The technology division of the world’s largest global cargo terminal operator has made significant strides over the past two decades as a leading provider of Terminal Operating Systems (TOS). This company’s reliable and cost-effective TOS, which includes graphical planning solutions for intermodal and marine terminals, has gained traction worldwide. Its software is now used by over 300,000 logistics professionals across over 100 marine and intermodal terminals globally. These professionals rely on the system to load vessels, trains, and trucks, track containers, and manage payments, all in real-time.
Recognizing that business intelligence (BI) and embedded reporting solutions are critical to helping its customers optimize assets, labor, and equipment, the company set out to improve its reporting infrastructure. The BI solution had to scale rapidly, handling a variety of data sources from the Internet, mobile devices, WLANs (wireless LANs), RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) processing. As data complexity grew, so did the cost of maintaining their legacy Oracle reporting platform. After a strategic review, the company leadership migrated to BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools), an open-source platform offering greater flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
The leadership tasked DataTerrain with driving this migration. DataTerrain’s experience in supporting BIRT technology, coupled with its proprietary automation-led methodology, made it the ideal partner for carrying out this critical project.
DataTerrain’s subject matter experts (SMEs) employed a consultative approach to perform a one-to-one migration of Oracle Reports to BIRT. The approach was designed to minimize migration efforts while improving the quality of the final output, ensuring that end-users experience a seamless transition to the new platform. Key principles guiding the project included:
DataTerrain’s phased approach ensured a smooth and effective migration of Oracle Reports to BIRT, with three major phases:
1. Automated Analysis and Detailed Planning
DataTerrain began the project by using its proprietary tools to perform an AS-IS analysis of the Oracle Reports implementation. This analysis provided a comprehensive understanding of the company’s existing landscape, including:
The results of this analysis were used to identify potential migration risks, gaps, and opportunities for design improvements. After obtaining sign-off from customer stakeholders, a detailed project plan was created that secured the availability of critical team members to align with key project milestones.
2. Automated Migration and Validation
DataTerrain used its automation tools to perform a one-to-one migration of Oracle Reports to BIRT. A proof-of-concept (POC) was created for each major report scenario, allowing stakeholders to provide quick feedback and identify any necessary modifications before migrating the remaining reports.
In this phase, RDF and XML conversion, along with XSLT translation to BIRT, were carefully validated to ensure accuracy. The automated utility also generated new metadata within BIRT, adhering to BIRT’s best practices. Any conversion issues flagged by the automation tools were manually addressed by DataTerrain’s SMEs to ensure that the final output met the desired quality standards. Automated testing ensured that the data and formats were consistent with the legacy system.
3. User Acceptance, Training, and Rollout
Because stakeholders were involved at every step of the migration, there were no unexpected issues during the user acceptance phase. DataTerrain facilitated a smooth transition by ensuring a continuous flow of reports throughout the project, preventing a spike in workload for key business users.
A train-the-trainer approach was used to enable rapid adoption of the new platform, allowing internal teams to become proficient with BIRT and train others as needed.
Throughout the project, DataTerrain added significant value in several key areas:
1. Comprehensive Technical Expertise
DataTerrain’s SMEs had deep expertise in both Oracle Reports and BIRT, allowing them to bridge any gaps and resolve migration issues effectively. For example, they implemented workarounds in BIRT to handle embedded images previously used in Oracle Reports.
2. Best Practices and Performance Enhancements
The team proactively introduced design improvements to enhance performance and usability. For instance, by redesigning multiple reports to move business logic from reports to stored procedures in the database, they achieved significant gains in report performance and maintainability.
3. Global Delivery Model for Accelerated Results
Using a global delivery model, DataTerrain teams worked around the clock, leveraging time zone differences to ensure continuous progress. This follow-the-sun model allowed the migration to be completed ahead of schedule and within budget.
The migration to BIRT not only reduced the overall cost of running the TOS but also provided the company with a more scalable and future-ready reporting platform. With advanced BI capabilities now embedded in their TOS, the company and its customers are well-positioned to handle the increasing complexity of terminal operations in a digitally connected world. BIRT’s flexibility allows the company to integrate data from multiple sources, enabling real-time decision-making and asset optimization.
DataTerrain’s seamless execution and the performance improvements gained from the migration have equipped the company to thrive in the next wave of digital disruption in terminal operations.
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