Infoverity has completed a second consecutive deployment of enhancements and upgrades to Informatica’s MDM and IDD platforms for a large, global pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Infoverity provided dedicated project management and leadership in the testing effort, partnering with Informatica to bring top-tier master data, data governance and MDM product expertise to the client. The project successfully delivered a major version upgrade of Informatica MDM and implementation of the Informatica Data Director (IDD) data stewardship tool.
Background
Global Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company possessed a Customer Master solution based on the Informatica MDM platform. The legacy customer master hub was in its seventh phase of implementation (dating back to 2007), and was deeply integrated into their architecture using a complex variety of tools and processes. Prior phases struggled to deliver promised functionality and hit deadlines and budget targets.
Project Goals and Objectives
- Major version upgrade from Informatica MDM XU to MDM 9.1.0.
- Enhance and augment MDM system functionality; implement Informatica Data Director (IDD) for enhanced data stewardship functionality and workflow capability.
- Lead the user testing effort, create the test strategy and plan utilizing best practices; execute validated IDD and MDM upgrade testing.
- Concurrently deliver a separate production release for post-go live enhancements and support fixes from previous phase.
Approach
Infoverity utilized its successful track record of Delivery Management, as well as its deep experience and expertise in master data and data governance solutions to bring functional and technical guidance to the project team. Four aspects of the project approach that ensured successful delivery:
- Dedicated Delivery Management
Previous client projects had come under fire for project delays and missed deadlines. Infoverity’s dedicated Technical Delivery Manager resolved these issues by using a hands-on approach to function as project manager, functional team lead, and MDM SME. This ensured successful coordination between project workstreams, proactively identified project/timeline risks, and delivered the project on-time and on-budget.
- Validated Testing Execution
Infoverity’s Test Lead streamlined the testing effort, framed the user acceptance testing (UAT) approach and facilitated tight integration between the test teams. Validated testing cycles ensured compliance with stringent system audit checks employed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Dry run testing was also leveraged to refine test cases and catch defects prior to validated QA testing.
- Parallel Implementation Approach
To meet the aggressive timeline, two separate production releases were run in parallel with overlapping resources, timelines and testing environments. Both project schedules and key milestones were aligned, coordinating cross-project phase gates to maximize resource efficiency.
- Partnering for Success
Infoverity partnered with Informatica to build a core team of top-tier data governance and MDM product professionals. The blended team paired Infoverity’s project and testing leadership with Informatica’s unmatched product expertise, ensuring project success.
Results and Client Return
The Infoverity project approach was successful in delivering numerous positive results for the client:
- Efficiency and Performance Gains: Improved performance for all hub transactions and services, including match/merge and daily data steward operations.
- MDM Strategic Alignment: MDM 9.1 upgrade aligned the client’s internal framework for strategic MDM and data governance initiatives with Informatica’s product roadmap.
- Data Stewardship Gaps Closed: IDD improved productivity with enhanced workflow and data steward task management capabilities.
- Enhanced End User Experience: Customizable charts and graphs offered governance and business owners a more flexible view of their master data and data steward activity.
- Risk Reduction: Enhancements and performance tuning for load jobs, data archival, and matching/unmerging reduced risks for service level agreement (SLA) compliance and yearly system audits from the FDA and government regulatory bodies.
