The focus of CSK Auto's Portal Strategy is the integration of personnel, business processes, information, and applications. The company needed a way to provide managers and executives with flexible and customizable views of the company's key performance indicators. CSK selected IBM's WebSphere Portal software as the platform for the project. This ambitious technology goal also required portal experts to design, install, configure and develop the vision. To accomplish this, CSK Auto selected Isos Technology as their portal experts to exploit Isos' portal knowledge to help ensure the project's success.

Isos Technology – Simplifying the View
Among the most impressive pieces of functionality built into CSK's portal is the ability for any manager to request real time sales information across the entire company and then drill down by organizational units (Division, Region, District and Stores). At the same time, managers can track inventory without needing to open up a new terminal window or browser with a separate login to gather critical information. Isos consultants exercised their expertise with open-source Java frameworks along with their portal experience to provide this functionality. This level of functionality helps a large company like CSK Auto become more responsive and efficient.

"Isos Technology provided consultants with the abilities needed to address the complexities that come with any progressive technical endeavor. Their consultants supplied more than just development expertise; they were integral during the whole life cycle, from installation to deployment of our portal environment. When portal fix-packs were required, the Isos consultants worked closely with IBM to make sure our project remained on track. The Isos team was paramount to the success of our Enterprise portal project."
- Mike Amidei, Vice President of Information Systems

Benefits To CSK
So what has CSK Auto achieved? A much simpler, integrated work environment with access to applications through a single user interface, an integrated work environment without concern for the complexities of back-end integration; improved knowledge sharing and employee productivity. The portal application has provided CSK's managers the flexibility to customize their view of daily sales information along with access to third party portlets that give them regional weather, maps, news, and stock quotes.

"The overall goal was to create a portal that would allow managers to see different views of sales data in a flexible and customizable way. This is what we've accomplished using IBM's Portal Software. Our managers now have instant access to real-time sales numbers from the current hour, week, month, year... they define their view. These ranges can be displayed by company, division, region, district or individual store."

"The impressive part is that my managers can get these numbers in various layouts using online geographically maps, charts, tables, and gauges. It has really changed the way we conceptualize our sales numbers."
- Mike Amidei, Vice President of Information Systems

CSK Auto, Inc
CSK Auto, Inc. owns and operates 1,273 retail auto parts stores in 22 states under the brand names Checker Auto Parts, Schuck's Auto Supply, Kragen Auto Parts, and Murray's Discount Auto Stores. www.cskauto.com

Isos Technology
Isos Technology is a full service professional IT consulting and staffing firm providing flexible and permanent staffing solutions for hiring organizations and career management for job seekers in the IT industry. www.isostechnology.com

• Platform: Dell load balanced servers running SUSE Linux 9.3
• IBM 570 iSeries Database Server
• IBM WebSphere Portal 5.1.0.3
• Java Frameworks: Spring, Hibernate, Velocity, log4j, Quartz and Jakarta Commons
• JSR 168 Portlet Specification
• WSADMIN Scripts: Application Server Automation

When Sallie Mae® acquired Southwest Student Services (SSSC) they realized the need to align the company websites and also the magnitude of the migration to enable the SSSC website to meet Sallie Mae processes. With these goals in mind, SSSC and Sallie Mae required experts in the on-demand application arena to lead the project and steer it toward these objectives. Isos Technology was selected for the project and provided consultants with the skills to make the transition.

Isos Technology Services
With the migration task on the horizon, the Isos consultants quickly evaluated the requirements and completed existing requirements to develop new processes to meet commitments to existing clients. During the first migration phase the consultants provided the technical know how for converting the SSSC website from IBM's WebSphere Application Server (WAS) v4.x to WAS v5.1 on IBM's iSeries servers. This also allowed the development team to migrate their IDE from VisualAge for Java to Rational Application Developer (RAD). In the second migration phase, the consultants now had the task of migrating from WAS v5.1 on the iSeries to a Linux platform hosted in the Sallie Mae data center. Once the application servers had been migrated to the Sallie Mae platforms the Isos team began the final phase of integrating the SSSC web applications with the Sallie Mae applications, and final completed the goals by transitioning into a support role for the web application of Sallie Mae.

Upon the completion of the final phase, the Isos consultants had successfully completed the objectives of the initial migration plans and in the process prepared the SSSC and Sallie Mae technical team to take over the daily support duties.

Sallie Mae
Sallie Mae®, the nation's leading provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans, has helped millions of Americans achieve their dream of a higher education. The company primarily provides federal and private student loans, including consolidation loans, for undergraduate and graduate students and their parents. www.salliemae.com

Southwest Student Service Corporation
For over 24 years, Southwest Student Services Corporation has remained a key resource for many students and families seeking information about college planning, scholarships, and federal or private financial aid. www.sssc.com

Isos Technology
Isos Technology is a full service professional IT consulting and staffing firm providing flexible and permanent staffing solutions for hiring organizations and career management for job seekers in the IT industry. www.isostechnology.com

• J2EE
• Platform: IBM iSeries
• Linux
• IBM WebSphere Application Server v4.x
• IBM WebSphere Application Server v5.1
• Visual Age for Java
• WebSphere Application Developer
• Java Frameworks: Spring, Hibernate, Struts, log4j, Quartz and Jakarta Commons
• WSADMIN Scripts: Application Server Automation.

• Isos Technology Joins Liferay Partner Program
• Training and Support for Google Apps
• Isos Technology hires David Wierbiki as Director of User Exp