Software Developer Completes Remote Upgrade for PA Lottery

Whenever Pennsylvania Lottery representatives visit their retailers throughout the state, they carry handheld computers loaded with software called Field Navigator developed by Information Services Group (ISG) of Middletown, Pa. This specialty software, when coupled with a wireless Internet connection, gives these reps the ability to know a lot about their retailers before they even talk to them.

The reps check their tablet-style computers, and, before they walk into a store, they can see who has had a big winner, who is selling out of a game, and who needs to freshen their inventory.

Last July ISG launched Field Navigator, and, ever since, Pennsylvania Lottery reps have been remotely accessing real-time records and inventory for each retail location that sells lottery tickets. This spring, over a three-day weekend, ISG upgraded the entire Navigator system, and using the new Microsoft System Center Service Manager, remotely upgraded Field Navigator to over 100 users around the state, without a single hiccup in service. Jim Long, vice-president of operations, and Keith McGill, senior software developer, spearheaded the one-year development of Field Navigator. Then Long and McGill lead the remote upgrade of ISG's Field Navigator.

"The conversion took three full days," says McGill. "It began on a Friday when the reps remotely connected their tablets to the servers at ISG."

Back at ISG's office, Long, McGill, and other ISG employees also began working on the conversion remotely, a task that would require they all work through the weekend. In fact, the three-day, step-by-step procedure they mapped out is still outlined on the board in the company's conference room, a room that operated as the command center for the conversion.

"We needed to upgrade our software and its platform," says Long. "But, since we also needed to do the upgrade with minimal disruption to the Pennsylvania Lottery, we had to carefully plan this conversion with our users. A lot of small, but necessary upgrades had been building up, so we knew we had a lot to do in three days. We wanted to make the system faster, better performing, more secure, and increase its ability to allow 'on the go' upgrades."

"We also wanted to upgrade the platform to Microsoft's latest SQL server version, latest Web versions, latest firewall software, continues Long, "so we knew we had to work quickly, and we knew we had to get it right." According to Long, they were anxious to upgrade to Microsoft's SQL Server 2008, beca use it provides a comprehensive data platform that is secure, reliable, and manageable for building connected applications and services. With SQL, he said, developers can create new applications that can store and consume any type of data, and that data is what helps users, such as lottery reps, make informed decisions.

"Microsoft products," says McGill, "such as SQL Server 2008, helped us increase the flexibility and reliability of the server infrastructure while offering a more robust web and applications platform."

When software developers are faced with an intense weekend of work, they usually eat pizza, pizza, and pizza. This team ate a lot better, because the company's owners Dru and Larry Graves cooked and delivered meals to them. "They were cooking and bringing in a variety of hot Italian style meals for us," says Rich Wereley, project manager, "so we ate very well."

Though they knew they had to complete everything in just three days and they could not make mistakes, no one became frazzled. "Everything was brand new, and everything had to work," notes team member Jennifer Young, "so sure, we felt the pressure. The relief came after Monday, when we knew everything had gone as smoothly as we planned."

"It was," says Wereley, "a great experience, and a great team builder. We had a plan, we followed it, and it worked."

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May 23, 2009
Posted By Susan Torres
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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