Case study 3

Public Sector Regulatory Body

Our client has been set up as a ‘one stop shop’ for consumer complaints. The organisation is an amalgamation of eight existing schemes, covering all aspects of consumer complaint within this particular industry. As a regulatory body they have been very successful, and particularly busy over the past 3 years.

The Issues
After the amalgamation of the various services in 2001, there was a requirement to store case and business information centrally so that it could be accessed by all users. An imaging and document management application also had to be implemented to meet further business needs.
Because of the number of users accessing this information, and with future growth and expansion in mind, a robust and scalable underlying database solution was required. The application provider, the project management consultancy and the end user all agreed this database solution was going to be Oracle.

Once this had been agreed, it presented our client with a fundamental problem as neither the application provider or the project management consultancy had skills in Oracle technologies. Quantix were contacted, as the Oracle DBA specialist’s to provide this resource and continued support services.

The Solution
As the leading Oracle partner in the UK, Quantix’s involvement in the initial stages was to install Oracle and to create a number of databases, so the system could be used and accessed as a full working solution. Quantix worked closely with the application vendor to ensure the application was working with Oracle, and also with the management consultancy to ensure the solution was meeting strategy level expectations. The skills Quantix utilised during the first few months of this project were: Installation / database tuning / Back up and Recovery Strategy and implementation / Advanced Replication / Trouble Shooting/ documentation and Skills transfer.

The success of the initial stages of the project was as result of the constant communication between Quantix and the other parties. The ‘tweaks and changes’ made at an application level all impacted on the database. Quantix was therefore required to be both proactive and reactive in the delivery of the front-line support services. The implementation of the application was completed over three ‘go live’ phases. Once the application infrastructure was implemented it raised another major concern. Our client had made the strategic decision not to employ full time DBA resources because they were aware of the potential pitfalls such as high costs & concerns about skill levels - in addition they realised that they didn’t have the necessary skills to assess the skill set of a potential candidate. On completion of the initial consultancy contract, Quantix and our client agreed to discuss the commercial and technical viability of a full-managed services contract, where Quantix were incumbent suppliers for all Oracle DBA related activity as a full managed services.

The Benefits to the Client
Quantix have been working and supporting our client for two years, in which time numerous benefits have already been delivered. A key business driver for any organisation taking advantage of the Oracle Managed Service is typically the potential cost saving. Since Quantix has actively been working with our client the estimated cost savings have been in excess of £400,000.

The contract has meant that many of the mundane and monotonous DBA tasks have been removed from the working practices. This has allowed the high level IT staff at the client site to focus on other key business areas in order for them to strive to achieve medium / long term IT objectives.

The Clients Opinion
“Partnering with Quantix has really made our jobs much easier. With mission critical business systems like ours we made a decision to employ the services of a company that not only is well known in the Oracle market place but can deliver above and beyond expectation”. Senior Project Manage
"Quantix have not only saved us a huge amount of budget in the short space of time they have been working with us, they have also taken the pain away from all our Oracle database issues. Their skills are second to none and the professional manner in which they ‘hand hold’ non-conversant Oracle companies like us is a credit to them”. Business Development Manager

The Next Stages
Since the initial Oracle support solution was agreed, Quantix have upgraded this contract to encompass a full 24x7x365 monitoring & alerting, with additional 24x7 telephone support cover. This solution, which will proactively monitor the target databases, includes a facility that will alert the dedicated Quantix support DBA’s when major parameters look like they will be breached. This will ensure that immediate action can be taken to resolve issues before they become a major problem.

Summary
The implementation of the Oracle consultancy and support managed services contract has been working very well for our client. The corporate strategy of Quantix and the IT vision of our client has meant both organisations have worked seamlessly to ensure the Oracle database infrastructure is not only effectively maintained but is delivering the true business benefits that an organisation like our client requires.