TeaLeaf is a key tool used in the support process of TI’s Web Basis application. Web Basis is an order management application built in-house for use by TI’s worldwide distributor network, external sales representatives, and internal sales representatives. The worldwide distributors come to the site to create and change quotes/orders for TI semiconductor products and to check backlog status. Therefore, this application has to be reliable, available and accurate twenty-fours a day, seven days a week.

Fundamentally, the application is a selfservice replacement for a process that had formerly required proprietary equipment and personnel support. Web Basis was launched in 1999 and provided TI with a lower-cost interface that required fewer man-hours of support and maintenance.

Like any production application, changes are made on an ongoing basis. With each change, Judy Renfrow, Web Application Analyst in the IT Business Applications Organization at Texas Instruments, must keep a close eye on how the end users are affected. Prior to installation of TeaLeaf, that process was a matter of ‘wait and see.’ “With TeaLeaf in place,” she says, “I can monitor the actual impact of changes made and be proactive about application issues.”