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Mercedes Benz's E-Biz Solution: The Factory Delivery Reservation System

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FDRS Implementation Contd...

IBM faced many technical challenges during the implementation of the program. One of them was the different timing schemes of the Lotus Notes databases and backend databases (ERP). This led to discrepancies in the data. Domino server was a Near Real Time (NRT) Server¹⁴, and MBUSI's backend activities were both real time¹⁵ and batch processing¹⁶. Also, to get the best results, the Domino server was an optimised subset of the ERP table set¹⁷. However, the development team achieved a balance between the two ‘sides'of the solution by focusing on issues of timing, error detection schemes, and alerts.

Customer Satisfaction: FDRS'Primary Benefit MBUSI seemed to measure FDRS'success in terms of increased satisfaction of its customers. The company also believed that the marketing and customer satisfaction aspects outweighed the significance of more traditional cost-based benefits. Apart from the factory delivery experience, the program also offered the customer a factory tour and ride on the off-road course at a low cost. The company also seemed to gain strategic marketing benefits from the FDRS program, as it was able to establish Mercedes-Benz as a premium brand. (Refer Table I for advantages of FDRS in different areas). Customers could also visit the various tourist spots in Alabama after picking up their M-class vehicles.

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14] The NRT Server System supports real time distribution of near-real time data.
15] Real time refers to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they would occur in real life.
16] Executing a series of noninteractive jobs all at one time. The term dates back to the days when users entered programs on punch cards. They gave a batch of these programmed cards to the system operator, who fed them into the computer. Usually, batch jobs are stored up during working hours and then executed whenever the computer is idle. Batch processing is particularly useful for operations that require the computer or a peripheral device for an extended period of time. Once a batch job begins, it continues until it is done or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies that there is no interaction with the user while the program is being executed.
17] The ERP tables are the database tables, (thousands of them), on which the package is built. The programmers and end users must set these tables to match their business processes. Each table has a decision ‘switch'that leads the software down one decision path or another.