A key facet of PDI's delivered value [image-nocss] is its strategic customer consultations; for example, showing retail executives how to capture, assess and leverage metrics addressing bottom-line issues like inventory shrinkage.
With regard to its software development practices, PDI's main objective was to ensure the integrity of its request-prioritize-develop-test-deliver cycle. In the past, manual processes and disconnected tooling have opened the door for missteps and omissions. Such errors can be costly from both the customer perception and time (cost)-to-repair perspectives.
After in-depth evaluations of all major software development tool providers, PDI decided upon a unified ALM approach using MKS Integrity. Unified ALM promised reduced tool count, better connectedness across the lifecycle, strong visibility and control and lowered total cost of ownership. MKS Integrity offered PDI a complete ALM solution with full traceability from requirements to test; flexible querying and reporting against a unified data model; strong support for parallel development and release management; a powerful yet easy-to-learn user interface; and, a single, competitively priced, flexible application.
MKS brought in one of its most experienced implementation partners, Novus Solutions Group, which specializes in ALM best practices; compliance; business and software process consulting; and ALM solution implementation. With MKS Integrity, PDI gained top-to-bottom and end-to-end traceability of all lifecycle artifacts (e.g. requirements, change requests, test cases, source code, releases, etc.).
With MKS Integrity in place, PDI could capture new change requests; prioritize them; assign them out for development; "virtualize" and automate code reviews; assign specific change requests to specific releases; and make progress with a single integrated solution platform. MKS Integrity is flexible, and it can be adopted incrementally. PDI plans to add formal Requirements Management (RM) and Test Management (TM) capabilities to its solution, further extending the end-to-end reach of its lifecycle automation.
Waterloo, Ont.-based MKS enables software engineering and IT organizations to manage their worldwide software development activities. Its flagship product, MKS Integrity, is an enterprise application lifecycle management platform that coordinates and manages all activities and artifacts associated with software development including requirements management, system design, software configuration management, change management, test management, defect management, release management and portfolio management for custom built and packaged applications.
PDI, headquartered in Temple, TX, provides software, hardware and professional services to convenience retailers and wholesale petroleum marketers. Worldwide, more than 350 companies managing 23,000 retail locations use PDI's systems for retail automation, fuel and warehouse management, business intelligence, financial reporting and employee selection and training. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the McLane Co.
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