Sub-Zero Wolf Inc. needed a different mechanism to retain subject matter expertise in improving and managing the SAS® solution server environment.  Sub-Zero utilizes the SAS Warranty Analysis solution to improve their manufacturing processes by discovering product defects in half the time. SAS Warranty Analysis offers general users specific reporting capabilities via a web interface, SAS analysts have access to the same data through SAS® Enterprise Guide®, and the system automatically submits email alerts when patterns are discovered. "A lot of companies are still in that reactive state, where you're basically looking at data after the fact, trying to figure out what happened in the past and then reacting to it," says David Bien, Corporate Director of Reliability. "With SAS, we can be more proactive. We can keep an eye on a specific series of events, and the system will automatically send e-mail notifications if, statistically, even the most minute issue might have occurred."

 The new warranty analysis system used by Sub-Zero and Wolf also produces a standard emerging issues report that highlights any new patterns in last month's warranty claims data. Potential issues are assigned to product engineers for immediate investigation. Other engineers who are interested in specific issues can sign up for the e-mail alerts for any of the company's hundreds of different product components.

Due to staff attrition, Sub-Zero needed SAS administration expertise without overloading existing resources.  While reviewing their staffing needs, Sub-Zero realized FTE was not necessary and investigated outsourcing administration to SAS SME.  Therefore it was decided that a remote desktop SAS administration support plan would be the perfect fit. Paige Johnson, SAS Account Executive for Sub-Zero brought in Zencos Consulting and suggested their ZenGuard® Service would be a great fit.

The ZenGuard Service, provided by SAS Gold Alliance Partner Zencos Consulting, includes emergency support, routine maintenance and also implements proactive steps to continually improve system performance.  The first action was to complete a thorough assessment of the current situation, this included speaking with SAS consultants who supported the solution customization for Sub-Zero, Sub-Zero business users and their internal infrastructure team. Points of discussion included how the system is structured and utilized, whether goals are met for web performance and process time, and what current issues exist or have been experienced.  

Assessment discoveries became an integral part of the implementation plan, providing the ZenGuard Support Team with strategies to continually improve the architecture. Within the first three months Sub-Zero noticed a significant increase in system performance. Implementing these continuous improvements has also resulted in 60% decrease in the monthly support expense for Sub-Zero, keeping the cost of managing a SAS solution minimal.

The ZenGuard service has worked so well, Sub-Zero extended the original six-month commitment to two years.  During this time Zencos has developed a stronger understanding of Sub-Zero’s business needs, resulting in a more comprehensive support service delivery.

For more information view the SAS Success Story at http://www.sas.com/success/sub-zero.html