Carrier Corporation Optimizes Its

HVAC Design and Sales Process

with an Automated Sales Solution

Mi crosoft Offi ce Vi si o 2003 Customer Sol uti on
Case study



Visio technology and standard
shapes tied to real-world data
create an unparalleled
environment in which Carrier
salespeople, project managers,
consulting engineers, and
installers can share vital HVAC
project information. As a result,
we predict this will increase
productivity and enhance the
quality of the HVAC solutions
we provide to our customers.

Rich Remke

Controls Product Manager
Carrier Corporation
Designing HVAC control systems can be a time-consuming
process involving complex diagrams, documents, and data. The
worlds leading manufacturer of HVAC systems, Carrier
Corporation, is automating and optimizing its HVAC control
design and sales process using the ComfortDRAW solutiona
Microsoft .NET application developed by Visimation, Inc. on the
Microsoft Office Visio 2003 platform. Using this tool, sales
engineers can easily create HVAC control system diagrams that
include equipment and pricing data, and then generate estimates
and quotes from these data-rich Visio diagrams. Consulting
engineers can document integrated operational sequences with
diagrams and generate reports from them. Installers can set up
HVAC systems using themall with one tool and the same
project data throughout the entire simplified process. With this
solution and the Microsoft technology backing it up, Carrier
Corporation predicts diagramming HVAC control systems will be
less cumbersome, and it will increase employee productivity by
1020%, generate estimates and quotes 25% faster, and deliver
HVAC systems to its customers more quickly.
CUSTOMER PROFILE BUSINESS SITUATION SOLUTION BENEFITS
Carrier Corporation is the
world's largest manufacturer of
heating, ventilating, and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems
and equipment. With its
headquarters in Farmington,
Connecticut, USA, Carrier
Corporation has more than
45,000 employees in more than
171 countries worldwide.
Carrier Corporation needs to
optimize the design and sales
process for its HVAC control
systems by using one
automated solution to design,
document, and create reports
for those systems. This solution
must enable everyone to share
the same data throughout the
entire processfrom design
and sale all the way to
installation.
The ComfortDRAW solution
integrates all project tasks,
diagrams, documents, and data
related to the design and sale
of HVAC control systems. It
connects HVAC control system
diagrams to equipment and
pricing data so team members
can generate reportssuch as
estimates, quotes, and bills of
materialsfrom those
diagrams.
Optimizes the design and sale
process and makes HVAC
control system diagramming
less cumbersome
Increases employee
productivity by 1020%
Delivers estimates and sales
quotes to customers 25%
faster
Lays a solid foundation for
process evolution and future
software development





Willis Carrier invented modern air
conditioning more than 100 years ago.
Today, Carrier Corporationthe company
that bears his nameleads the world in the
manufacture and sale of heating,
ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC)
products and systems. Carrier Corporation
stays at the forefront of the HVAC industry
by constantly developing innovative
products and streamlining its processes by
using the latest hardware, software, and
Internet technology.
The design and sale of commercial HVAC
control systems is a process Carrier
Corporation works on constantly to
optimize across the entire internal
organization and among external partners.
Right now, because there are many
different ways to design HVAC control
systems, team members use several
different tools for tasks throughout the
process. Sales engineers often create
diagrams manually or with various tools,
and then enter data separately into
spreadsheetsa time-consuming,
cumbersome process in which people often
create redundant diagrams. And, engineers
must manually synchronize those diagrams
with project data.
Carrier Corporation seeks to optimize this
process by making the diagramming of
HVAC control systems less cumbersome.
It needs one robust, flexible tool that
integrates project diagrams with data so
that everyone involved in taking a system
to market can use the same data to design
HVAC control systems, generate accurate
reportssuch as sales quotes and bills of
materialsfrom those diagrams, and even
use the diagrams downstream as part of
visual documentation packages for HVAC
system installations.
In addition, this tool must use the latest
software and Internet technology to
provide a solid foundation for future
development, integrate well with the
standard suite of Carrier Corporation
software tools, and support user groups
with different levels of process knowledge
in various hardware environments.
Carrier Corporation needs a
tool that facilitates the HVAC
control system design, delivery,
and commissioning process, so
team participants can focus on
solving customers needs.

Jim Cullen

Senior Manager of Sales Tools and
Software
Carrier Corporation

Meeting this need will be a challenge, but
its crucial to the businesss success, as J im
Cullen, Carrier Corporation Senior
Manager of Sales Tools and Software
points out: Carrier Corporation needs a
tool that facilitates the HVAC control
system design, delivery, and
commissioning process, so team
participants can focus on solving
customers needs.

Visimation, Inc.a Microsoft Office
Visio Solution Provider and Microsoft
Certified Partneris up to the challenge. It
is working with Carrier Corporation to
optimize the design and sales process for
HVAC control systems with a single
toolthe ComfortDRAW solutionbased
on Microsoft Office Visio 2003. Using this
tool, everyone involved in the design, sale,
distribution, and installation of HVAC
control systems can use the same project
data to design the systems, create estimates
and sales quotes, generate detailed reports,
and install the systems.
Quickly Diagram HVAC Control
Systems with Ready-Made Shapes
Visimation integrated the entire interface
and full diagramming capabilities of Visio
2003 into the ComfortDRAW application,
so sales engineers can easily create HVAC
control system diagrams by dragging Visio
shapes that are tailor-made for Carrier
Corporation onto the drawing page.
Sometimes all it takes is one shape, such as
the Constant Volume Air Handler, and the
header and footer information thats
already on the drawing page, to create an
entire diagram.

Associate Equipment and Pricing
Data with HVAC Control Diagrams
Each tailor-made Carrier shape contains
custom properties that are specific to that
shape, such as product specification,
operation sequence, and pricing. After
sales engineers drag shapes onto the
drawing page, they can associate up-to-
date Carrier datastored in Microsoft
Office Access databaseswith these
custom properties. This data is then also
associated with the Visio diagram.
Sales engineers just right-click a shape,
and then click Properties on the shortcut
menu to open the Properties window and
enter data. They can choose data from
custom Carrier databases that contain job-
specific data, user-defined data, and up-to-
date HVAC control system data.
The ComfortDRAW solution also
associates data with some Carrier shapes
right as sales engineers drag them onto the
drawing so the engineers dont have to do
it manually. For example, the solution
associates data with every component in
the Constant Volume Air Handler shape as
its dragged onto the drawing page.
And, theres no need for sales engineers to
worry about creating HVAC control
system diagrams that contain incompatible
equipment. Using the HVAC system
configuration rules associated with the
custom Visio shapes and templates, the
ComfortDRAW solution wont let that
happen. Engineers can easily create
consistent HVAC system diagrams that are
error free and packed with useful project
data, which project team members can
view in the appropriate Properties window.



With the easy-to-use Microsoft Office Visio 2003 interface and powerful diagramming capabilities
in the ComfortDRAW solution, sales engineers can quickl y assemble diagrams using custom-
made Carrier shapes, and view the data associated with those shapes. Engineers can even modify
shapes with easy-to-use Visio drawing tools.
Generate Reports from Data-Rich
HVAC Control System Diagrams
At this stage, the full power of the
ComfortDRAW solution becomes
apparent. Using this tool and its XML data-
sharing capabilities, sales engineers can
generate equipment lists, bills of materials,
and sales quotesas familiar Microsoft
Office Word documents or Microsoft
Office Excel spreadsheetsdirectly from
these data-rich Visio diagrams. Gone are
the days of manually entering data into
spreadsheets and creating redundant
documents. This one simple automated
task streamlines a large chunk of the
design and sale process for HVAC control
systems, and increases the accuracy of all
documents used throughout the design and
sales process.
Collaborate Among Team Members
to Reach a Final Bid for the Project
During the rest of the process, team
members use the ComfortDRAW solution
to revise project diagrams and documents,
create cost estimates, and so on. The new
reviewing features in Visio 2003 come in
handy at this point. Sales engineers can
capture and track comments and revisions
made to diagrams by other team members
on markup overlays and view them in the
Reviewing pane.
Each time a sales engineer revises a
diagram, team members can easily
generate new reports based on the revised
diagrams and the accurate, up-to-date data.
Finally, Carrier Corporation bids on the
project, and the sales engineer generates
the final project quote from the
ComfortDRAW solution based on the final
design documents, project schedule, and
overall project conditions and
requirements.
Share Project Diagrams, Data, and
Documents with External Partners
The optimized process doesnt end with the
product sale; it continues into the
construction phase among external
partners. Controls project managers can
use the ComfortDRAW solution to create
submittals, equipment lists, wiring lists,
purchase order requests, installation
documents, detailed work estimates, and
as-built diagrams of the HVAC control
system, which serve as visual, step-by-step
representations of the installation process.
And, again, during this step, partners use
the same data that internal team members
used throughout the rest of the project.
Visio technology enables
Carrier Corporation to use the
ComfortDRAW solution with the
broadest possible audience.

Rich Remke

Controls Product Manager
Carrier Corporation

As Rich Remke, Carrier Corporation
Controls Product Manager, says, Visio
technology enables Carrier Corporation to
use the ComfortDRAW solution with the
broadest possible audience. Standard
shapes tied to real-world data create an
unparalleled environment in which Carrier
salespeople, project managers, consulting
engineers, and installers can share vital
HVAC project information. This
integrated approach ensures that the
process and all team participants
throughout the process are as productive
and accurate as possible all the way to the
end of the project when the customer flips
the first switch.

Carrier Corporation predicts it will
automate and optimize its HVAC control
system design and sales process using one
tool and the same data throughout the
entire process to design, document, and
report on HVAC control systems. Using
the ComfortDRAW tool, and the Microsoft
Office Visio 2003 technology incorporated
into it, Carrier Corporation predicts it will
realize the following additional benefits.
Makes HVAC Control System
Diagramming Less Cumbersome
The Visio 2003 visual work environment
makes the ComfortDRAW tool flexible so
that team members can use to create a
variety of HVAC control system diagrams.
For participants who are new to the
process, its easy to learn how to work



within this visual environment. And, for
those who already use Visio for other
diagramming tasks, the ComfortDRAW
tool provides a familiar Visio work
environment. As a result, this visual
environment makes the team diagramming
process more efficient and makes it easier
for all team members to communicate their
design intent to HVAC control system
experts.
Carrier Corporation predicts that everyone
in its sales force and many external
partners, such as consulting engineers and
installers, will rapidly adopt the
ComfortDRAW tool into their daily
routine. Widespread adoption will enable
Carrier Corporation to quickly and
effectively design HVAC control systems,
more efficiently document them, and
ensure that the work effort is fully
coordinated, especially for large complex
systems.
Delivers Estimates and Sales
Quotes to Customers Faster
The optimized design and sales process
will have positive repercussions throughout
the organization. Employee productivity,
efficiency, and accuracy will significantly
increase. Tasks that used to involve
disparate tools or were performed
manually will be automated and performed
with one tool, which Carrier Corporation
predicts will save its sales engineers six to
eight hours on large projects, such as
turnkey systems. Using one tool and the
same data also dramatically increases
diagram accuracy and reduces the
likelihood of expensive errors being
discovered during the commissioning
phase. All of which, of course, increases
customer satisfaction.
Standard templates and shapes that are
custom-made for Carrier Corporation and
organized on system-specific stencils
eliminate the need to search through
previous diagrams for reusable design
components, thus making sales engineers
more productive from the first day of the
project. And, because everyone in the
process will create HVAC control system
diagrams using standard Carrier shapes, all
diagrams will be consistent enterprise-
wide. Carrier Corporation predicts that this
consistency will increase the accuracy of
its diagrams and the estimates and quotes
generated from them. Sales engineers will
also be able to generate these accurate
estimates and quotes 25 percent faster than
before.
Rich Remke sums up these benefits: The
ComfortDRAW solution increases
productivity throughout the sales process
and into the construction phase of a
controls project. But the productivity gains
are only one part of the story. The higher
degree of accuracy in the design and the
more complete project information
provided to the consulting engineer, as
well as the vital output available to the
project managers makes the
ComfortDRAW solution very valuable. It
would be tough to put a number on the
productivity gains associated with this tool,
but a conservative number would be an
increase of 10 to 20 percent in
productivity.
These increases in productivity,
consistency, efficiency, and accuracy all
result in faster, better project quotes for the
customer. An accurate, professional-
looking final bid with diagrams that allow
customers to easily see what theyre
getting, combined with error-free quotes
and bills of materials, improves customer
satisfaction, speeds their buying decisions,
and enables Carrier Corporation to deliver
and install HVAC control systems even
faster. This productive cycle drives the
demand for even more Carrier HVAC
products and services.
Lays a Solid Foundation for Process
Evolution and Future Software
Development
Visimation developed the flexible
ComfortDRAW application for Carrier
Corporation with the Microsoft Visual



Basic .NET development system and
managed code that enables data sharing
between separate components through SQL
statements and queries using ADO.NET.
Managed code further enables these
components to take advantage of Microsoft
Office System software.
Each component is responsible for its own
user interface and internal processing and
is invoked by the controlling application.
This loosely coupled software architecture,
of which Visio 2003 is one component,
benefits Carrier Corporation by making it
possible for all of the components to reside
on a client machine. Using Visio 2003 as
the diagramming component, the
ComfortDRAW application is easy to
maintain, enhance, and deploy internally or
externally to partners, and incorporate into
a Microsoft software environment.
The loosely coupled architecture also
makes it simple to install, improve, add, or
remove components with minimal impact
on the application and its users, and it
meets the needs of an expanding and
diverse user base. For example, engineers
or developers can update the database
component when new Carrier pricing
information becomes available.
IT administrators can grant or deny various
user groups access to different
ComfortDRAW components upon
installation. This comes in handy for new
team members. For example, IT
administrators can install only a few
components for new team members so they
arent overwhelmed by menu items and
functionality they dont need.
Most important, the ComfortDRAW
software architecture positions Carrier
Corporation to take advantage of more
Microsoft .NET technology for connecting
information, people, systems, and devices
through XML Web services to integrate the
ComfortDRAW application with other
Carrier business solutions. For example,
the ComfortDRAW application could
generate a controller download image,
from which a sales engineer could generate
a quote for a custom piece of Carrier
equipment. Then, when the order is placed
using the ComfortDRAW application, the
engineer could send a configuration file to
the factory, which could be downloaded
into a digital controller.
Carrier Corporation is excited
about deploying a solution built
on Visio 2003 and the Microsoft
.NET Framework because it
enables us to take advantage of
the power of Visio as a smart,
front-end client. As a result, we
expect to streamline our sales
process, increase productivity,
enhance the overall quality of
our HVAC control system
solutions, and provide these
solutions to our customers in
substantially less time.

Jim Cullen

Senior Manager of Sales Tools and
Software
Carrier Corporation

Rich Remke sums up these future plans:
The Microsoft .NET Framework and
.NET Services allows Carrier Corporation
to leverage the ComfortDRAW application
further in the future. The current version
provides a wide-ranging productivity
solution for our sales and operations
workforce along with a comprehensive tool
for our engineering and contracting clients.
Future versions could incorporate the
ComfortDRAW application into our
quoting framework, order entry systems,
and even the factory floor. Such extensive
future process evolution and software
development will definitely enable Carrier
Corporation to eliminate administrative
tasks and focus on what matters most:
customers needs.





Microsoft Office Visio 2003 is an easy-to-use diagramming application that
enables business and technical professionals to document, design,
communicate, and improve ideas, processes, and systems. For more
information about Microsoft Office Visio 2003, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/visio/.


Microsoft Office System:
Microsoft Office Visio 2003
MicrosoftOffice Word
MicrosoftOffice Excel
Microsoft Office Access
Other Microsoft software and
technologies:
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Visual Basic .NET
Microsoft .NET Framework

Hardware
This client-based solution could be
used on any type of desktop or
laptop computer. Within Carrier
Corporation, its typically used on
Dell computers.

Partners
Visimation, Inc.




For more information about Microsoft products
and services, call the Microsoft Sales
Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In
Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information
Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text
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Canada. Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local Microsoft
subsidiary. To access information using the
World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/
Visimation, a Microsoft Certified Partner,
develops, implements, and provides training for
custom business solutions that incorporate
Microsoft technology. For more information
about Visimation products and services, call
(425) 369-6000, or visit the Web site at:
http://www.visimation.com/.
Carrier Corporation is the world's largest
manufacturer of commercial and residential
HVAC systems and equipment. For more
information about Carrier Corporation products
and services, call (800) CARRIER, or visit the
Web site at: http://www.carrier.com/.
2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes
only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Windows, Visio, Visual Basic, .NET,
and the Office logo are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries. The names of actual companies and
products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.

Date Published: September 2003