Xerox by: MCC International

Company: Tally SystemsCustomer: XeroxSubmitted by: MCC InternationalDate: December 1999Xerox is a world leader in document management systems. Since 1960 the company has lead the field in developing new technologies and was the first company to develop the plain paper photocopier. Decade on decade it has been at the forefront of document reproduction and distribution, and is now leading the industry into the digital age by pioneering the electronic document management market.

At the heart of the company’s UK operation is its Manufacturing division, based in Mitcheldean near Gloucester, and like any major manufacturing organisation, it’s heavily reliant on its IT infrastructure, as Technical Manager Tony Scott explains:”The site currently employees 2,000 people, about half of whom work across a Local Area Network of approximately 700 PCs. With a network this size, standardisation of desktops ­ – hardware and software – is difficult and the only practical way of providing the IT teams with accurate information on the health of the network and the necessary data for planning IT budgets is a regular audit. This data is also necessary for accounting purposes to ensure we have a complete record of assets.”Prior to the installation of NetCensus from Tally Systems, Tony and his team carried out manual audits, checking the configurations of each PC at the desktop, however manually auditing 700 PCs has serious cost implications for both time and resources, and in 1996 as part of a site audit conducted by a third part contractor, RTM Ltd, Xerox Manufacturing switched to NetCensus.NetCensus is the crucial first step in virtually any important IT project, Windows 2000 migration compliance and Euro conversion, through to software and hardware migrations, infrastructure planning and cost-effective software licence management. In a large corporate environment such as Xerox, the simple act of gathering an inventory of IT systems and software is an immensely difficult task.

Negotiating software licences, upgrading the IT infrastructure, supporting dispersed resources, unifying corporate software and internet policy…all of these projects are unworkable without PC Asset Management tools that show what hardware and software there is, where it is, how it is being used and how it can be managed more efficiently.”RTM recommended NetCensus to us, and we have been very pleased with the results,” said Tony. “One major benefit has been the ability to ensure that our out-sourced PC support is providing good value for money as we are charged on a per-seat basis – NetCensus provides us with accurate information on exactly how many PC’s we have connected to the LAN. Another benefit is the information it provides on our licensing situation. We can now track software licences centrally, which ensure we not only remain legal but also are only paying for the software we are using.”