ADE Enterprise Edition from ADESOFT used by France Telecom Formation to manage its resources

Paris, November 7, 2000 - Managing training sessions involves more than just scheduling human resources. There are also numerous logistical issues, such as reserving rooms, computer and audiovisual systems.To manage this infrastructure, France Telecom Formation chose ADE Enterprise from ADESOFT.

ADE Enterprise Edition, a multifunction tool

ADE Enterprise Edition is a widely-used schedule management package for organizing training sessions. But the ADESOFT program can manage more than just human resources. It can also handle all the logistical aspects related to physical resources. It's for this very purpose that France Telecom Formation uses ADE Enterprise Edition: reserving rooms and equipment during training sessions (PC workstations, audiovisual equipment, etc.). "On average, we organize 160 training sessions every week. For each session, we must locate an available room and all the equipment required for training", explained Olivier Laporte, Manager of Resource Management at France Telecom Formation.
Before using ADE Enterprise Edition, everything was done by hand: a wall-mounted schedule and colored sheets were used to allocate resources. Besides creating frequent errors, this method was long and laborious, and above all it did not allow any long-term planning. "Today, we can find an available room for a session in Paris in 30 seconds. And we have a much better visibility over time," added Olivier Laporte.

Soon to be used nationwide

Currently only the Paris-Val de Rueil sector uses ADE Enterprise Edition. This region is a full-scale test site for France Telecom Formation, which operates in nine geographical sectors. Schedules for physical resources in Paris can already be viewed from anywhere in France via the Intranet, saving considerable time. Before people had to call the site manager to know if a room or device was available, and the manager was not always reachable. The next step will be taken this fall: having successfully completed the regional test, the system will be extended across all of France via the Intranet. All 250 rooms in the training network will be managed and "visible" from all regions. "We want to make it possible for an agent to view the availability of any resource and organize a training session, no matter where the agent is located or where the session will take place," summarizes Olivier Laporte. The network version of ADE Enterprise Edition provides a response to this requirement: users can manage resources from a single location. According to Olivier Laporte, this feature "allows us to completely restructure the activities in our fast-changing environment."

But this simplified organization also includes a human dimension: the system allows each site manager to control his or her "territory". "With ADE Enterprise Edition, site managers can share their resources without losing control of their geographical territory. This recognition of responsibilities is important for the tool to be accepted by users and to provide optimal efficiency," remarked Olivier Laporte.

Customization

Although the rollout phase is just starting, France Telecom Formation, (which operates as a service provider to France Telecom for training its personnel) began looking for an efficient solution to manage its logistical problems in 1998. At the time, half the sites still used manual methods, and the others used outdated and poorly-suited software. From the first contacts with ADESOFT, it was clear that the ADE Enterprise Edition solution encompassed all their needs, "even beyond the initial requirements in our internal specifications," said Olivier Laporte. Furthermore, France Telecom Formation was attracted by ADE Enterprise Edition for its "flexible interface and ease of use," he added. After an initial in-depth testing phase, the software was customized.

France Telecom Formation asked ADESOFT to make certain changes to the program so that it would mesh perfectly with their requirements and the very specific work habits of its users. The company's internal coding system used for various resources had to be included in ADE Enterprise Edition. ADESOFT worked with the customer to carry out those changes. "ADESOFT's prompt reaction was great," said Olivier Laporte who applauded the company's work: "even our most obscure requests were met. The efficiency of the ADESOFT teams was a real bonus, seeing how hard it can be to modify an existing product."

Gradual integration with the legacy system

One of the more challenging constraints of this project was that the ADESOFT product had to work alongside a legacy application used for scheduling human resources and managing trainee timetables. "For managing schedules, no other outside program could meet our needs. With 160,000 France Telecom agents, each of whom receive five or six days' training per year, there are too many special cases to handle, "explained Olivier Laporte. "That's why this "in-house" tool has been adapted to meet our changing needs for over 20 years. There's no question of letting it go."

Today the internal application and ADE Enterprise Edition work independently. But by adopting ADE Enterprise Edition, the number of data entry tasks has declined: whereas previously some information had to be entered five times, now it is entered just twice. In the long run, an interface will be developed to exchange information between ADE Enterprise Edition and the in-house time management application. This final step, which is already scheduled, will be performed in collaboration with ADESOFT.

About us

ADESOFT develops and markets solutions for managing and organizing complex schedules for human and physical resources. Located next to Paris at Levallois Perret, the ADESOFT team includes 25 people, 10 of whom work on Research & Development. ADESOFT customers include: France Télécom, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Army of Singapore, the French Navy, universities and training centers in France, England, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Asia, GIAT, the US Department of Labor, SMURFIT Europe, Retraites Unies, and the Royal Air Force.

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