and review them on a weekly basis," he said. "I have precise measures to judge personnel performance. At a glance, I can see the time elapsed on each job and can tell whether my staff is meeting our priorities."

CFI is also benefiting from enhanced prediction capabilities with the recent Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk installation. Previously, evening and weekend IT problems could spoil CFI`s 9 to 5 weekday operations. Unicenter TNG now keeps the IT staff apprised of difficulties as they occur, gaining them valuable time. As a result, system uptime is maximized. "I have absolute confidence that I will never be caught off guard," said Crowder. "I can even detect recurring problems and take the right action to solve the underlying cause."

CFI credits much of its success to date with the meticulous attentiveness of CA Services. CA Services directly supported CFI in the Unicenter TNG and Advanced Help Desk implementation process by analysing customer requirements, managing infrastructure design, deploying Unicenter TNG and managing the project.

Unicenter TNG is also assisting CFI`s IT department to justify and gain approval for vital purchases. For example, some buildings that lack structured cabling, takes four times the work to move phone lines. By using Advanced Help Desk`s reporting capabilities, Crowder can now substantiate the return on investment (ROI) on system upgrades, such as structured cabling.

Now that CFI has successfully integrated its IT environment, the next phase is entry into the world of eBusiness. The company is already hosting its own Web sites that are targeted towards getting people interested in its resorts and to apply for demonstrations.

"eCommerce functionality will all be tied in to Unicenter TNG to ensure peak performance and complete availability," concluded Crowder. "This technology offers integrated enterprise management and significant operational efficiencies that are a vital component of eBusiness."