Jumping in at the deep end
If you want to learn about locks and fittings, you have to go to Velbert. The small town in the Bergisches Land region was already known in the 18th century for the craftsmanship of its locksmiths - documented in the local "Lock and Fittings Museum", probably the only one of its kind in the whole of Germany. The fact that Wilka products are also exhibited there is well known and should come as no surprise: the Velbert-based family business has been manufacturing locks, cylinders and locking systems for six generations and sells them worldwide under its own brand name.
To be a world leader in technology, the internal organization must be right. This includes modern IT equipment. Wilka's IT department has been virtualizing the 50 servers for around 200 PC and notebook workstations at the Velbert site via VMware for some time; a client management system has also been in use at the company since 2018.
"We had already made several attempts to implement client management with open source software," explains IT Manager René Dumoulin. "However, it was not possible to achieve more than a simple overview and inventory." Soon there was also a desire for a helpdesk system, which ideally should be part of the client management system. When the sixth generation took the helm at Wilka in 2016 with Robert Schlieper as the new Managing Director, the company gained new innovative momentum. The IT department evaluated several client management tools and, after a lengthy test phase, opted for the acmp Suite from aagon.
"The product offered the greatest functionality under one roof - including helpdesk! - and is particularly easy to use," says René Dumoulin, explaining the choice of product.
General exchange baptism of fire
The right time to introduce the client management system had already been identified: every five to six years, Wilka has to replace all of the 80 or so computers in the administration department. New hardware is purchased and the old PCs are moved to production, where they are used as terminals with barcode readers to report production orders back to the ProAlpha ERP system.
In the past, connecting and reconfiguring each of the new administration PCs individually was regularly a mammoth task that took up all of the IT team's time resources. Wilka took the plunge: the new system was able to prove itself immediately after its introduction in mid-2018, as the replacement was scheduled for this very time.
Seven in one go
Wilka's IT service partner unique projects has been advising the company for a long time on all IT and networking issues and also provided support with the introduction of the client management system and training. The IT partner installed all the software required for a typical administrative workstation on three of the brand new computers in the administration department. The acmp Agent was installed on all the others, making it possible to simply transfer the software from the preconfigured computers. In the same way, the old computers intended for production were completely reinstalled with acmp.
Thanks to the new working method, the IT department was able to install seven computers in parallel; the computer replacement was completed in a fraction of the time previously required. Whereas it used to take a day to get a new computer up and running again, Wilka was now able to complete the entire replacement in just two weeks. René Dumoulin estimates time savings of 50 percent per PC.
Once the major replacement was complete, the majority of all computers in the company were connected to the new client management system. The remaining 40 or so devices were gradually upgraded, i.e. they received the acmp agent.
New ones are always configured via the client management system.
If they need help with the new system, Wilka's IT specialists can either turn to unique projects with its in-depth acmp expertise or, in the case of particularly difficult problems, they can also call on aagon's support directly.
All standard applications managed with acmp
The IT department's strategy is to manage as many standard applications as possible via the client management system, such as MS Office, Adobe, ProAlpha, Firefox and other software.
Certain programs such as the SolidWorks CAD system on the design workstations are still updated independently via the SolidWorks administrator image using click-to-run installation. An image is pulled and patched to the other computers - similar to the complaints management program.
"The effort required to do this with the acmp suite would be too great," explains Matthias Kocherscheidt, IT administrator at Wilka. Client management is therefore not used at any price, but only where it makes sense and is economical.
Conclusion
"Apart from the new installation, what helps us enormously in the day-to-day operation of the client management system is the provision of information. All computer data is reliably documented and always up to date," says Matthias Kocherscheidt. "Previously, which computer had which configuration was recorded in Excel tables, some of which were outdated. With the new software, we have the information on one interface and therefore have a perfect overview of what is installed on the clients, what hardware is used, how the licenses are distributed and the like." You can group and sort by different categories: Who has installed which Windows 10 patch, where is an update required and when? The simple filtering by version number provides quick information.
While the client management system is only operated by the five IT specialists, the helpdesk module is open to all Wilka employees. Everyone has a link to the helpdesk input screen on their desktop and can use it to describe their problem. Advantage for the IT department: All tickets are available to them electronically - with a written note on the problem, all contact details of the Wilka employee making the inquiry and a description of the configuration of the client in question. Depending on the priority, IT can process the support cases one by one and distribute them to the relevant IT colleagues. "This means that we are not always torn away from other work ad hoc and do not have to quickly scribble down the problem on a piece of paper when we receive a call, but instead we collect the requests and work through them in a concerted manner at the next opportunity," says IT Manager Dumoulin happily.
Briefly noted:
Attempts to manage client management with open source software have not been satisfactory at Wilka in the past. More than simple overviews and inventories were not possible. With the acmp suite, the company has introduced a functionally very broad software solution that also includes a helpdesk system.
Connected workstations:
200 Windows clients
Products used:
acmp Inventory, acmp Desktop Automation, acmp License Management, acmp OS Deployment, acmp Container Adapter, acmp Contacts Adapter, acmp Asset Management, acmp Vulnerability Management, acmp Helpdesk
Project start:
July 2018
Benefit:
- 50 percent time saving on reinstallation per computer
- 80 new PCs ready for operation within two weeks
- Helpdesk module channels support requests - no more in-between calls and paperwork
About Wilka Schließtechnik GmbH
Wilka Schließtechnik GmbH is a family-owned company in the lock and hardware industry based in Velbert in North Rhine-Westphalia. The company was founded in 1865 under the name of the owner Wilhelm Karrenberg and initially comprised the manufacture of furniture locks. Over the decades, this was expanded to include other locking technology products. In 1990, the later Wilhelm Karrenberg KG became today's Wilka Schließtechnik GmbH, which employs around 300 people at the Velbert site. The annual turnover is over 30 million euros.
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