Client: A Global technology-Based manufacturing organization
BACKGROUND
the technology division of a global plastics manufacturer has several hundred employees working in six business divisions located in north America, europe, and Asia. like many scientific organizations, the customer found it challenging to manage, transfer, review, and report technical data and information across multiple geographic locations.
CHALLENGE
the technology division is comprised of product developers, platform chemists, analytical chemists, and technicians located at eight different sites worldwide. single-point instrument data were captured electronically and stored in a lims; multi-point data were often stored in paper format. reports and presentations had different storage formats and sites. Historical knowledge was difficult to access globally – sometimes it was lost entirely.
THE SOLUTION
to address this challenge, the customer chose to implement Waters® nuGenesis® scientific
Data management system (sDms). nuGenesis sDms automatically captures data from various applications as either raw data, or as a printed report, and builds a catalog containing metadata (data about the data). Any authorized user can access the data (chromatograms, spectra, and reports) via a web-based browser. the modular architecture of the sDms system lends itself to customization to suit business needs.
What dictates the system architecture?
to minimize the impact on speed, a single server was ruled out. operational centers in north America, Asia, and europe were designated as sites for regional servers. each site connects to all three servers through one interface.
Who supports the system?
there is a global help desk. A global administration team from the customer’s technology function, not it, oversees system support.
What is the best way to ensure that features map to business-critical systems?
two stages of data modeling ensured that the system would meet the requirements of the user base. it was critical that the system meet user expectations at launch so that the users could see the time savings and immediate benefit.
“ We found that teaming with Waters’ experts and good up-front planning were critical to our successful implementation.”
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the first data modeling stage was a big-picture analysis of how the system would function; the second stage dealt with views, privileges, soPs, and templates. in addition, planning was necessary for lims interfacing and password synchronization among three servers. the customer found that one of the most valuable facets of the data modeling experience was having a Waters system engineer assist during the data modeling session. the customer found that teaming with Waters’ experts and good up-front planning were critical to their successful implementation.
How does Waters ensure long-term system sustainability?
measuring how many documents are printed and archived per business and per site, as well as monitoring retrieval statistics allow maintenance, upgrade efforts, and refresher training to be directed to the appropriate sites and/or business units.
the total number of print data records grew from 8,144 in the first full quarter after implementation to 142,000 by the end of the third quarter. roughly 55% of those records came from migrating legacy repositories into sDms to make them text searchable; 38% were laboratory data, and 7% included other reports and project documentation.
What was the biggest lesson learned during implementation?
it was important to spend several months populating the system with legacy data before rolling out the application. this enabled the customer to verify the data model, and provide a base repository supporting initial activities. Doing this made nuGenesis sDms a tool that users wanted to use daily as soon as it was available, as opposed to being trained on a relatively empty system where they wouldn’t see immediate benefits.
BUSINESS BENEFIT
By tracking and categorizing one week of activities into value-added categories (research, notebook documentation, and writing papers) and non-value-added categories (managing paper files, looking for data, faxing, and email data), the customer determined that they could realize a 10% time savings globally by using nuGenesis sDms. Additionally, the customer calculated that the number of paper records that could not be located after several years, and the calculated fraction of the analytical budget used to generate those data were enough – together with the activity mapping – to justify their investment in nuGenesis sDms.
other benefits that resulted from the nuGenesis sDms implementation include:
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■ increased speed of new product introduction. ■
■ leveraging global talent and bringing new sites up to
speed more quickly.
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■ reducing transcription errors with paperless laboratories. ■
■ instant availability of multi-point data. ■
■ enabling transparent, consistent global processes. ■
■ the ability to work across time zones. ■
■ Avoiding work redundancy.
■■ People locating data themselves rather than submitting a request.
implementation of a nuGenesis sDms data repository created a paradigm shift in the way that this large, global technology-based manufacturing organization has been able to archive and communicate technical data. A solid implementation enabled the customer to reap many benefits, from cost-out productivity of streamlining processes and reducing the time spent on managing data, to sharing important information and knowledge with scientists around the world.