Jeppesen
The Jeppesen Center of Excellence was using manual build processes which were time-consuming and error-prone. Following a strategic objective to introduce consistency to the build process using automation, Jeppesen evaluated a number of tools and selected IBM Rational Build Forge. Based on their longstanding partnership supporting process improvement and implementing automation, Jeppesen hired cognence to implement Build Forge. Over the course of 8 months, cognence helped the Jeppesen Center of Excellence migrate more than half of their projects to Build Forge, resulting in increased accuracy and time savings of up to 94%. Demand for Build Forge within Jeppesen continues.

Highmark
Highmark’s 1700-person IT department had no standard processes, methodologies or modeling in place for software development. Due to inconsistent terminology, various tools and disparate standards, business areas were frustrated and confused. cognence was hired to implement its APEX transformation methodology to develop a standard software development lifecycle using the Rational Unified Process (RUP), supported by the Rational toolset. After assessing the problems within the Highmark organization, cognence established a 25-person coalition to plan and drive consensus on the tailoring and deployment effort. cognence mentored IT employees on the new tools and best practices. Highmark now has a customized RUP supported by the integrated toolset and is able to work on an accelerated schedule.

Countrywide Financial
Countrywide was resource-constrained and needed help deploying Serena Dimensions within the regulatory requirements and time constraints set by the OCC, FRB and Sarbanes-Oxley Act. cognence stepped in and planned the project, designed the system architecture, installed the software, set up licenses and trained the system administrators. cognence also provided training and documentation, and established help desk support. The success of this implementation by cognence led to Countrywide moving initiatives ahead one year and contributed to one of their clients receiving the IT governance excellence award.

StorageTek
Sun/StorageTek was spending a significant amount of time and money on fixing defects rather than developing new systems. Defects can introduce data loss, which effects reliability and, therefore, credibility with their customers. cognence conducted a Cost of Quality Appraisal and set up a guiding coalition within the organization to execute a plan to rectify the problems revealed during the appraisal. cognence initiated a CMMI-based program using RUP to improve StorageTek’s ATS-SE business unit performance. The result was a 35% improvement in productivity, amounting to millions of dollars. Their new process and framework is used across the organization and has improved repeatability, measurement, metrics and effectiveness.

Balboa Insurance Group
Balboa was managing software changes manually, and each development group was using different processes and source control software. This led to labor-intensive, time-consuming and error-ridden releases that couldn’t be automated because of lack of consistency. After cognence stepped in and implemented Serena Dimensions, Balboa experienced enormous speed improvements and the elimination of manual deployment errors altogether. The cognence-initiated deployment process included cross-training, so Balboa is no longer dependent on just one individual and is able to implement these practices company-wide.

IBM Rational ClearCase
This company was conducting a multi-site software development effort in the U.S. and India. cognence's assessment discovered that error messages were being routed to an unmonitored bit bucket for more than a month.  In addition, their backup was compromised and they didn’t have branching set up to support future versions.  cognence fixed the problems without disrupting ongoing development efforts. ClearCase Scheduler now notifies an administrator when there is a problem, developers can work concurrently on separate software versions and work is synchronized several times a day between the two countries.

CVS
This high-tech company did not have in-house experience with the branching functionality that allows development on new software versions to take place while simultaneously fixing bugs in the original code. cognence brought in a configuration management expert who created the capability to merge branches, set up training classes for the developers and wrote a training manual specific to the CVS configuration management tool they were using.  After the engagement was complete, development team members could confidently merge branches and generate reports that post key metrics to a Web site for better visibility into project progress.

Merlin
Merlin was benchmarking their processes through SCAMPI appraisals with an ultimate goal of rating their maturity level.  They lost months of efficiency working with a consultancy whose approach was incompatible with their business processes. cognence was hired to bring them back on track with customized training and consultancy services.  They were able to convert their SCAMPI B appraisal into a SCAMPI A, which resulted in a CMMI maturity level 2 rating. Through effective training and streamlined efforts, cognence saved Merlin more than $30,000 and as much as two months.