Paracon SA (Pty) Ltd has been chosen to provide Iemas (Co-op) Ltd, the largest trade co-operative in Southern Africa, with the project management of a new system named "KAIROS", which will eventually replace and enhance all operational systems currently supporting Iemas on a mainframe.
Paracon was chosen from a number of vendors, mainly for their co-sourcing approach, project management methodology and Vu2000 accounting system. Paracon Software Engineering will provide services to design and construct a completely new operational systems infrastructure.
According to Chris Bornman, Group Manager, Technology, Iemas. "The project will have a major impact on the way Iemas does business and further improve our focus on customer service to all stakeholders."
"A new trend, which is becoming more popular, is that of co-sourcing," says Deon Crabtree, Paracon Outsource Director. "Paracon`s co-source model is a tried and tested methodology focusing on maintaining strong communication channels and partnerships, underpinned by strict project management controls. The project management methodology on KAIROS has been developed by the experienced Paracon project management team."
Paracon has successfully completed phase one and most of phase two of the project.
"KAIROS is an 18 month project and has been broken down into 23 sub-projects. Each relates to the development of software systems for specifically identified business areas of the total Iemas requirement. Each sub-project will integrate with the other sub-projects and will ultimately be seen as the fully integrated KAIROS system."
Steven Lauter, Paracon`s Software Engineering manager said: "The major portion of the software is being built with Microsoft tools and databases. Progress and Oracle are also being used and integrated. Current software architecture practices are being applied with a major focus on the construction of re-usable, generic components. Each sub-project has been approached as a turnkey, fixed-price project. These projects are being run and developed in accordance with the Software Development Life Cycle that has been created and implemented by Paracon Software Engineering (previously infoVu)."
Specific areas of development include financial, debtor, product and insurance systems, image and workflow, and Internet/Intranet/Extranet. KAIROS provides Iemas with an opportunity to exploit current technologies and trends, and provides Paracon with the opportunity of applying proven methodologies and techniques into an integrated system.
Mark Jurgens, CEO of Paracon Holdings Limited concludes, "A key feature of the group`s success is the philosophy of engaging the highest-caliber specialists, who provide exemplary levels of quality and service to Paracon`s clients.
"The expertise of the group`s consultants has enabled Paracon to extend its services from traditional IT Services to Business Solutions, encompassing competitive software products, as well as outsourcing and project management expertise."
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