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Case Study - Christie Lites Client Profile
 Christie Lites is a stage lighting business focused on rentals and production. The company offers its product mix to six different market segments - theatre, concert, tradeshow, TV & film, industrial, and special events. The company's consistent growth over the past 22 years has resulted in the establishment of 9 separate distribution centers across North America. It has become an industry leader in operating a multi-office network of stage lighting shops. Christie Lites has built and packaged a comprehensive product line that stresses the efficient use of truck space and extremely fast set-up time. Shows are shipped with fully redundant consoles, spares of every kind, and equipment that has been thoroughly tested. The Christie Lites Management Team is composed of corporate managers (CEO, Head of Rentals, Head of Operations, Head of Accounting, Head of Technical, Head of Information, Purchasing Manager, HR Coordinator, Marketing Coordinator) located in various distribution centers; there is no one central office facility. This virtual executive team operates based upon centralized decisions regarding processes and operations. Situation Summary
 At the project outset, Christie Lites tracked and managed customer orders and invoicing within a back office system. The backend system was a Clipper D-Base architecture with an Advantage Database server engine. Each of 9 geographic locations housed a server accessible by VPN tunnel. The client desired Each warehouse has an almost-identical layout and product set. Products are rented by clients for a period of time, shipped to a performance venue, then returned to the warehouse, tested and returned to inventory. Initially, representatives were responsible for managing their accounts, including account rentals. Each Rep was responsible for entering an order, quoting an order (managing customer discount), ensuring that the order was correct, and ensuring that the order was fully returned. Reps could place orders from any warehouse, depending on the location of the client venue. Orders were entered into and managed by the Clipper system (named HITS - Hollywood Inventory Tracking System). Identical copies of this system were installed in each district location and contained quotes and orders for that specific district location. Christie Lites envisioned a modern, web-based system to free up representatives' time and resources, while giving existing customers an efficient method to configure and order their own equipment packages. Business Objectives
The web-based OLEO system was targeted at the sophisticated buyer who knows all their requirements and accepts responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the order - they do not require Christie Lites to verify that they everything they need for the complete system. This system would free up time spent by company representatives that could be better used assisting less knowledgeable clients. Integration with the existing HITS system would ensure system integrity throughout all district locations while retaining the non-centralized, location-specific nature of the existing business model.
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