Case study
Migrating to next-generation systems
The railroad wanted an experienced consulting company to perform an in-depth analysis of its migration plan to see if it was technically feasibility.
Business problem
One of the largest European railroads developed an innovative approach for the scheduling, planning and operational control of its rail freight transportation. The new approach was fundamentally different from the railroad’s current method of operations and required the development and implementation of new IT technologies. Such a migration is very expensive and highly risky, since the new systems replace several existing systems. The railroad wanted an experienced consulting company to perform an in-depth analysis of its migration plan to see if it was technically feasibility. The railroad also wanted to identify the potential risks of moving forward with this plan and how it could mitigate such risks. Optym partnered with a global management consulting company and brought its deep railroad insight to this project.
Our approach
We established a team of business and IT experts with in-depth domain expertise and prior experience in developing software solutions for the railroad industry. Next, we analyzed the railroad’s blueprint in detail and interviewed different stakeholders to understand business goals and priorities. We performed a feasibility analysis of the plan, where we identified risks with the current approach and reformulated project task orders and milestones. We also suggested several ways to mitigate these risks. By working closely with the client to assess the outcomes of the study, we identified the work plan to go forward and summarized our findings in an extensive project report.
Key benefits
- The client re-evaluated and re-prioritized its work plan based on the risks we identified in the study.
- The client modified its resource planning after we demonstrated the current plan was infeasible for the resources provided.
Results
Our execution plan incorporated our best recommended practices. The client undertook the project after this evaluation process. The client was very satisfied by our final report and gave highly positive feedback on the project outcome.
