Microsoft Partner

OCS achieves Microsoft Partner - Small Business Specialist and Silver Desktop Partner

In response to the growing demand from Corporate and SME clients for Microsoft technology services, OCS Consulting has made significant investment in staff, skills and facilities to enable the provision of a full range of IT services from desktop support to the development and support of complex Web and Smart Client business applications.

OCS was first accredited as a Microsoft Partner in 2000 and went on to achieve Microsoft Infrastructure Competency in December 2005. OCS achieved the upgrade to the new Microsoft Information Worker Competency in June 2006. These accreditations underpin OCS' Computer Services business unit focused on providing Windows Server, Windows Desktop and related infrastructure support services to SME and departmental clients.

OCS' Consulting and Managed Service units have been providing complex business application development and support services to corporate clients using Microsoft technologies since 1996. The continued success of Microsoft in the corporate market place, in particular since the launch of the .NET framework in 2002 and Windows 2003 has driven increasing demand for .NET solutions and services. In response to this growing demand, OCS has continued to invest in our Microsoft service delivery capability.

The re-vamped Microsoft Partner programme launched in 2005 provides for partner accreditation in distinctive competencies. In addition to maintaining the Information Worker accreditation, OCS achieved the Custom Development Competency in October 2007.

The achievement of Microsoft Partner status is an important milestone for OCS and is evidence of our commitment to providing our clients with high quality Microsoft technology based services and solutions.

OCS' Microsoft Application Development and Support Services

We are passionate about providing our clients with solutions and services of the highest quality using Classic, .NET, SharePoint, SQL Server and Office technologies. These services range from a one day advisory assignment through to the provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team developing a new enterprise business application. Our services are uniquely tailored to our clients needs through a proven matching process and flexible commercial terms, including:

Smart Client and Web Application Development using Waterfall or Agile methods
Remote or On-site Application Support
Technical Consultancy and Advice
Performance Tuning
Quality Assurance and Best Practice Guidance
Coaching and Knowledge Transfer.

We have recently completed Microsoft application development work for the following clients, with all relationships continuing through annual support contracts:

UK Insurance BPO Company - Development and support of new Electronic Submission module for submitting London Market documentation to a central repository for processing using ACORD standard message protocol. Provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team utilising .NET 2.0/C#, SQL Server 2005 and Web Services technologies.
International Insurance Broker - Development and support of a new Web application to facilitate on-line renewal of Solicitors Indemnity Insurance policies. Provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team utilising .NET 2.0/C# and SQL Server 2005 technologies. Support of application incorporated into an on-going application support service covering a portfolio of Desktop, Classic Microsoft and .Net applications.
Government Agency promoting the UK globally - Development and support of a Global Gateway and UK School Linking Web portals to promote collaboration between schools and to provide a source of expert information to the teaching profession. Provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team utilising .NET 1.1/2.0 and SQL Server 2000/2005 technologies in combination with Immediacy CMS.
International Mobile Telecomms Provider - Development and support of a Smart Client Network Planning Tool to enable forward planning of mobile network capacity to optimise infrastructure investment decisions. Provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team utilising .NET 2.0/C# and SQL Server Express technologies.
Insurance Run-Off Organisation - Development and support of a new web application to automate the business processes for a major Insurance Scheme of Arrangement which had been previously undertaken by paper based methods alone. Provision of a managed multi-disciplinary team utilising .NET 1.1/C# and SQL Server 2000 technologies.

OCS' Microsoft Infrastructure Services

Examples of the Information Worker Microsoft Solutions we have undertaken for our clients include:

Pension and Financial Planning Company - Provision of Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Solution.
Business requirements Analysis - involved the assessment of business continuity risks and the need for a business continuity plan.
Business Recovery - each business unit was involved in identifying critical data, applications and processes and categorising them in relevant importance accordingly.
Decision Process - identified applications, data and processes mandatory for business continuity. It was found that Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office and other financial and pension applications were necessary for business continuity.
Disaster Recovery Implementation - procurement of hardware and software, installation of Windows 2003 Servers, Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server and other critical applications including MS Office. The DR environment (which is hosted by OCS) mimics the live system and a process is in place to periodically update Active Directory, Information Stores, data and other critical applications.
Pharmaceutical Company - IT Strategy Consultancy
The company was experiencing problems with their original service provider and OCS undertook the analysis and review of their entire infrastructure for efficiency and effectiveness and identified security vulnerabilities and back-up issues. OCS implemented a range of solutions to address these problems including; configuring Exchange for OWA and OMA, implementation of a back-up solution, reconfiguration of the firewall and server for VPN access and secure LAN integration, upgraded Server and PC hardware, configuration of Trend Micro NeatSuite SMB for SBS, reconfiguration of security permissions and continues to provide day to day ICT support.
Car Accessories Supplier - Implementation of a Terminal Services Environment
Planned and implemented a Terminal Services environment to give users access to their core business systems.
Installed and configured two Windows 2003 Terminal Servers, configured to use network load balancing.
Installed and configured Terminal Services "Enterprise Licensing Server".
Secured the Terminal Servers with the use of Group Policy Objects.
Created and populated relevant Active Directory Groups within the Windows 2000 Domain.
Performed full system testing with the end user.
Manufacturing Company - Infrastructure Management and Support Project
Migrated existing Windows NT 4.0 infrastructure with Exchange 5.5 to Windows Server 2003 using Exchange 2003.
Implementation and support for Active Directory Domain Infrastructure running Windows 2003 Terminal Services.
Microsoft SQL backend database server for use with Microsoft Axapta
Provision of all hardware and software and producing/maintaining inventory
Provision of on-going user support.
Pension and Financial Planning Company - Infrastructure Implementation and Upgrade Project
Analysed existing environment, highlighted potential security and business continuity risks.
Proposed a fault tolerant solution that would eliminate any single points of failure, ordered relevant hardware and software, upgraded entire system to a secure Windows 2003 Active Directory infrastructure, implementing Exchange 2003.
Implemented IT related policies via GPO.
Provision of on-going IT support.
Manufacturing Company - Migration and New Business Implementation Project
Completed technical architecture, created project plan, procured new hardware/software licenses.
Produced office layout design, implemented structured cabling into secured patch panel, built server hardware environment, installed infrastructure server, configured with Windows 2003 including required infrastructure roles (DNS, DHCP, file shadow copies, Group Policies), Exchange 2003, Trend Micro NeatSuite SMB, Microsoft Office products, Sage Line50 Accounts, Payroll, and batch controller, Veritas Backup Exec, Timeware 5 (clocking in system).
Created Static VPN to connect this clients UK and US infrastructures via the internet
Data migration and security permissions.