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PRESS COVERAGE DND battles bulging budgets with MSR software Dell Technology Update Nowadays, it seems you can find Canada's armed forces serving anywhere from the Golan Heights to the Gulf War, and from Sarajevo to Somalia. Ensuring that Canada can meet its peace-keeping responsibilities requires an incredible amount of resources, at a time when budgets are under severe constraints. So finding ways for the Department of National Defense (DND) to save time, money and manpower is essential. One initiative that promises to assist DND to more effectively utilize its resources is a new customs clearance solution from MSR Inc., running on hardware built or supplied by Dell Computer Corporation. Toronto-based MSR is primarily a software company, with a library of software solutions for automating the customs clearance function. MSR is automating 12 DND sites which are responsible for 95% of the military's customs clearance activity in Canada. On average, DND imports 35,000 shipments during the course of a year. "As part of our solution, we help our customers understand the benefits and costs of going this route," says MSR vice president Maria Sheppard. "We can also review their paperwork and help them clean up outstanding problems, like proper classifications, filings for rulings, etc. The savings can frequently pay for the entire solution." THE BOTTOM LINE MSR, with annual revenues of $5 million, has a staff of 30, including software developers, technical support engineers and vertical market specialists. According to Sheppard, approximately 25% of Canada's customs brokers use MSR's software, and another 600 companies use it for self-clearance. There are a number of ways companies can save money and resources, says Sheppard. An importer must devote considerable resources to working with a customs broker, from classifying imports – in terms of what they are, and what they're going to be used for – to verifying everything the broker does, plus accounting, etc. For that reason, Sheppard says tremendous savings can be realized by bringing the customs clearance function in-house. "It all depends on volumes. We automated Honda's customs clearance functions and it expected to save $700,000 in the first year, over and above the cost of the hardware and software. Philips Electronics saves $180,000 a year, after paying for the equipment." Another significant advantage of using MSR is that it provides regular updates on a timely basis. "We see two to five updates a year due to government changes," says Sheppard, "and at least three updates to the tariff databases themselves." MSR's solution can also drastically reduce the amount of time and effort required to handle customs clearance. For example, when Litton Systems implemented MSR's system, five people were able to handle the workload that previously required eight. Philips realized an even greater productivity boost, with two people required to perform the work that had required seven. "What's even more significant," adds Sheppard, "is that Philips doubled its volume of imports at the same time." THE MILITARY EQUATION MSR provides a range of solutions, from the software and training, to complete turnkey solutions. DND didn't know it could communicate electronically with Revenue Canada for customs clearances, so MSR led it through the steps, providing training programs for site managers and staff. MSR's Ian McMaster, technical support manager, is responsible for implementing this solution, from establishing the configuration to making sure that all pieces perform together as expected. This is MSR's second project at DND. In 1988, MSR installed one of its software systems into four of DND's supply depots and automated the production of the customs clearance documents. Although it was still a paper-based system, by outputting the forms on printers, DND not only saved a lot of time, it also was able to capture its data, run reports, and really simplify the process, especially with regular transfers. But around the same time, Revenue Canada introduced CADEX – Customs Automated Data Exchange – to supplement its paper process with an electronic communications capability. At that time, five companies developed front ends to communicate with CADEX. Four of them wanted it for their own customs clearance needs. MSR made the investment to provide this service commercially. In May, after two years in the planning/procurement cycle, DND decided to implement a CADEX-based system. 'That gave it the opportunity to centralize the review function, before submitting the documents to Revenue Canada," says Sheppard. DND's Ottawa headquarters will be linked with 11 other sites, including the four automated under the original MSR contract. By November it will be able to receive and send information nightly and then electronically file its customs clearances with Revenue Canada. In addition to the CADEX capability, MSR is putting in new programs, including the tariff database, remote communications, and consolidation software. Some of the depots were also doing export work, so DND is adding MSR's export software too. MSR had a two-month time frame to source and acquire the hardware; do acceptance testing; configure the equipment; and do all the communications work at its Toronto offices to make sure the entire system worked perfectly before shipping and installing the hardware at the 12 DND sites. Additionally, it developed all of the training programs and then spent three weeks training the headquarters' staff and the site managers. The final step is installing the systems and getting everybody at the sites prepared for when they go live on CADEX. RELIABILITY IS CRITICAL For the computer systems, MSR proposed three alternatives to DND. Together, they decided that Dell was the best choice. "One of the great things about working with Dell is its sales reps – they're extremely efficient as far as knowing everything about pricing and the available features and configurations," says Sheppard. "When we're dealing with large projects there are a tremendous number of variables to handle, and working with knowledgeable and responsive partners makes it a lot more efficient." Another important point is quality. "We had worked with Dell before and were satisfied with its quality," explains Sheppard. "That's critical, because we're responsible for all DND's support, including dial-in, proactive maintenance, as well as looking after hardware failures, and we promise four-hour turnaround. Based on our previous experience with Dell, we knew it would respond immediately and handle any hardware-related problems, We're very happy to be working with Dell." The DND application involves nine 450Ls, 50MHz i486s with 8MB RAM and 2 30MB hard disk drives. The primary server is a 450T with 16MB RAM, 1.4GB hard disk drive, and SCSI interface. Because each Dell system can also act as a UNIX server, the network consists of 28 nodes, including Dell systems and Wyse terminals. Bar code readers, laser and dot matrix printers and high-speed modems complete the rest of the hardware environment. "We don't recommend leading edge in terms of the hardware that our clients use to run our leading-edge software", says Sheppard. "We want proven products because we have to be comfortable that we can support them and that the client will be happy. That's why we're really comfortable using Dell." |
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