BMW South Africa has installed a new software solution to facilitate database requirements planning and resolve emerging database problems more proactively in its mission-critical systems.
The company has opted for the latest version of PM Ora Software`s Enterprise Gauge database monitoring solution. This South African-developed software monitors five of BMW`s key production Oracle databases, the largest of which is the 700Gb SAP system.
According to Mike Leeuwen, director of PM Ora Software, the use of Enterprise Gauge in monitoring such massive core systems endorses the solution`s robust functionality and its increasing acceptance among global companies.
"We`ve built up a substantial base of blue-chip clients throughout Africa`s financial, telecommunications, educational and industrial sectors and we are now intensifying our activities in global markets with a product that continues to prove itself in mission-critical environments," he says.
While BMW SA`s key reason for implementing Enterprise Gauge is to enhance the monitoring of its key data resources, it also expects to derive substantial benefits from the system`s advanced reporting functions.
"While the monitoring of our critical production databases is key and will enable us to become more effective in the future, equally important for us are the statistics and reports we can extract from Enterprise Gauge," says Hans Coertze, SAP Basis and Open Systems Manager at BMW, Rosslyn, Pretoria.
"We`ll be using these stats to help us plan for next year, which, from my point of view, is a very important benefit. We didn`t have access to such data previously when we were running scripts-based database administration that we`d developed in-house."
One of the advantages of the South African-developed PM Ora Software solution over more expensive global solutions according to Coertze is that Enterprise Gauge allows for customisation, enabling BMW to incorporate data from its existing unique scripts into the monitoring solution.
"Also, because PM Ora Software is a local company, we have direct access to the developers who are available to help us add on what we might need," he says.
A feature of Enterprise Gauge that BMW finds particularly useful is its Web-based functionality that allows DB administrators to carry out remote monitoring without having to run special client software.
Says Leeuwen: "This is a very powerful feature that few competitive solutions offer. It is enabling South African-based companies to effectively monitor databases located at their subsidiaries and offices elsewhere in Africa where database administration resources are limited."
BMW intends using Enterprise Gauge`s e-mail and SMS alarm notification features and integrating these with its own in-house developed systems.
The company is also evaluating related Enterprise Gauge modules including its operating system monitoring solution.
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