Discovery International

Sector

Media

Skills / Platforms

Websphere 5.0 on Sun Solaris 2.9, Oracle 9i (64 bit) on Sun Solaris 2.9, Artesia TEAMS 5.0 on Sun Solaris 2.9, Struts Framework 1.1, JSLT 1.0 (Java Servlet Template), OJB (ObJectRelationalBridge), Commons VFS (Commons Virtual File System), XML technology

Magic 4GL and Citrix technology interacting with Oracle databases on a Sun platform.

Size

Content Management System - 4,400 days delivered over 7 months Testing – 1,200 days per year

Background

Discovery International is a leading global real-world media and entertainment company Requirement Discovery required a Content Management System (CMS) and comprehensive testing of a business critical application called IBMS (Integrated Broadcast Management System) from Pilat Media. IBMS is key as it houses:

• all international programme schedules
• international client contracts, media materials and sales campaigns

Solution

CMS

Harvey Nash created a sophisticated ground-up Web-based CMS application to manage the content of Discovery's Web sites and support on-line editing and publishing processes in different regions of the world. It offers comprehensive integration with a digital asset management system and supports multiple platforms (Web, PDA, mobile and interactive TV).

The key objectives of the system were:

• To allow easy republishing and repurposing of content
• To ensure separation of content from presentation
• To support a robust, flexible and easy-to-use templating process for multiple products
• To integrate with a digital asset management system

IBMS Testing

Pilat releases a new version of IBMS at least once per quarter with subsidiary releases of patches and bug fixes between releases. As a result of the business critical nature of the application, Discovery required additional technical resources to test patches and bug fixes between releases. Harvey Nash was selected to:

• Provide strong testing processes that enable early and secure go live dates
• Lower the costs of testing the application
• Enable the reallocation of valuable resources
• Avoid staff being co-opted from their regular jobs during UAT
• Mitigate the risks of downtime due to vendor software malfunction
• Enable Discovery to reduce support costs and negotiate with the application vendor

Harvey Nash is delivering this by providing functional testing and UAT resource working offshore in our Hanoi development centre connecting remotely to the installed test environment already in place in Reading, UK.

The scope of work covers:

• Providing resources to assist testing
• Unifying the test process • Automation