RUAG AG

Successful cooperation even in times of crisis

The corona crisis, which has been lasting since the beginning of 2020, has also affected the project business and forced it to rethink and reorganize in many ways. Not least the temporary closure of borders required new ideas for a satisfactory cross-border cooperation. Therefore, we are all the more pleased to report on the successful implementations that TID Informatik GmbH (since 1.11.20 Quanos Service Solutions GmbH) and RUAG AG were able to achieve despite the adverse circumstances.

Company & Initial Situation

The portfolio of RUAG AG Switzerland comprises land & air systems as well as communication/ command & reconnaissance systems. With their technology, they pursue the goal of improving the security of the Swiss Army.

The innovative software for spare parts catalogs and service information systems, CATALOGcreator®, has been successfully in use at RUAG AG since 2011. The cooperation of the project teams has also been extremely cooperative for many years.

Due to a time-consuming project assignment and the upcoming technical challenges at the beginning of 2020, RUAG AG's project team decided to involve TID (Quanos) in the conception, planning and implementation. To realize an upgrade project from CATALOGcreator® 2015 to the latest version, CATALOGcreator® 2020, two on-site meetings took place. The concept and planning phase could be finished before the outbreak of the coronavirus in winter 2019/2020. Quite in contrast to the implementation phase. This was planned for spring 2020. At a time when corona led to lockdowns throughout Europe.

Challenges

Whereas the two on-site meetings in Switzerland at the beginning of the year were still possible, the lockdown prevented further important meetings to start the active implementation phase at RUAG. The situation was further complicated by the fact that desktop or program sharing is not available in the RUAG IT environment for security reasons. The basic installation of the publication software "CATALOGcreator® 2020" including a standard test project was completed in the time before the travel restrictions. All RUAG specific project customizations, like the RUAG Layout (CI) and various adjustments in the publication process as well as in the web application, could therefore not be realized on site. Due to the security requirements, it was not possible for the experts of TID (now Quanos) to access the systems from external systems, let alone work on them. In addition, there was immense time pressure due to the imminent shutdown of the old system.

Solution

Thanks to their technical know-how and very precise instructions, the project managers of TID (now Quanos) were able to achieve the set goals and to continue to guarantee a functioning system without restrictions even without being present on site. Due to the excellent cooperation of all involved parties and the structure of the software CATALOGcreator® with the possibility of a standard installation, the standardized project setup on the file system and the internally maintained project documentation, it was possible to let the customer RUAG carry out these steps by itself without direct access and only by instructions. Even though this procedure was far more complex, the goal of a functioning system was achieved. Small delays had no influence on the achievement of the project goals. As soon as the TID experts were allowed to travel to Switzerland again, the SSO, which was still necessary, was additionally implemented.

"All project goals were achieved to the complete satisfaction of all parties involved", concludes Lukas Baumgartner, Manager Technical IT Systems RUAG AG.

Conclusion

"The cooperation with all TID employees was very pleasant, highly competent, professional and target-oriented. Solutions were found even in unusual situations and implemented pragmatically. We would recommend TID at any time", Lukas Baumgartner, Manager Technical IT- Systems RUAG AG.

We are looking forward to further cooperation and hope for times when personal on-site appointments are part of daily business again.