In an important step forward – for both SGS & G4S – Denmark has gone “live” with stages™ in their central station and dispatch operations. As our first live European customer, G4S has made the “GLOBAL” in SGS a reality and created a beginning for a G4S group strategic migration.Today, system delivery is much more than simply turning on software. The G4S deployment exemplifies how many different resources are required to succeed. To begin, G4S standards required use of a virtual system environment using VMware. The SGS Milwaukee IT systems group helped ensure proper network configuration and performance optimization.
Software development was a key part of the G4S project to meet both European and local issues. Over many years of systems implementation a myriad array business processes at G4S must now integrate with the central station. Central station software connections cannot be ignored.
SGS had to interconnect to old systems and new systems spanning multiple technologies. The project was challenging. Leadership by Gerhard Westphal, Bo Willumsen, and Martin Pedersen helped the SGS team coordinate with multiple vendors. Often the project had to “rediscover” the data and how it was managed to then create new rules for integration with stages™. Systems requiring integration included:
- SAP Enterprise Business Suite
- Ericson Telephone PBX
- Safecon Guard Dispatch
- PreCom Handheld Devices
- STEP Front-end Signal Processor
- SMS Alarm Communications
- Elevator Alarm Management
In addition to integration, the key to successful deployment is managing the transition. Conversion, testing and process development are critical tasks to make new software work. Operator training and process development were led by Heidi Fiering, Carsten Reené Jensen, and Hans Jørgen Enemark whose contribution was equally important to the integration tasks. When the day arrived, operators were pleased with the efficiencies created by the new application.
The conclusion of the year long project brought great satisfaction. Every connection worked flawlessly. The SGS team included all of our employees led by Thom Meyer & Bruce Weissman.
