Download PDF
Microsoft Supply Chain team is monitoring 16 BizTalk Server groups that handle over 250 million messages per month via BizTalk 360
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
- Software
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Process Control & Optimization
- Remote Asset Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
To deliver smooth operations and cater to the demand generated by retailers, manufacturers, and online customers, SCBT group built a Hybrid integration solution that leverages BizTalk Server and Azure Services to manage high volume global transactions. Because of the growing demand and the complexity of the integration solution, SCBT team faced the need to make sure every transaction is monitored and the system processes these transactions fluently. The SCBT hybrid integration solution, running on top of Microsoft BizTalk Server is one of the most complex integration solutions in the world. This solution manages all of Microsoft’s worldwide, physical manufacturing and supply chain operations. To maintain high availability of the integration solution, SCBT team maintains 16 different BizTalk Server Groups. Each BizTalk Server Group with its own BizTalk and SQL Servers is responsible for discrete activities that can work independently and in tandem. The SCBT integration solution processes over 30 million B2B transactions (including multiple message formats like X12, EDIFACT, XML, SWIFT) per month with 2000+ partners spanning across all business domains. Message sizes range from 5 KB to 40 MB, and the data growth is at a rate of 6 TB per month. As the number of retailers, manufacturers, and customers increase, the need for centralized monitoring solution has increased too.
About The Customer
The Supply Chain Business Technologies (SCBT) is Microsoft’s Global Supply Chain Management group. All Microsoft products like Surface, Xbox, and other hardware and software that is sold in the market through different channels like retail outlets, online stores, etc., relies heavily on SCBT team. SCBT team operates out of 6 centres across 5 countries. With 5 Tier 1 manufacturing partners, 15 supply chain partners, and over 750 suppliers, the SCBT caters to about 50000 retail outlets and 300 retail partners over 60 countries.
The Solution
The SCBT team chose Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and additionally built internal home grown monitoring tools to address their operational and monitoring requirements for their BizTalk environments. However, SCOM introduced challenges like maintaining a complex monitoring platform and requiring specialized skillsets. The SCBT team faced difficulties in receiving BizTalk specific notifications and spent more time managing SCOM. To address these challenges, SCBT team decided to go ahead with BizTalk360 to monitor their integration solution. BizTalk360 provided centralized monitoring for artifact monitoring, data monitoring, intentionally stopped artifacts, clear actionable alerts with dashboard functionality, and auto healing features. With 16 BizTalk server groups in place, it was crucial for the SCBT service operation team to keep track and send regular status updates of the BizTalk server groups to the leadership team. BizTalk360 eliminated manual hours of effort by providing a centralized portal for monitoring all hubs. Specific features like Data Monitoring capability, developed in association with Microsoft, helped the SCBT team to monitor for non-events and get notified in case of any failures in the message transmission. The Auto Healing capability of BizTalk360 allowed most issues to be fixed even before they were realized.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
.png)
Case Study
Improving Vending Machine Profitability with the Internet of Things (IoT)
The vending industry is undergoing a sea change, taking advantage of new technologies to go beyond just delivering snacks to creating a new retail location. Intelligent vending machines can be found in many public locations as well as company facilities, selling different types of goods and services, including even computer accessories, gold bars, tickets, and office supplies. With increasing sophistication, they may also provide time- and location-based data pertaining to sales, inventory, and customer preferences. But at the end of the day, vending machine operators know greater profitability is driven by higher sales and lower operating costs.
Case Study
Series Production with Lot-size-1 Flexibility
Nobilia manufactures customized fitted kitchens with a lot size of 1. They require maximum transparency of tracking design data and individual processing steps so that they can locate a particular piece of kitchen furniture in the sequence of processes.
Case Study
American Eagle Achieves LEED with GE LED Lighting Fixtures
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) was in the process of building a new distribution center. The AEO facility management team decided to look at alternate options for lighting layout that could provide energy and maintenance savings. AEO would need a full-time maintenance employee just to replace burned-out fluorescent tubes.
Case Study
Revolutionizing Rodent Control
From pet- and child-safe traps, to touch-free and live-catch rodent control solutions, Victor continues to stay committed to producing superior products that meet the varying needs of today’s pest control professionals. And, with a long standing history supporting customers in the food processing, service, and retail settings, Victor knew that strict regulations were costing organizations thousands of dollars in excess overhead trying to manage their rodent-control solutions. Trap inspections in these environments are often difficult and time consuming, requiring personnel to manually check a trap’s status multiple times per day, amounting to over six hours of manual labor. Victor is looking for an innovative way to increase operational efficiencies with the use of technology.
