Catapult Helps SigmaTel Stay in Tune with the MP3 Market
Being first to market with new products and product enhancements is a critical success factor for semiconductor design companies. That’s why SigmaTel, a market and technology leader, is constantly looking for new and better ways to accelerate their product development cycle, through shortened design schedules, streamlined procedures, improved reporting and maximum productivity for engineers, managers and executives.
For SigmaTel’s Core Software Development Team, efficiency is particularly critical to remaining competitive in a constantly changing market. This team develops key software solutions for the company’s product lines including the popular SigmaTel MP3 Audio Decoder Solutions which are highly integrated, battery-optimized Integrated Circuits designed to decode compressed audio files, such as MP3 files. In addition to internal resources, SigmaTel also requires outside resources, such as partners, to fulfill certain design needs. The Core Software Development team will often rely on these partners as a critical tool in helping to lessen the load relating to scheduling challenges.
To improve resource allocation and work scheduling, the SigmaTel Core Software Development team selected a Microsoft-based project management solution, including Microsoft Office Project Server 2003, Project Professional and SharePoint Portal Server.
To implement their product management solution as efficiently as possible, SigmaTel chose to bring in experts trained in enterprise implementations. In addition to enterprise implementation expertise, SigmaTel also needed a partner who could help encourage people to improve the way they work. They chose Catapult Systems to ensure not only the proper implementation of Microsoft Office Project Server technologies, but also the corporate-wide adoption of the new software.
"The Catapult team completed the implementation on time and according to our business objectives. Equally important was their ability to fit themselves to our schedules and way of doing business. This made the whole process easier and more efficient for us."
- Michael Listberger, Director of IT, SigmaTel
Catapult brought to the table a strong track record of success in both the semiconductor industry and the manufacturing supply chain. "The Catapult consultants were able to leverage valuable knowledge that they’d gained with other implementations similar to ours,” said Michael Listberger, Director of IT and SigmaTel. “But they were also very open, very flexible in adapting to our methods and business needs."
The Catapult consultants immediately put together a detailed plan of action that began with discovery and analysis. This included interviewing all stakeholders and carefully defining enterprise resource codes, project fields, views for project schedules and resources and documentation needs.
The software itself was installed on SigmaTel servers without complications. However, as Matthew McDermott, Managing Consultant for Catapult, explained, much more work lay ahead. "Basic installation might take a few hours, but configuration takes a lot of conversations with the right people on how they work so we can adapt the system to meet the client’s unique business needs."
Customization included the design of specific roll-up and activity reports for SigmaTel, as well as out-of-task reports and detailed views of employees’ excess-availability time to help maximize resources. Report customization and other configurations were followed by one-on-one training sessions. As an ISO 9001 company, SigmaTel has specific training procedures. Catapult worked according to these procedures and also scheduled training sessions according to employee availability and team development cycles.
The last project phase involved final review, problem resolution and the important process of mentoring and full knowledge transfer so SigmaTel would be self-sufficient in maintaining their new solution.
Reduced time to market for new products and product enhancements
Better resource utilization and streamlined project schedules due to increased visibility into resource availability
Upfront key resource risk identification and mitigation through improved resource allocation tracking
Quick achievement of business objectives resulting from rapid, easy adoption of technology
Catapult completed the entire implementation on time and on target, from initial discovery to final knowledge transfer. "We needed to create the best project management solution we could find and Catapult helped us achieve that goal," said Listberger. "They always made sure we were on track. I don’t think we would be realizing the full value of our software today without their help."
McDermott added that other SigmaTel teams have come forward and asked to be placed on Microsoft Office Project Server 2003. "We know from experience that success is the strongest selling point in getting everyone to adopt enterprise software," he said. "When the other teams saw how Project Server 2003 was helping the MP3 team, they came on board. We don’t follow the "Big Bang" theory where we go into a business and revolutionize everything. We prefer evolution to revolution. That way, the adoption is much easier and far more effective."