Case Study: A-Plant doubles rental transaction speed and modernizes legacy systems with OpenText Verastream Host Integrator

Verastream boosts productivity and consolidates systems through a flexible web services business model

A-Plant, one of the UK’s largest plant, tool and equipment hire companies and part of Ashtead Group, relied on a bespoke UNIX-based green-screen core system to run its high-volume rental business (a new rental every 2–3 seconds). The legacy character interface was hard to use, difficult to extend with new functionality, and hindered integration of acquired companies, yet replacing the system was not feasible because it was highly customized to A-Plant’s processes.

Using Micro Focus Verastream Host Integrator, A-Plant exposed the existing backend as Web services and presented a modern Windows interface, reusing core logic and avoiding risky code changes. The new solution reduced a five-step rental process to a single screen—halving transaction time—while maintaining performance, introducing complex pricing and route-optimization features, speeding new-hire productivity, and creating a flexible platform for future integrations.

A-Plant

Andy Wortley

IT Director