ISYS and Microdec

UK-based Microdec (www.microdec-profile.com) develops and distributes the highly successful Profile 2000 software, which includes embedded ISYS search. Designed for recruiters and human resource professionals, Profile 2000 is a Windows-based multimedia database system that supports the recruitment process, from executive search and selection through to contingency planning and staff management.

Microdec first developed Profile in 1992, to meet the demand from recruiters for an automated, searchable and scalable candidate database solution. As recruiters and applicants increasingly adopted email and the Internet during the recruitment process, the need arose for recruiters to be able to categories, organize and retrieve the information that they collected. Profile was developed to provide this functionality, automatically uploading all candidate information to a Sybase database - not just resumes, but also images, videos, documents or other files relevant to a particular applicant.

From the start it was obvious that effective search would be critical to ensuring the success of the Profile software. Candidate information is added to the Profile system automatically, without the need for it to be viewed or checked manually. As such, the search function is the most practical, user-friendly way for recruiters to retrieve relevant candidates from the potentially thousands of records stored in their system.

Microdec selected ISYS to deliver this critical component of their application. Using the ISYS:sdk, Microdec's developers incorporated high-speed searching into Profile via a customized search interface. The ISYS engine was used to index the underlying database as well as attachments, documents and multimedia files.

According to Mark Bowyer, Technical Account Manager at Microdec, ISYS was selected for two key reasons. Firstly, it provided all the required functionality, at an extremely competitive price. Secondly, they needed a product that wouldn't require end users to perform extensive maintenance. "A lot of the smaller firms don't have the resources to do extensive ongoing maintenance," says Bowyer, "the nice thing about Profile 2000, and ISYS as part of the product, is that is doesn't require a lot of maintenance."

Throughout the initial development process, as well as during subsequent upgrade projects, Microdec received support directly from ISYS developers. Round the clock first-level support was also provided via the ISYS help desks, located in the USA, UK and Australia.

Performance-wise, Microdec has tested Profile 2000 and knows it can scale to meet the most demanding of customer environments. The company conducted performance testing at an IBM Testing Center and was able to show strong performance even with 1,400 simultaneous users accessing the system at once. This is important for the company's larger customers, some of whom have databases reaching 70GB in size, to which 500 - 1,000 resumes may be added every day. With ISYS, Microdec was able to provide search response times that were not significantly affected by such large data volumes or simultaneous data requests.

Profile 2000 is now used by hundreds of customers worldwide, with installations ranging from multinational agencies with thousands of users, to specialist executive search firms with one or two consultants. Paul Brown is Group IT Manager at the global recruitment firm Reed Health Group. He introduced Profile to Reed Health in 2001, to assist its 350 staff in placing 30,000 candidates across the world each month. With 1,000 applications received monthly, an automated tool such as Profile was critical in providing staff with quick and easy access to new candidate information. "Profile is our core application," says Brown, "It's extremely important to our business." He points to the excellent search facility and ease of maintenance as key attributes of the software. Brown estimates that since implementing the software, they've experienced a 50% improvement in productivity. "Now we can concentrate on where we really add value," he says, "finding the right person for the job."

Find out more about Microdec and Profile 2000 at www.microdec-profile.com.