Case Study

 

The Henkel Group is a premier worldwide producer of adhesives, surface technology, specialty chemicals, and industrial and institutional hygiene products. With over 56,000 employees in 70 countries, Germany-based Henkel ranks among the top chemical/pharmaceutical companies in the world, generating revenues in excess of 21.3DM billion in 1999.

Lotus Notes plays a critical role within the company's worldwide infrastructure and will ultimately connect product management and development in all global divisions and affiliates. At Henkel's headquarters alone, 7,000 users generate and receive roughly 70,000 e-mails per day. "Notes is pervasive in our organization, evidenced by more than 20,000 worldwide users, information within Henkel division intranets, the transmission of confidential information, a variety of applications and data, all divisions and all types of jobs and processes. Notes is nearly everywhere," says Reiner Gratzfeld, Manager of Communications Products, The Henkel Group.

While trying to manage replication and email within Henkel's global Notes network, Gratzfeld realized the huge complexity of enterprise replication and email traffic management. He also realized the importance of accurate Notes replication, and especially monitoring replication and email traffic. The company desperately needed tools that would automatically deliver information about what was replicated between servers in different locations, from an enterprise-wide view down to a single database. The requirement for proactive tools that cut down the time to find problems and deal with them was essential. Gratzfeld and his staff also demanded a solution that would effectively and easily provide crucial monitoring services at the database level something only the CONTROL! suites could provide.

The Henkel Group began using Replication CONTROL! and Email CONTROL! with a small, single-server test installation. After the test's success, the CONTROL! suites were deployed to Henkel's main IT centers in Düsseldorf, Cincinnati, and Hong Kong.

Now that the CONTROL! suites handle Henkel's replication management, replication is reliable and on time, at the desired frequency from daily for some applications to hourly for critical database applications. Notes administrators react quickly to any problems that arise. Henkel Notes managers discovered that by analyzing traffic patterns and changing replication settings, they could easily reduce the network's load, resulting in reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction. "Consequently, we certainly saved money," Gratzfeld says. "We can see a dramatic savings in terms of the cost associated with bandwidth between locations. Now that we have CONTROL!, we have a very efficient Notes network that keeps information flowing to our users."

Notes Administrators Get CONTROL!: Replication CONTROL! and Email CONTROL! provide Henkel's Notes administrators with peace of mind by assuring that if an issue develops with a critical application, it won't be compounded by having to devote extensive time and manpower to troubleshoot, identify, and correct the problem. Gratzfeld says, "Now that we have Replication CONTROL! and Email CONTROL! as part of our Notes implementation, it's easier to locate and resolve problems. Before, we spent time and resources just to discover where problems are. That time was reduced significantly and the commitment of resources has been lowered proportionately."

Management Gets CONTROL!: The CONTROL! suites have also provided immeasurable strategic value to Henkel's management team. By giving them the tools necessary for executive-level analysis, reporting, network topology planning, and high-level email and performance trending, Henkel has seen significant cost savings, while enabling more informed decision-making. By proactively generating strategic reports and automating information collection, senior management and administrators alike clearly see a more efficient means of building and managing their global Notes network.

The enhanced staff and resource performance has helped position the company well in a highly competitive industry. "The CONTROL! suites give administrators the speed and flexibility to address problems head-on. Our management team has accurate information for planning, trending, and reporting, and administrative time is focused toward improving service to our users," confirms Gratzfeld.

Global Notes Management with CONTROL! Data Sheet