When creating an IT environment for a big casino and hotel that merges together conventional mainframe applications with futuristic Web-based software, rolling the dice on serious database decisions isn’t a clever hazard.
Regardless of the reliance of many casino-oriented applications on IBM infrastructure and “green screen” technology, casinos like the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa are accepted Microsoft Corp.’s .Net development tools and SQL Server DBMS to bridge the hole between disparate platforms and to improve the client experience.
On the eve of its first birthday next month, the Borgata, of West Atlantic City, N.J., is gathering the incomes of its wagers on SQL Server 2000, according to John Forelli, director of administrative systems. The Borgata is using the DBMS to supply its back-end systems and incorporate them with popular hospitality industry applications that are joined to IBM’s DB2 database running on iSeries servers.
Forrelli stated he is above all thrilled about SQL Server’s incorporated business intelligence aspects.
“That’s the home run. The developers that work in my group, if they develop a Web page for a customer kiosk, they can use [Visual Basic .Net], whereas if we had another BI tool, they’d have to learn all of their applications,” Forelli said. “From a [total cost of ownership] point of view, you are saving money on the application side, and you don’t have to staff up and throw all this money at training. [The database] absolutely has to be integrated and tie in all these pieces.”
Next page: Web use growth over dreams in casino realm.
The use of the Web has blasted in the casino realm. Gaming firms are drawing clients to their Web portals to carry out a mass of tasks: making online reservations, buying tickets for amusement and tracking points earned at slot machines and tables in real time.
By using SQL Server as its main database, stated Forelli, the Borgata was able to avoid interface despairs with its Windows infrastructure and evade training headaches and extra expenditure
“One of the themes on the DB2 side and, to a degree, on the Oracle [Corp. database] side, it’s a lot less friendly to use,” said Forelli. “We’d have to [hire more database administrators] in a lot of places where we put applications on top of [DB2, and] we don’t do back-end developing on the DB2 database.”
Throughout the Reporting Services ability in SQL Server, which permitted the Borgata to outlook the database as a data warehousing option, the casino was able to conquer a important reporting blind spot in its deeply transaction-oriented system.
Additionally, a BI estimate uses SQL Server’s DTS (Data Transformation Services) tool to make an OLAP (online analytical processing) database to extend to disparate systems that include transactional details about client using money on lodging, food, beverages and gambling. It then presents historical reviews predicting and trending reports.
The Borgata is operating DB2 applications at the front desk and the gaming pit to maintain track of clients’ credit totals and hotel account. With the elasticity to precisely predict hotel occupancy and client visits, the Borgata is able to correctly project staffing, gather food specials and casino events, and compare demographic issues.
Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., is putting in it heavily to guarantee BI is improved in “Yukon,” its edition of SQL Server due early next year. Microsoft officials stated the update will mark more data mining algorithms and a redraft of DTS to incorporate it into the Visual Studio shell.
Earlier then lunched last summer; the Borgata used SQL Server-stored procedures and sets off to widen its project and human resources applications from PeopleSoft Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif.
Forrelli noted that the Borgatajobs.com Web portal allows more than 40,000 applications and allowed chosen applicants to book conference times. SQL Server made the employment applicant evaluation, proposal and acceptance procedure a entirely paperless process.
“It helped us hire the best 5,000 people. From a concurrent user perspective, we proved the worth of our choice of applications and database”, Forelli stated earlier.
Jun 06