1. RESULTSCUSTOMER FOCUSDetecting developmentefcienciesAdvanced Acoustic Concepts accelerates time-to-market by80 percent with Serena Development Process ManagementCHALLENGE No detail is too small to be submerged in the To improve collaboration and productivity, AACcreation of todays submarine technology. needed a new solution to support exible, fastAdvanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC) plays an process development. We looked at a free tool,important role in the evolution of submersiblebut it lacked robust work ow and was di cultvehicles with everything from sonar detection to customize, which could have led to highand classi cation to torpedo defenseandhidden maintenance costs, says Gerard Pinzone,supports these activities with advanced distrib-senior manager and director of development foruted training, software engineering, and more.AAC. Since our processes evolve frequently, weCapabilities in all of these areas are among theneeded a way to visually create the work ow,reasons this market leader has been selected as states, and transitions as well as make changesa lead contractor for the U.S. Navy Surface Shipon the y to reduce expenses and maximizeTorpedo Defense program.development resources.AAC draws on the ingenuity of its sta toPinzone also sought a solution to comply withinnovate new solutions, foster greater collabora- all matters associated with ISO 9001:2000 andtion, and generate e ciencies in its alreadyCapability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) PRODUCTtop-performing workforce. However, a team certi cation. With comprehensive issue tracking,distributed across the United States meantAAC could ease compliance between certi ca-costly, cumbersome development processestions, including weekly reports of all outstand-that unnecessarily lengthened time-to-market. ing corrective and preventive actions, software INDUSTRYreleases and status, build releases, and testing.SERENA.COM

2. Serena Development Process Serenas tools helpManagement o ers multifaceted solutionbring the theories ofAAC ultimately chose the Serena DevelopmentProcess Management application to address process improvementits challenges. Once the application was in and quality into reality.place, however, the company found that it hadgained much more than a bug-tracking system.The Serena Development Process Manage-ment application can bene t any process thatneeds to be clearly de ned and tracked, saysPinzone. This is a transformative technology.The combination of feature-rich change requestmanagement, visual prototyping, and exibilityConsolidated system improves We never could have thrown enough money orallows us to serve the evolving needs of the e ciency by 50 percent time at a generic bug-tracking solution to get itwhole business. By consolidating multiple departmental tools toto t our ISO needs, says Pinzone. The Serena the single Serena Development Process Manage-Development Process Management applicationWith Serena, AAC has gained crucial e ectiveness ment application, AAC improved collaboration gives us the exibility to adapt our environmentin managing all aspects of application releases, and minimized miscommunication. Eliminatingto meet compliance requirementsas a result,issues and defects, incidents and escalation, and multiple logins and operating system incompat-an ISO 9001 auditor told us that it was one of thechange request management. First implemented ibilities has allowed the company to acceleratenicest calibration systems hes ever seen.in the Independent Veri cation and Validationits development process and improve productiv-(IV&V) department, the application is nowity. For example, when a new piece of softwareImproved visibility and reportingpart of the fabric of the enterprise, involved inis developed, engineering and con guration saves management timecontract management, purchasing, hardwaremanagement baseline it, software developersBy incorporating the Serena Developmentoperations, and program management.build it, IV&V tests it, and shipping packages it,Process Management application into its IT explains Pinzone. The end-to-end collabora- environment, AAC has gained a newfound visibil-Accelerated processes improvetion o ered by Serena has helped us achieve an ity across its infrastructure, improving businesstime-to-market by 80 percent estimated 50 percent increase in e ciency.decision making across the enterprise. With aThe streamlined processes enabled by the Serena keystroke, I can generate a report for my boss onDevelopment Process Management application Improved issue tracking easesmy progress or get my ISO report, says Pinzone.help AAC speed time-to-market to better support certi cation processPrior to Serena, there was no traceability or vis-its customers. Serena gives us a developmentAt the executive level, the Serena Development ibility into status. Now people no longer have toadvantage because our team can sit down for less Process Management application has providedgo asking for informationthey can see it live,than an hour and have a working prototype that peace of mind that the company will be able to and the data is all in one place so we can reportis 80 to 90 percent complete, says Pinzone. As a achieve biannual ISO recerti cation easilyand across business groups.result of the e ciencies gained through Serena without excess work on behalf of AAC develop-Development Process Management, our time-to- ers. For example, AAC was able to create a singleNeedless to say, the Serena Development Processmarket is approximately 80 percent faster than if tool to monitor data for each part including aManagement application is fundamental towe didnt have the application. photo, serial number, part number, and more. Advanced Acoustic Concepts operations. The The Serena Development Process ManagementSerena application o ers signi cant savings withAnd when processes need to change, Serenaapplication has also allowed AAC to build in a complete focus on day-to-day operations, asmakes it easy. Its intuitive to customize the tool automated e ciencies. Alerts are sent out to the well as an ROI that is harder to quantify, saysand evolve as we go, says Pinzone. We dontappropriate users when an item is within 30 days Pinzone. It is so integral to operations that wehave to hire a consultant to do the work, so of requiring calibration, and contracts, agree-dont even think about it. We just know that theadapting our system to business needs doesntments, and proposals are automatically tracked business could not run without Serena.incur an extra cost.to help ensure compliance. Copyright 2009 Serena Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Serena and Mashup Composer are registered trademarks of Serena Software, Inc. Mashup Squad and the Serena logo are trademarks of Serena Software, Inc. All other product or company names are used for identi cation purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.SERENA.COM