Allegis Corporation Case Study - University of Texas at Austin



Allegis Corporation

Allegis Pioneers Partner Relationship Management with Microsoft Windows DNA

Published: June 2000

The Allegis Sales Partner 4.0 hosted service, built on the Microsoft® Windows® DNA platform, is paving the way for companies to conduct partner-inclusive eCommerce linking resellers, VARs, and end users. The DNA platform enabled Allegis to leverage existing skills, knowledge, and products. The result is one of the industry’s first Partner Relationship Management (PRM) services that expands the traditional vendor/reseller partnership to include the customer, while at the same time integrating channel partners into the vendor’s overall eCommerce strategy. Originally developed on Microsoft Windows NT® Server 4.0, Allegis is upgrading to Windows 2000 Advanced Server for deployment in their hosting centers.

Allegis brings eCommerce to the Indirect Sales Channel

The Allegis Sales Partner 4.0 service is a leading Internet-based PRM solution that provides vendors who rely on indirect sales channels with the ultimate tool for sales partner management. Vendors increase channel revenue and partner loyalty with complete channel management: fast channel readiness, effective execution in helping partners focus on selling, and integration of partners into eCommerce strategies to reduce channel conflict. The Allegis service accomplishes this by allowing vendors to capture well-defined end user demand, route that demand to the best-fit partner, then motivate partners to satisfy that demand with vendors’ products. When vendors coordinate this complete cycle, they provide unique value to their partners and advance to true "partner-inclusive eCommerce."

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) has been evolving rapidly since it was conceived in 1998. “We recognized that the Internet was revolutionizing the way people were buying, but it had left indirect channels behind. Our goal was to change the way channels sell and, in doing so, change the way the world was doing business,” says Ken Rosen, Vice President of Marketing at Allegis.

Recognizing that most channel-dependent companies were struggling with eCommerce strategies, Allegis designed a next-generation PRM solution to provide the functionality resellers and vendors needed to maximize their partnerships as well as their relationships with customers. From profiling a vendor’s partner, through lead and fund management, Allegis Sales Partner 4.0 is designed specifically to solve the eCommerce problems that multi-channel companies are experiencing and enable them to integrate their channels into their overall eBusiness strategy.

Building on Windows DNA to Achieve 100 Percent Uptime

Designed to serve vendors and their thousands of partners across the globe, the Allegis Sales Partner service is fully hosted by Allegis to meet the 24x7x365 uptime requirements that companies need to conduct mission-critical eBusiness. Allegis has used Windows DNA and a state-of-the-art hosting architecture to deliver runs of 100 percent uptime for 60+ days at a time, an accomplishment made possible by the robust nature of Windows NT® and the breakthrough platform extensions pioneered by Allegis’ R&D team. Allegis Sales Partner 4.0 is based on open Internet standards (XML and HTTPS) and only requires the partner to use a browser. Behind the user interface stands the solution’s core platform, Allegis Open eNGINE. Open eNGINE, which is based on the Windows DNA platform, provides the rules and workflow capabilities to quick map to a vendor’s business processes, all on top of a scalable architecture designed for the Internet. Through XML running over HTTPS, Allegis Open LINKS allows easy integration with ERP, CRM, SFA, supply chain, and eCommerce transaction systems.

The Allegis Sales Partner service is composed of the following four modules and a set of business utilities:

Modules

Partner Readiness –includes the tools that vendors need to recruit and ramp-up their channel partners, ensuring that partners are “ready” to sell the vendor’s products.

Programs and Funds – help vendors target the right information to the right partner and give partners the tools and resources to create demand.

Opportunity Management – matches and routes leads to partners, helping vendors identify the high priority “leads” as well as supporting partners close the “deals.”

Business Intelligence – gives vendors “insight” into the channel, empowering them to take proactive steps to improve the performance of channel programs and partners.

Business Utilities

Partner Profiles – maintain all relevant information about a vendor’s partners, such as contact information, services, certifications, and industry focus (just to name a few).

ERequests – allow vendors to automate any and all partner request information, ensuring that partners receive timely and consistent responses.

Reports – provide vendors with a mechanism to analyze system data to assess what is working and what needs to be changed to support their channel partners.

Resource Library – offers vendors a single, secure repository where they can maintain all critical information they wish to share with partners.

Services – give partners access to business services that help them operate their businesses more effectively.

Solution

Automating the indirect sales channel was a new concept when Allegis began developing its hosted service (Allegis actually created the concept of “PRM” for the indirect sales channel). Therefore, Allegis needed a comprehensive platform that would allow rapid development and modification to meet the customer needs as those needs became better understood. And it was critical to Allegis that the solution be able to maintain system stability throughout ongoing development and modification.

Allegis selected the Windows DNA platform to meet its design goals based on price/performance and the ability to leverage Microsoft’s investment in rapid technology improvements. Allegis found the feature-to-cost ratio much more favorable with the Microsoft technologies than with any other solution it considered. “Cost per feature and pace of platform development are definitely key issues when you are developing a hosted application that has to evolve rapidly and yet remain 100 percent available 24x7,” indicates William Cook, Chief Architect for Allegis. “For example, from our research we determined that we could deploy a database to serve all of our customers much more cost-effectively using Microsoft products than we could have with Oracle or Unix. Better still, the pace of improvement and upward compatibility of the technology was unmatched in our experience.”

XML is the foundation of the Allegis Sales Partner application server—linking together applications, services, and devices. Security and business rules operate on XML-structured data, and XML is used for queries as well as for data interchange with back-office integration. All forms used in the Allegis Sales Partner have a metadata tier that can be used to automatically generate Microsoft BizTalk-compatible schema. XML can then be generated that matches the BizTalk schema from data associated with any Allegis Sales Partner form.

All code is multi-threaded and uses database connection pooling. All data access is done via ADO/OLEDB to Microsoft SQL Server™ 7.0, and Allegis also has implemented an advanced OLEDB provider to wrap its security system as a standard provider. Using COM for the entire application, Allegis uses ATL and the Visual Studio® development system, custom marshalling for performance, connection points for notification, and scriptlet objects, as appropriate.

Allegis based its application on the use of Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) and the Component Object Model knows as “COM.” Microsoft Transaction Server, selected for its scalability and robustness, provides the fundamental organizing principles for the Allegis Sales Partner service. Overall, it was the rapid application development capabilities of Windows DNA that has provided Allegis with the highest productivity possible for building its distributed Web services. The wide acceptance of COM ensures Allegis that a deep pool of developers is available to support the company’s ongoing investments in COM-based products.

The Allegis Application Architecture

Allegis created an n-tier application architecture for its Sales Partner application.

Presentation Tier. The user interface is a “thin” client, written entirely in HTML, which runs on any browser. All communication with the server is done via Secure HTTP. Internet Information Server (IIS) is the Web server through which users connect to the Allegis Sales Partner. IIS is run on the server farm, where load is balanced using redundant Cisco LocalDirectors. IIS provides session management and hosts the Sales Partner presentation objects, which dynamically generate HTML for the user and process HTTP requests. The security rules enforced by the Business Logic tier are reflected automatically in the Presentation Tier; for example, if a user does not have the right to edit information, that user is presented with read-only format. Allegis uses the XML standard for integration with external systems. This system supports the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), an XML-based mechanism that bridges different object models over the Internet and provides an open mechanism for Web services to communicate with one another. Allegis is also following the BizTalk™ platform, which defines XML standards for communication between systems and provides a routing mechanism for system integration.

Business Logic Tier. The Presentation Tier enforces security and consistency, and processes triggered actions that drive the behavior of the application. Business Logic uses the Windows Scripting Host (WSH) to run scripts on the server that drives the application. Since the Business Logic is hosted in Microsoft Transaction Server, all resources used during processing are automatically enlisted in a transaction. When events need to be scheduled, timers are placed under the control of Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). MSMQ provides a reliable queuing infrastructure that handles asynchronous actions and communication across product components.

Data Tier. The Data Tier maps the XML model used by the Presentation and Business logic to SQL Server Enterprise Edition. SQL Server supports the transactions that result from HTTP interfaces, and distributed transactions for batches of updates. SQL Server Enterprise Edition is implemented as a cluster to provide high availability.

The Advantages of Windows DNA

The benefits of the Windows DNA platform include:

Scalability. Windows DNA allows Allegis to add hardware seamlessly as their customers require more bandwidth. “We’re able to “scale out” in our application server farm and “scale up” through clustering and 4-way Pentium III Xeon servers for our database server clusters—what more could you ask for?” states David Story, Vice President of Engineering at Allegis.

Reliability. Reliability of service is critical to Allegis Sales Partner because it offers a money-back performance guarantee of 99percent uptime to customers—to date it has been achieving closer to 99.8 percent uptime for its end-to-end service, which includes all of the Windows technologies and networking services. Allegis depends on Microsoft to preserve the fundamental principles underlying its technology and attests to experiencing absolutely no problems going from COM to COM+ in its move to Windows 2000. “You can literally rip out a piece and put in a better implementation or a better design and all the other pieces will continue working” observes Cook.

Configurability. With the Windows DNA platform, Allegis is able to have multiple customers running configured versions of a service across systems in the same server farm. This means that the service can be configured based on the needs of each customer, which speeds deployment time and reduces product support resources. The configurations are data-driven and stored in the XML format within the SQL database, which allows Allegis to perform real-time upgrades of its software rapidly. Data-driven configurations mean that service upgrades don’t require expensive prone programming efforts.

Manageability. Remote administration capabilities enabled by Windows 2000 Server’s cluster administration tools, which include including the ability to move a service from one server to another, let Allegis respond rapidly when any system within a database server cluster incurs a problem. Microsoft VPN and PCAnywhere enable Allegis to administer its Sales Partner service servers in a true “lights-out” situation—Allegis is therefore free to scale its data centers as rapidly as its customer base grows. In addition, DCOM allows Allegis to perform upgrades to its service from a single access point.

Developer Productivity/Availability. Allegis has been able to draw from an extensive pool of experienced developers and to use the significant advantages of the Microsoft Visual Studio Development Suite. The Visual Studio tightly integrated, time-saving debugging tools (which enable developers to modify code without having to recompile the entire application), and Visual Studio component management, Dynamic HTML, scripting, and security features enabled Allegis to accelerate development efforts significantly. Microsoft Transaction Server virtually prevents transactional coding errors and COM provides very effective modularity, allowing incremental improvements to features without the recoding of significant portions of the application.

Integration. To meet the needs of more than 30,000 end-users , Allegis depends on multiple products and technologies that work together well to achieve its 99% uptime guarantee. With the backbone of its solution based on Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows 2000 Advanced Server, SQL Server Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Transaction Server, and Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), the DNA platform integrates with an array of other technologies, including:

• Dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) for use in custom Windows NT services and Active Server Pages (ASP)

• Active Template Library for developing COM and COM+ components

• Active Server Pages to support session management and hosting of presentation and form processing components

• DHTML with Remote Data Service for Web administration of databases

• ADO/OLE DB/SQL-DMO for database connectivity and management

• Microsoft Transaction Server for transaction management and connection pooling

• Microsoft Message Queue for asynchronous messaging and reliable delivery

• A variety of Visual Studio tools

• Microsoft Management Console for remote service maintenance.

“The Windows DNA platform provides us with a comprehensive solution that is powerful enough to give us the level of interoperability and integration we require in order to deliver the Quality of Service that our Fortune 500 enterprise customers demand,” says David Story.

Building for the Future Today

Quality of Service is the bottom line for the Allegis Sales Partner solution. Because the added functionality of Windows 2000 is one way of ensuring cutting-edge advancements and continued quality of service, Allegis already has its application running and fully functional on Windows 2000. Plans are underway to move the new platform into deployment. Everyone at Allegis has been pleasantly surprised at how seamlessly the transition has been. Allegis also plans to implement Windows 64 on the Intel IA64 Itanium platform in the near future.

Leading the way in eBusiness solutions, Allegis on the Microsoft Windows DNA platform has made partner-inclusive eCommerce a reality. The result is a competitive channel advantage and increased sales through reduced channel conflict for vendors who rely on indirect channels for their go-to-market strategy.

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada information Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to:

For more information on Allegis products or services call (888) 638-4866 or visit their web site at:



© 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, ActiveX, BizTalk, Visual Studio, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Windows DNA Customer Solution

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Solution Overview

Customer Profile

San Francisco-based Allegis Corporation was founded in 1995 by a team of successful high-tech veterans. The company has corporate customers worldwide, across its multi-product line of award-winning Internet solutions focused on high tech, manufactur-ing, telecommunications, government, financial services, and other industries.

Business Situation

Allegis needed a cost-effective, scalable platform that would enable them to develop next-generation channel management solutions and first-of-its-kind partner-inclusive eCommerce for customers.

Solution

To take channel management to the next level, Allegis chose to implement Windows® DNA for the Allegis Sales Partner platform. Now developers have the power to move beyond traditional Web computing to design truly distributed Web services, integrating all applications, both inside the organization and with trading partating all applications, both inside the organization and with trading partners across the Internet.

Software and Services

▪ COM

▪ XML

▪ Microsoft ActiveX® Data Objects

▪ Microsoft Active Server Pages

▪ Microsoft SQL Server™ 7.0

▪ Microsoft Visual Studio®

▪ Microsoft Windows NT® Server 4.0

▪ Microsoft Internet Information Server

▪ Microsoft Management Console

▪ Microsoft Transaction Server

▪ Microsoft Message Queue

▪ Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

“We’re able to “scale out” in our application server farm and “scale up” through clustering and 4-way Pentium III Xeon servers for our database server clusters—what more could you ask for?”

David Story

Vice President of Engineering Allegis

“The Windows DNA platform provides us with a comprehensive solution that is powerful enough to give us the level of interoperability and integration we require in order to deliver the Quality of Service that our Fortune 500 enterprise customers demand.”

David Story

Vice President of Engineering Allegis

"Microsoft Windows DNA is Microsoft's platform for building and deploying integrated web solutions that get to market quickly– from high-traffic ecommerce Web sites to corporate intranets to enterprise supply chain integration. It provides the fastest, easiest way to develop Web applications that integrate and interoperate with existing applications, suppliers, customers and future applications and devices. The Windows DNA platform consists of a set of complementary products that provide unmatched enhancement and adaptability of Web applications today and in the future. The core is Windows 2000, an operating system and application server with built-in Internet services that enables developers to focus on adding business value to their applications. Other Windows DNA building blocks include Visual Studio, SQL Server, Site Server 3.0, Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition, SNA Server and the COM+ component and programming model. All are best-of-breed products and technologies leveraging the skill and knowledge of more developers worldwide than any others."

Allegis Application Server

Data

XML ( RDBMS

Query Optimization

Concurrency Control

Business Logic

Security Rules

Triggers + Scripts

Timers

Presentation

Templates

Request Processing

Security Reflection

Integration Interface

MSSQL

Browser

(HTML)

XML

SQL

XML

HTTP

XML

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