Customers

DevSuite Resolves Time Zone Differences and Provides a Collaborative Environment for Global Software Development Teams

Wyndgate Technologies, a division of Global Med Technologies®, lnc., is one of the world’s foremost suppliers of information management systems for blood centers and hospital transfusion centers. Headquartered in El Dorado Hills, California, the company’s unique management software provides Vein-to-Vein® tracking of donated blood from collection through transfusion or final disposition. Wyndgate’s products — including SafeTrace®, SafeTrace Tx®, ElDoradoT”” DonorT”‘, and Donor Doom — also support regulatory compliance and safety, meeting guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration as well as the American Association of Blood Banks and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Communication, Q&A Challenges

One of Wyndgate’s unique advantages is its willingness to collaborate with its clients on customized products that suit their particular needs. Since the company serves a range of blood banks and transfusion centers across the U.S. and around the world, communication with all channels of the product development phase is crucial.

Prior to 2007, however, Wyndgate Technologies had no project management application in place to monitor its workflows. Wyndgate development teams, located in all U.S. time zones as well as Europe, were often challenged by the dispersed work environment. Most correspondence regarding project specifics, technical questions and workflow management was done via email. Team members in different locations would spend precious time working on the same question simultaneously — or find, once the answer was reached, that it had already been answered by another team.

Not only were multiple offices complicating project management, but time zone differences also made effective communication difficult. U.S. team members could not accurately coordinate with team members in Europe. As one team’s day began, the other team would be wrapping things up and heading home.

“When you have a nine hourtime difference, one team often misses the other team,” said Miklos Csore, Wyndgate‘s Vice President of Research and Development. “Without direct communication, collaboration is that much more difficult.

DevSuite Provides Integrated ALM

With the goal of adding efficiency to its workflows and further improving its project turnaround time, Wyndgate began looking for a development management solution. The company had an existing and positive relationship with TechExcel, which made it the logical first choice for alternatives.

According to Csore, TechExcel’s DevSuite Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) offerings were immediately seen as a h3 option. “It was evident that we needed a h3 repository for project knowledge, particularly issue tracking and resolution. TechExcel‘s DevTrack application, the centerpiece of DevSuite, had the features we were seeking,” he said.

DevTrack is a configurable application for managing, coordinating, tracking and analyzing all aspects of software development, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within budget. This system tracks product defects, change requests, and any other relevant items, enabling process-driven workflows to be applied that ensure fast and efficient issue resolution. DevTrack’s proprietary knowledge-centric operational paradigm also facilitates teamwork and communication between users, teams, and even customers.

Coordinated Knowledge, Workflows

Under Wyndgate‘s plan, TechExcel‘s ALM suite would be implemented to create a unified, universal project plan and goal. TechExcel worked to eliminate disjointed email communication and institute a single project plan that could be updated as needed. Project knowledge would be collective and shared, empowering team members in different parts of the world to check the real time status of various project aspects without scattered and disorganized communication.

Wyndgate also expected DevSuite to eliminatewasted time due to inaccurate or inappropriate workflow designations. Instead of working on the same aspects of a project, team members would be able to see how other teams were working with the client and what specific problems or tasks they were addressing.

Finally, DevSuite’s historical Q&A would work as an answer log and database. “Instead of focusing on answering the same question another team had already worked to answer, now team members were able to search the database for the answer,” Csore said.

Development Improvements

Once TechExcel’s DevSuite was firmly integrated into Wyndgate’s development process, project times from concept to completion are continually improving with the use of DevSuite. “Teams are no longer losing time working on the same aspects of a given project,” Csore stated.

Wyndgate’s time zone differences no longer affect projects negatively; in fact, team members can now see a consistent log of what other teams have been working on and avoid overlapping tasks.

“The overall quality of Wyndgate’s project management has improved significantly, which in turn reflects positively in turnaround times and client relationship management,” Csore said.