Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Hallmark Cards Boosts Merchandiser Efficiency 10 Percent with Mobile Databases DaDatabases
Overview
Country or Region:United States
Industry:Retail
Customer Profile
Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Hallmark Cards sells its products in nearly 44,000 retail outlets in the United States, and generates consolidated net revenues of U.S.$4.4 billion.
Business Situation
Hallmark needed to find a better handheld device for use by its 10,000 retail merchandisers who service Hallmark product displays in some 30,000 mass merchandising stores, including food and drug stores.
Solution
Hallmark deployed a new handheld device with a product database hosted on Microsoft® SQL ServerTM 2000 Windows® CE Edition running on the Microsoft Windows® CE operating system.
Benefits
Ability to give workers the data they need
Faster card sorting
10 percent gain in productivity
Rapid developer response / “We expect INFOLink, with its SQL Server CE database, to greatly enhance the daily work of merchandisers, while saving the company substantially through increased productivity.”
Steve Paoletti, Senior Vice President, Hallmark
Hallmark Cards sells its products in nearly 44,000 retail outlets in the United States, including 30,000 mass merchandisers, such as discount, food, and drug stores. The company employs 10,000 part-time retail merchandisers (RMs) who stock new deliveries, place orders, and sort misplaced cards into their proper display pockets. When the company needed to replace the aging handheld devices RMs used, it worked with Field Performance Group, a Microsoft Certified Partner, to create a solution called INFOLink that runs on a mobile device hosting Microsoft® SQL ServerTM 2000 Windows® CE Edition. The Hallmark corporate database, hosted on SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, can synchronize regularly with the 60 megabyte database of the mobile device. The mobile database has helped RMs gain a 10 percent boost in productivity as measured in studies against the old devices.
Situation
Hallmark Cards, Inc., the world’s largest personal expression company, which is best known for helping people express their feelings and connect with others, was founded in January 1910 by Joyce C. Hall. In 2004, Hallmark reported consolidated net revenues of U.S.$4.4 billion, and Hallmark enjoys a greater-than-50-percent share of the U.S. greeting card market. Worldwide, Hallmark has more than 18,000 full-time employees, with about 4,500 working at the Kansas City, Missouri, headquarters.
Hallmark personal expression products are found in nearly 42,000 retail outlets in the United States. About 5,700 are specialty stores, 4,200 of which are certified Hallmark Gold Crown® stores; another 30,000 are mass merchandise retailers, including discount, food, and drug stores.
The company uses some 10,000 part-time retail merchandisers (RMs) to visit mass merchandisers, such as Safeway and Wal-Mart, to ensure the card racks are well stocked and that party items, gift wrap, and other Hallmark products are properly displayed. RMs work an average of 10 hours per week, and they service about three stores each. RM duties include ordering cards, stocking new deliveries, removing after-season inventory, and sorting misplaced cards back into the proper card pockets on the display racks.
For several years, Hallmark had equipped its RMs with handheld devices for scanning barcodes and collecting product order information that was later transferred by modem to corporate headquarters. But the devices, based on the MS-DOS®operating system, had limited memory and functionality that meant too much work was still done on paper and tracked in three-ring binders. Additionally, the devices were nearing the end of their product life. “They were old and the failure rates were going up,” says Dan Ferrell, IT Business Manager at Hallmark. “The devices were based on 15-year-old technology and had a very closed environment. We needed something better.”
The old devices also lacked the ability to host a product database to help RMs with the persistent chore of straightening up card displays. "Our old devices couldn’t help our RMs with misplaced cards, and this was a major drawback," says Scott O'Dell, IT Business Development Director at Hallmark. "Some of our mass channel accounts have card displays spanning multiple aisles. To find the proper location for a misplaced card, RMs had to visually match the cards, which added time to the straightening portion of their store visits."
As the company looked toward its next-generation handheld device, it wanted something that could:
Support a mobile database so that RMs could scan a card’s barcode and immediately determine in which display rack pocket it belonged.
Provide inventory, ordering, and shipment data.
Support two-way messaging between managers and RMs.
Easily synchronize with Hallmark’s master databases.
Solution
Hallmark has deployed a new generation of handheld devices to its entire RM force in the United States. The devices run a custom application called INFOLink that gives RMs access to electronic reordering, real-time inventory information, delivery updates, store display charts that help RMs maintain merchandise displays, and two-way messaging.
INFOLink was created for Hallmark by Field Performance Group, a Microsoft Certified Partner. The software runs on a mobile device that can be used with one hand while holding a card or other product in the other—a method thatis more efficient than using the old pen-based device, which required two hands to operate.
Client
The INFOLink application was developed by using Microsoft®Visual Studio® .NET 2003 development system and the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. The solution includes Microsoft SQL ServerTM 2000 Windows® CE Edition (SQL Server CE) version 2.0 running on the Microsoft Windows CE operating system version 3.0. SQL Server 2000 is part of Microsoft Windows Server SystemTM integrated server software. INFOLink is hosted on a rugged Intermec CN1 mobile device with 256 megabytes (MB) of flash card storage that holds, on average, a 60MB Hallmark account and product database. The device is designed to work with function keys rather than alphanumeric code to make it easier for RMs to enter data, and has a built-in Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode scanner.
Server
Field Performance Group serves as an application service provider, and maintains the central database in order to handle all the information required to support the INFOLink mobile devices. The company hosts the database on SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition Microsoft running on the Windows ServerTM2003 Enterprise Edition operating system, the foundation of the Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server software. The database runs on an IBM xSeries 365 4way server with 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and is located at Field Performance Group’s headquarters in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. A second copy of the database is hosted at Hallmark’s corporate headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. The two servers are connected through a virtual private network (VPN).
“We have two sites to provide redundancy,” says Tom Bradshaw, Vice President for Technology at Field Performance Group. “The databases are synchronized, using the log shipping feature of SQL Server 2000. At anytime, either database can be considered the primary site and the other, the secondary site.”
An INFOLink mobile device can be connected during a communication session to the secondary location in a read-only mode to pull information. Data being pushed to the secondary site is sent to a write-once database that then passes the updates on to the primary site.
“In this setup, the primary site can be taken down for maintenance and the secondary site will be fully operational for the devices to transmit,” Bradshaw says. “Should a disaster occur at the primary site, the secondary site can be switched to the primary site, and the old primary site can be brought up as the secondary site.”
The database is updated throughout the day with information—including shipment updates and new product news—from Hallmark’s IT data center. The data is processed and made available to be pulled when an INFOLink mobile device connects. The connecting mobile device determines what updates should be sent, depending on the last connection, geographic location, and role-based business rules. The data is sent down to the INFOLink mobile device by using the SQL Server Remote Data Access (RDA) feature. During the same session, the mobile device does an “RDA Push” to send up any data collected by the RM’s device since the last connection. Information received by the central server is processed and forwarded to Hallmark’s internal servers for order fulfillment and payroll purposes.
Reporting
Field Performance Group also developed a Web portal that runs SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services reports against the SQL Server 2000 database. This service allows managers to see a number of reports, including detailed data collected during storevisits,service exceptions (based on planned coverage) showing accounts not visited, and aggregated responses to queries sent to RMs in the field. The portal is also used for sending messages to RMsby using an application created by Field Performance Group.
Workflow
Before beginning a work day, an RM plugs his or her INFOLink mobile device into a phone jack, presses two buttons, and automatically connects with a Hallmark SQL Server 2000 database, which synchronizes the mobile device’s data and downloads any messages from the RM’s manager. Messages might include product queries or updates on promotional programs. And, before going to a specific store to stock new inventory, an RM can download shipping information and verify that the shipment has been received.
During the day, the RM uses the built-in bar code scanner to reorder cards and other products. Because the INFOLink mobile device has a complete product catalog linked to the display case pocket data, the RM can simply scan the back of a misplaced card and see exactly where it needs to go.
At the end of the day, the RM plugs the INFOLink mobile device into a phone jack, and INFOLink transmits stock orders, query replies, and other data created during store visits, while synchronizing with the database and picking up new messages.Average connect time ranges from 179 seconds for a 1.3 MB data transfer, to 400 seconds for 5 MB.
Benefits
Hallmark Cards has enjoyed a number of benefits since deploying its INFOLink solution, including: the ability to give workers the data they need, faster card sorting, a 10 percent gain in RM productivity, and the ability for its partner developers to rapidly respond to requests for enhancements and new features.
Ability to Give Workers the Data They Need
With SQL Server CE running on the INFOLink mobile devices, Hallmark RMs literally have information at their fingertips—60 MB of information. The portable database has made their jobs easier and helped them to become even more efficient.
“We weren’t able to keep any store inventory data on our old systems,” says Scott O’Dell, IT Business Development Director at Hallmark Cards. “You could scan cards and get a summation of dollar value for inventorytaking purposes, but the device couldn’t provide the RM with the actual on-hand inventory in the store, or provide product mapping to display rack pockets, or provide shipping data or a whole range of other key information tracking options that we have on our new INFOLink mobile devices. Our RMs appreciate having the data they need to better do their jobs in the field.”
The data is available nearly instantly. “We’ve been very happy with the performance of SQL Server CE,” says Bradshaw. “The database is extremely quick. A typical SQL query against the 60 megabyte database takes only two-tenths of a second. Using SQL CE RDA, we have been able to get the typical modem transmission time down―under 3 minutes, which is incredibly efficient given the amount of data that needs to be replicated.”
Faster Card Sorting
Anyone who has ever browsed through greeting cards and had difficulty finding the right place to put a card back on the rack can appreciate the challenge RMs face when dealing with perhaps 5,000 card pockets. Because a significant part of an RM’s store visit is spent returning misplaced cards to their proper pockets, Hallmark was eager to see the effect of giving RMs a mobile device that would help with that chore.
“We did time and motion studies in a pilot program, timing how long it took an RM to complete various tasks using the old device and the new one,” says O’Dell. “We don’t publish our findings, but it is certainly faster for an RM to scan a misplaced card now that he or she can just scan the barcode, press one button, and see exactly which pocket the card belongs in. Multiply that time savings across 10,000 RMs, and the ROI [return on investment] from just this one benefit becomes essentially immediate.”
The ability to more quickly sort misplaced cards has also resulted in a reduction in discarded product. Discards were especially common when the misplaced card happened to be the last one in its designated pocket, so there was nothing against which to visually match it. On other occasions, RMs could be overwhelmed by the volume of cards that needed re-sorting. “An RM might walk into a large retailer after a weekend to find a shopping cart filled with cards that had been misplaced and left in other areas of the store,” says Ferrell. “The SQL Server CE database sitting on the INFOLink mobile device gives our RMs the information they need to quickly resolve a range of problems that used to create roadblocks.”
The ability to resolve something as seemingly simple as returning a card to its proper place is essential to efficient operations. “Before, when a card was discarded, it created a loss far greater than a single card,” says Bradshaw. “If the card was the last one in a pocket, an RM might allow the pocket to stay empty for days or weeks or more before looking up what was supposed to go there, and reordering. Empty card pockets can add up to serious lost opportunities when multiplied across thousands of stores. SQL Server CE on the mobile device and SQL Server 2000 on our back-end servers are helping to eliminate the problem.”
10 Percent Gain in Productivity
Hallmark's pilot testing, with its head-to-head comparison of the old and new devices, showed a boost in RM productivity across all tasks. “Overall, we saw a productivity increase of 10 percent using SQL Server CE and INFOLink,” says Ferrell. “With RMs working an average of 10 hours per week, the new solution promises to free up 1 hour a week per RM. When you multiply this 10percent boost across Hallmark's 10,000 RMs, you end up with a significant gain in productivity.”
The company has also been impressed with the efficiencies built into the device’s two-way messaging system, which was created by Field Performance Group and is supported by SQL Server CE on the mobile device and SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server Reporting Services on the server. Messages returning from the field can be forwarded to a manager’s e-mail account by using Microsoft Exchange Server2003. “We expect INFOLink, with its SQL Server CE database, to greatly enhance the daily work of merchandisers, while saving the company substantially through increased productivity,” says Steve Paoletti, Senior Vice President at Hallmark. “Add to that improved retail execution, expanded communication features and other job efficiencies, and INFOLink became a very clear benefit.”
Rapid Developer Response
A key element of the program’s success has been the ability of Field Performance Group’s developers to quickly respond to Hallmark design requests. “We’ve been able to be extremely responsive to our customer because SQL Server CE and Windows CE provide such a solid deployment platform and because Visual Studio .NET is such a userfriendly developer environment,” says Stuart Blades, President of Field Performance Group. “From the earliest days of the project, when Hallmark asked for something, we were able to deliver it within weeks—instead of the months and longer it might take using other technology. Working with Microsoft .NET–connected technology has given us huge advances in developer productivity.”
Hallmark likes the speed with which it can react to the need for changes. “One of the most impressive elements about our new environment, over what we had before, is the speed with which we can react and make changes and correct problems, or deliver new enhancements,” says O’Dell. “Working with Field Performance Group, we can literally fix a program bug or deliver a new enhancement, overnight, to 10,000 people. Field Performance Group has been really dynamic to work with. Their software development turnaround time and putting together the platform was extremely fast.”
Microsoft Windows Server System