PRASA CRES yields maximum uptime with RDB Consulting

PRASA Corporate Real Estate Solutions (CRES), a new division of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), established in 2010, runs the facilities management, real estate asset management and project and development management functions that were previously handled by the group's (PRASA) wholly-owned subsidiary, Intersite Property Management Services.

PRASA CRES' vision is to become a corporate real estate division that delivers integrated transit corridor-based property development solutions.

It states: "Enriched travelling experiences through innovative property solutions."

The mission is underpinned by five key intentions:

* Travelling experience - superior client service, in secure built and public space environments, that enriches, empowers and delights.

* Innovation - original, imaginative, novel and unique responses to defined client needs and aspirations.

* Property solutions - Provision of creative property responses and packages that add shareholder and stakeholder value.

* Accessibility - To help South Africans attain a better quality of life by offering them access to socio-economic opportunities.

* Mobility - To connect individuals and communities through an integrated network of routes.

PRASA CRES' collective responsibility is to deliver on the mandate that constitutes its mission and vision, and thus relies heavily on its automated operation IT systems for the everyday running of the business, in order to process payments, access information and reports on its property portfolio.

There are currently two systems that PRASA CRES utilises:

* SAP's financial system for HR and finance-related operations.
* The Manhattan Real Estate Asset System for the operation of its Property Portfolio.

Both these application systems reside in the Oracle database. If downtime is experienced with the database, business comes to a standstill, making uptime an imperative. The database supports the companies on a national scale, including offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and East London.

In the past when Intersite Property management was still managing PRASA's property portfolio, the subsidiary employed an in-house database administrator (DBA) to handle its ICT requirements. However, a strategic decision was taken to outsource this function in an effort to mitigate risk (there was too much reliance on a single person that fulfilled the role) and reduce costs, as it didn't necessarily require a full-time resource. It would also eliminate the human resource (HR) issue of attracting and maintaining this specialist skill - especially Oracle skills - in a skills scarce environment.

In 2005, Intersite released a tender to find the right outsource partner that could provide the necessary skills and demonstrate additional benefits, such as cost reduction and excellent service, to mention a few.

"It was in light of this that the DBA function was outsourced to RDB

Consulting on an ad hoc basis," says Sandile Ndaba, Business Relationship Manager at PRASA ICT.

"When we took the decision to outsource the DBA function, PRASA being a state-owned entity, was required to request potential outsourcing proposals through a formal tender process before selecting a suitable outsource partner.

The selection criterion included finding a company that best mirrored our goals, values and objectives. We also required a partner that featured the necessarily skills and service levels that we needed. RDB was selected as the ideal partner as the company met all the requirements, showed an impressive track record, a sound BEE rating and an impeccable reputation.

In 2006, RDB was awarded the contract and since then has been a successful partner to the then Intersite and currently PRASA CRES. RDB Consulting has flourished in this role for the past six years.

In 2010, PRASA CRES realised it needed to upgrade its Oracle database from 9i to 10g, as in order for the newer applications to work optimally with the database, a new version of the database needed replace the older version. RDB Consulting assisted with the upgrade installation of the software and configuration thereof. The migration of the data to the new database was handled by a third-party consultant.

Says Ndaba: "As a result of the upgrade, performance and stability were improved, and in addition, made a significant improvement in the time for these transactions to be processed, resulting in faster access to information."

With RDB's transparent service and expertise, PRASA CRES has improved its operation with a robust database and support, allowing the company to perform optimally in a highly demanding business environment.

"RDB provided us with a service and the necessary skills to manage our Oracle database proactively, minimising downtime and delivering maximum uptime, with a swift response in the event of any issues," says Ndaba. In addition, the excellent service has helped us to yield results, increase reliability, speed of accessing information, sharing of information and improved communication among employees. This has helped PRASA CRES to reach its goals and objectives more accurately and efficiently.