Telkom has laid a data management platform, based on Ascential Software`sDataStage XE, to provide its business with flexibility and discipline as it prepares for increased competition, not least the advent of a second fixed-line competitor. The software was acquired in a deal worth $260 000, worth nearly R3 million at today`s exchange rate.
The data platform is being put in place to ensure Telkom has data of consistent quality as it embarks on an enterprise-wide programme of software application renewal and enhancement. The programme is being conducted to ensure Telkom`s core business systems provide the telco with competitive advantage, says Dick Brummer, Telkom IT solution and data architect.
"We have over 150 software application systems," says Brummer, "and we need to ensure we are competitive. Where indicated, we will replace them if we have to. If they are not flexible enough, or not integrated, or don`t supply the functionality we need, we will implement new systems. After all, competitors are entering the market without our legacy burden, and they can erode our market share."
As a policy decision Telkom is choosing best-of-breed packages rather than developing its own applications.
Telkom`s core systems run on Oracle, but it has many discrete systems running other technologies. While it is ideal that new systems conform to architecture, the business will not be constrained by this requirement if required. As such, the data platform gives Telkom freedom of choice in replacing its applications. DataStage will be used to migrate data from old to new applications, and from existing and new applications to the corporate data warehouse.
Telkom has the largest data warehouse in SA and one of the largest in the world, weighing in at 18-plus Terabytes on a Sun platform running Oracle. It contains all of the company`s call and customer records, including some summarised historical data. The data warehouse was developed for decision support and various reporting purposes, balanced scorecard, marketing and trend analysis, product review, customer account management, and various star schema and multidimensional designs for subject-specific data marts.
DataStage will be phased in to build and maintain the interface, conversion and migration scripts for Telkom`s OLTP (online transaction processing) systems. Future interfaces will be written using DataStage.
Telkom embarked on the application replacement programme as long ago as 1999, when it went to tender for a data replication solution. It needed a tool that could manage real-time replication and copy management. DataStage was chosen as the best solution on the market, and when used in conjunction with real-time interface products such as MQSeries, it can give Telkom batch, or real-time data update capability.
"Our Oracle database does have some built-in data replication capabilities, but we opted for specialisation rather than generic qualities," Brummer stresses. "DataStage is the clear market leader, and offered us the performance and depth of functionality we needed."
A high-performance tool was vital because of the volumes of data to be processed. In this regard DataStage`s support of parallel processing was key: in a multi-job billing environment pilot project, running DataStage on a 16-processor Oracle-HP platform, Telkom was able to reduce processing time from an average six to eight hours to 110 minutes.
With DataStage Telkom can map data from any source to any target: from existing source to new source systems; and from new sources to new targets. "DataStage is all about futureproofing the business," adds Brummer. "It gives us the freedom and flexibility to choose what we want: any database, any solution." "Word has spread rapidly that we have a world-class data quality tool, and we are getting daily requests to assist various departments with data cleansing projects," Brummer reports.
Benefits
Although Telkom has not fully deployed DataStage, it is already experiencing manifold benefits:
* DataStage`s ease of use through point-and-click user interfaces means reduced need for highly skilled people.
* Telkom now has the ability to generate a combined, unified customer view, a prerequisite for customer relationship management.
* It will also be used to build, replace and optimise interface scripts for data extraction.
* The product`s visual data flow diagrams within containers enable Telkom to visualise the source-to-target mappings on one screen. These enables discussions with developers and business analysts, making sure all agree on expectations.
* IT can communicate intelligently and accurately with end-users by having the entire environment depicted on one screen.
* Telkom will have, in the long term, a comprehensive view of metadata for all operational and informational systems. It will do this through a MetaStage implementation. Users will be able to see predefined data objects in a single view in a shared environment, between the data models of the operational environment, the DataStage conversion environment, the reference data and the business intelligence environment.
"Data must be managed as a corporate asset," Brummer concludes. DataStage will enable Telkom to take the next step to zero latency operational reporting, making use of functionality such as XML converter and change data capture.
"Many companies are coming to the same conclusion as Telkom," says Ascential Software GM Julian Field. "Business just cannot function at its peak until the issue of clean and consistent data has been resolved."
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