Microsoft Case Study On Hr Ease

1. Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
Customer Solution Case Study
Application Service Provider Moves from Linux
to Windows, Cuts Downtime 95 Percent
“With Windows, we have a more reliable environment
Overview
that serves us and our customers better than Linux did
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Technology
and costs less, too. What could be better than that?”
Customer Profile
Suzanne Gill, Founder and President, HR-ease
Tampa, Florida–based HR-ease, with 11
employees, offers a leading application
service provider–hosted solution for
human resources and benefits
management.
HR-ease offers its online human resources management tool in an
ASP hosting model. When a third party began hosting the
Business Situation
HR-ease had moved to a Linux environ-
computers for the solution, the solution became unreliable, and
ment for added security—but the result
customers couldn’t access their applications and data. The
was less security, less reliability, and dis-
satisfied customers.
problems arose because the Windows®-based servers that HR-ease
executives thought were being used on their behalf were really
Solution
The company moved to a purely Windows®-
Linux servers running images of Windows-based servers. The
based environment hosted by Microsoft®
company’s solution was to change its hosting provider. Now,
Gold Certified Partner Bayshore Solutions.
Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Bayshore Solutions gives HR-ease
Benefits
a purely Windows-based environment with greater reliability,
 Cuts downtime by 95 percent
 Speeds customer service by 400 percent
enhanced security, and less complexity and cost. Downtime is
 Boosts customer base 250 percent
reduced by 95 percent and customer responsiveness is 400
 Reduces hosting costs by 50 percent
percent faster. It’s no surprise, then, that the company’s customer
base and revenues have soared 250 percent. As a bonus, hosting
costs have been cut in half.

2. “We have far more Situation database software, began to experience
In just six years, Tampa, Florida–based problems that HR-ease had never seen
uptime on Windows than HR-ease has grown so fast that it makes before. Memory leaks would cause the SQL
we ever had on Linux. business success look easy. The company Server database server and the Internet
now provides its Web-based human Information Services Web server to stop
The Windows-based resources (HR) and benefits management responding. HR-ease had to restart the
environment simply tool to more than 300 U.S. corporations and software frequently, which interrupted
organizations with more than 200,000 customers’ access to their data and
works every day, just like employees combined. applications.
the desktop PC in front
The software gives employees and managers That wasn’t the only problem. Multiprocessor
of me.” Internet-based access to enroll employees in computers were operating like sluggish,
benefit programs online and to view, update, single-processor machines. Gill was told that
Hank Gill, Chief Technology Officer, HR-ease
and modify their data anywhere, anytime. HR- specific software components couldn’t be
ease software runs in a hosted application moved to separate drives to improve
service provider (ASP) model. The company performance. Tests to trace the problems
creates and maintains a custom portal, yielded inconsistent results. Furthermore,
software solution, and database for each repeated meetings with representatives of
customer, which the customer then accesses the hosting company failed to solve the
over the Internet. problems.
Although HR-ease provides its software “We’re an ASP,” says Gill. “Our customers
solution in an ASP hosting model, the put their data into the application, and they
company has never physically hosted its own expect to see it reflected in real time in their
server computers. Instead, the company reports and screens. Instead, things were
focuses on developing and managing its locking up, getting stuck. The customers
solution, and it outsources the physical couldn’t log on. It was a customer-relations
hosting to a third-party data center. After two nightmare.”
years, with business booming, HR-ease Chief
Technology Officer (CTO) Hank Gill felt that The nightmare became all too real when
the company couldn’t afford to risk that one of the company’s oldest and largest
business growth by securing customer data customers, a major health insurance
and applications with anything less than provider, dropped HR-ease due to the
complete protection from Internet threats. technology problems. The customer was
the company’s primary reference account;
Gill and his colleagues found a hosting its loss would not only immediately affect
company that promised a Linux-based revenue, but also make it tougher for
firewall for that level of protection, and they HR-ease to attract new customers.
moved their solution to take advantage of it.
A Troubling Breakthrough
Behaving Strangely Gill insisted that the hosting provider let him
That’s when the solution began to behave troubleshoot the computers himself, which
strangely, according to Gill. The company’s led to a breakthrough: The so-called
software, which was developed using the Windows-based servers on which the
Microsoft® .NET Framework and ran on the company’s solution was running weren’t
Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server operating running Windows after all—they were Linux-
system and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 based virtual images of Windows-based

3. “The move to a purely No Worries with Windows
servers. The hosting company was running
HR-ease software on VMware images on “I have to admit, we were worried about
Windows-based Debian v3.0 Linux because those images switching back to the Microsoft environment,
environment has were easy for the hosting provider’s Linux- because we’d had problems when we moved
savvy staff to manage—even though that over to the Linux environment in the first
enabled us to be far meant the environment couldn’t provide the place,” says CTO Gill. “We had spent
more responsive to performance that Gill knew he should have thousands of dollars morphing our Microsoft-
been getting from genuine Windows-based based application so it could perform in the
customers and to offer servers. Linux environment. But the migration back to
them the real-time Microsoft was smooth and straightforward.
“Linux didn’t recognize multiple CPUs and We needn’t have worried.”
access that they want volumes when they were available, which
and deserve.” limited performance,” says Gill. “Even worse, The migration to the Bayshore Windows-
Linux added a layer of complexity that slowed based data center took place over three
Suzanne Gill, Founder and President, HR-ease us down further—for example, the executable months in 2004. An early step was
files that Linux needed to recognize the documenting the solution and assessing the
Windows-based server image and hardware requirements for unfettered
synchronize files were CPU-intensive and performance of the software. As a result,
grabbed up to 90 percent of the CPU.” HR-ease moved onto a five-computer
configuration of Dell PowerEdge 750, 850,
“We had thought that we were using Linux and 2850 computers. The company’s
only for an extra security layer,” says Windows-based software now can take full
company Founder and President Suzanne advantage of the dual-processor computers,
Gill. “Instead, Linux was running—and ruining multiple hard disks—up to six per machine—
—our solution. Linux was costing us and up to 2 gigabytes of RAM per server.
customers and threatening our future.”
The HR-ease solution runs on two front-end
Solution Web server computers plus a database
Once HR-ease understood why its software server computer, with a staging environment
wasn’t performing as expected, and that the consisting of a single Web server computer
hosting provider was committed to the Linux and database server computer. Those last
environment despite the drawbacks of that two computers also serve as failover servers
environment for HR-ease, company for the primary production environment.
executives felt they had no choice but to
change providers once again. Part of what made the migration so smooth,
according to Gill, was Bayshore’s use of
They turned to Bayshore Solutions, a Microsoft best practices. “Our Linux hosting
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with offices provider viewed Windows as something they
throughout the southeastern United States. had to run for the sake of our solution, but
Bayshore Chief Technology Officer Steve there seemed to be no thought given to how
Hasselbach worked with CTO Hank Gill and the Windows-based environment should be
his colleagues on a migration plan that would managed for optimum performance,” says
bring the HR-ease solution to a purely Gill. “With Bayshore, we saw professionals
Microsoft-based environment hosted by with a thorough understanding of how to
Bayshore and based on the Windows Server® configure and tune the Windows-based
2003 operating system. environment for maximum performance.”

4. “Linux didn’t recognize For example, interdomain trust is a significant considering the use of this technology.
issue in a solution that’s accessed by “Microsoft Virtual Server will give us added
multiple CPUs and customers on the other side of the Internet. flexibility to get even more performance out
volumes when they Bayshore employed Microsoft best practices of SQL Server, for example, by offloading
for trust between domains to help speed reporting to a virtual server,” says Gill.
were available, which data flow through the solution. As a result, “And we’ll be able to scale out the front
limited our performance. HR-ease customers can input their data and end of our solution even more, by moving
then access it from the Bayshore computers some of our larger customers onto dedicated
Even worse, Linux added in real time. virtual servers.”
a layer of complexity that
Benefits
Microsoft Technologies for
slowed us down even Manageability By moving from the Linux environment to a
further.” The HR-ease solution and its Windows-based purely Windows-based environment, HR-ease
environment now are maintained using a has seen reliability and customer service
Hank Gill, Chief Technology Officer, HR-ease range of Microsoft technologies, including soar, which has contributed to growth in
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and customers and revenue. As an added benefit,
Windows Software Update Services. costs have declined, too.
Cuts Downtime by 95 Percent
“With Microsoft Operations Manager, we can
monitor the solution and identify potential With its Linux-based hosting provider,
problems before they degrade performance,” HR-ease experienced 5 to 10 hours of
says Hasselbach. “The use of Software unplanned downtime per week. After moving
Update Services helps ensure that the to the purely Windows-based environment,
solution is quickly and fully updated against the company was able to eliminate 95 to 98
newly discovered security threats.” percent of that downtime.
Gill and Hasselbach are planning to expand “I know that Linux is supposed to be more
the HR-ease deployment at Bayshore by reliable than Windows, but our experience
adopting additional Microsoft technologies. was exactly the opposite,” says CTO Hank Gill.
For example, Gill is interested in the use of “We have far more uptime on Windows than
Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services to we ever had on Linux. The Windows-based
expand HR-ease portals with workspace environment simply works every day, just like
capabilities. “We have customers who are the desktop PC in front of me. We don’t see
themselves distributed geographically,” says any more paralyzing crashes in the middle of
Gill. “Giving them more functional portals, the day that take hours to recover from.”
portals that allow their employees not only to
access information, but also to work together Windows Load Balancing facilitates respon-
productively, makes our solution a bigger part siveness, and failover clustering helps to
of their success. And Windows SharePoint ensure uptime in the event of server failure.
Services will enable us to do that.” Another factor contributing to greater uptime
for the HR-ease solution is the enhanced
Given his company’s traumatic experience security that Gill has observed in the
with virtual technology in the Linux world, it’s Windows-based environment.
ironic that Gill sees Windows-based virtual
technology—specifically, Microsoft Virtual “Our Linux hosting provider didn’t believe
Server 2005—as one key to his company’s Windows could be secure, so it never
continued growth. The company is currently implemented an update management system

5. “We don’t see any more to ensure that security,” he says. “But with created in three weeks—400 percent faster.
the best practices employed by Bayshore Similarly, databases that formerly took 30
paralyzing crashes in the Solutions, including a comprehensive security minutes to bring online after backup now are
middle of the day that update management solution, we simply restored in a few minutes, further facilitating
don’t have downtime from malicious customers’ real-time access to data.
take hours to recover software. And I don’t have to spend my time
from.” tracking updates or worrying that installing an “By eliminating Linux in the middle of our
update will break something else—as I did solution, we’ve streamlined the way we do
Hank Gill, Chief Technology Officer, HR-ease with Linux. The security solution is automated business and we can respond far faster to
and it just works.” our customers,” continues Gill. “Better
customer service is one of the biggest
Bayshore’s Hasselbach notes that although benefits we could see from the move to
Linux was sold to HR-ease as a security Windows.”
asset, it was actually a liability to the
company. “The purely Windows-based That benefit doesn’t stop once a new
environment means there’s only one customer portal is created. Continuing
environment to secure,” he says. “When customization and customer support are
Linux is thrown into the mix, suddenly there faster and easier, as well. Senior
are two environments to protect—and twice Programmer/Analyst Beverley Smith says that
the potential vulnerabilities. And if Linux- customer requests that formerly took hours
trained staff don’t understand Windows, to accommodate now are handled in 15
you’re exposed from the standpoint of minutes. She updates the solution daily; in
managed services.” the Linux environment, the extra complexity
and processes meant she could only
Improves Customer Response disseminate updates once a week. The 500
Time by 400 Percent percent increase in the frequency of updates
Now that HR-ease has moved its solution means that customers see their requests for
from Linux to Windows, HR-ease customers new Web pages or other changes on the
no longer get locked out of their data and same day that they make the requests, rather
are thus more satisfied with the solution. than a week later.
But that’s not the only benefit customers
are seeing. “Our ability to respond to customers went
from being a competitive liability to a
“The move to a purely Windows-based competitive advantage when we moved from
environment has enabled us to be far more Linux to Windows,” says Gill.
responsive to customers and to offer them
Boosts Customer Base 250 Percent
the real-time access that they want and
deserve,” says President Suzanne Gill. By addressing the problems with Linux that
drove customers away, HR-ease has used
For example, because of the extra complexity its reliance on a purely Windows-based
of the Linux environment and the environment to help build its business. Its
requirement to work through the previous customer base grew by 250 percent in the
provider’s Linux staff, it took HR-ease three two years after the move to Windows—as did
months to create a custom portal for a new its revenues.
customer. Now, because HR-ease staff can
access the Windows-based environment “The major customer that we lost because of
directly, the same customer portal can be the problems with Linux came back to us

6. For More Information Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
specifically because we proved to them that
For more information about Microsoft our use of Windows solved the reliability For more information about the Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft problems,” says Gill. “Our other customers server product portfolio, go to:
Sales Information Center at (800) also clearly preferred to have us on Windows. www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx
426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft They were suspicious of Linux, whereas
Canada Information Centre at (877) Microsoft is world-renowned and gave them
568-2495. Customers who are deaf or complete confidence in our solution.”
hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text
Reduces Hosting Costs 50 Percent
telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800)
892-5234 in the United States or (905) HR-ease didn’t migrate from Linux to
568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 Windows to reduce its costs—but it got that
United States and Canada, please contact benefit, too. Its monthly hosting fee for the
your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access Windows-based environment is 50 percent of
information using the World Wide Web, go the fee it paid for Linux and its maintenance
to: www.microsoft.com fee—the fee it pays for additional work
required to maintain the solution—is lower
For more information about Bayshore too. Factoring in the growth in its customer
Solutions products and services, call (813) base, its cost per customer on Windows is
902-0141 or visit the Web site at: just 10 percent of its former cost on Linux.
www.bayshoresolutions.com
“The 50 percent cost savings we see from
For more information about HR-ease moving to Windows makes a big difference to
products and services, call (813) us,” says Gill. “It’s one of our most important
414-0036 or visit the Web site at: savings and, as we’re a small company, it’s
www.hr-ease.com very important. Beyond the lower fees, we’re
also saving money because we can imple-
ment changes directly in Windows that we
had to pay separately to have others
implement for us in Linux. With Windows, we
have a more reliable environment that serves
us and our customers better than Linux did
and costs less, too. What could be better
than that?”
Software and Services − Microsoft Internet Information Services
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio 6.0

− Windows Server 2003 Enterprise − Windows Software Update Services
Edition
Hardware
− Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
− Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Dell PowerEdge 2850 computers

 Technologies Dell PowerEdge 750, 850 computers

− Microsoft .NET Framework
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published December 2006