Utility Implements SAP HANA Infrastructure to Automate Auditing Process

Challenge

To achieve a higher performing reporting system, a large utility provider sought to implement an SAP HANA infrastructure. This infrastructure would allow the organization to accommodate the growing need for an automated audit, operational and financial reporting system, which would replace the manual process being performed by personnel using outdated technology.

The utility provider would need to prepare their current environment for the SAP HANA install and deploy multiple modules for their CRM, ERP and BW environments. WWT was selected to size the customer's environment and create the different landscapes needed for each CRM, ERP and BW module.

Solution

WWT led with a consultative approach to design and advice, leveraging our strong partnerships with Dell EMC and Cisco, the capabilities of our Advanced Technology Center (ATC) and our SAP HANA experts. We then packaged into professional services and project management to offer an end-to-end solution that allowed the customer to interact with a single source provider.

WWT hosted multiple workshops in our ATC over a six-month period, bringing together utility stakeholders across the organization — something that hadn't happened prior to this engagement. The purpose of this collaborative approach was to create alignment so that everyone understood the organizations disparate needs and could work together to develop a comprehensive solution. We also leveraged the ATC to perform demos and proofs-of-concept to evaluate and compare various storage options prior to the build out.

We took a tailored data center integration (TDI) approach, allowing the customer to use existing hardware and infrastructure components for their SAP HANA environment. We also engaged multiple vendors to optimize the customer's compute, storage, memory, virtualization and networking performance, allowing us to move up the stack and provide a full solution that spans four environments.

Results

After design was finalized, WWT planned a phased deployment to ensure appropriate sizing and performance for SAP HANA certification. With the in-memory benefits of the new infrastructure installed, the customer can increase operational efficiencies, better equip personnel with real-time data that can be accessed from any application, and leverage the scalability of the environment for future initiatives.