To serve its clients better, Personic needed to upgrade the current technology of its human resources software product as well as its product development process. Specific challenges included:

• Speed to market - the current software cycle could run anywhere from 9-12 months
• Product technology - dated, Powerbuilder client-server technology; competitors have developed Web-centric applications and the company needed to catch up
• Product capability - the company has two application families using separate data models and different underlying technology
• Product architecture - no standard or central architecture direction exists in current product suite
• Product development process and resources - no controlled development process or environment

Avanade provided analyses, designs, and an implementation proposal, including:

• Recommendation of technology direction (Microsoft or Sun/Unix)
• Technical analysis of the company's existing products
• Conceptual design of Microsoft technology-based solution
• Detailed cost comparison between Microsoft and J2EE development environments
• A high-level project work plan

Based on the Avanade efforts, the company chose a Microsoft solution.