"Y`ello" cellular company MTN has upgraded from Informatica PowerCenter 5 to the latest version 7 with the assistance and support of Informatica`s local distributor Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID).
As an integrated data management tool, Informatica PowerCenter 5 was originally implemented at MTN to enable the development of an enterprise data warehouse.
"PowerCenter 5 was reaching the end of its supported life, which necessitated the upgrade to PowerCenter 7," says Cornel Ryan, ETL and data warehousing specialist at MTN. "This fortunately allowed us to leverage the new functionality introduced in Version 7 in our environment. Many of the issues that hampered us in the previous version have been ironed out in PowerCenter 7, and much functionality added."
Based on the Universal Data Services (UDS) architecture, Informatica PowerCenter 7 is adaptive software that provides improved data integrity and greater visibility of enterprise data and processes. It delivers the range of tools and data services needed to enhance the data integration and data warehousing projects that MTN has embarked on.
The software enables developers at MTN to gain greater efficiency through the data integration services architecture; maximise their use of the existing IT infrastructure; accelerate their development projects; reduce maintenance time; support data stewardship with data quality and security; and respond rapidly to new business requirements and infrastructure changes.
PowerCenter`s Metadata Exchange module provides MTN with a fast and accurate way of co-ordinating technical and business metadata from its source and target database catalogues and Informatica`s UDS architecture.
"Informatica PowerCenter 7 complements our environment, especially with its metadata reporter which we will rely heavily on," Ryan says. "Like any large organisation, we have multiple sources and targets, and an infinite number of business rules. With PowerCenter we now always know where our sources are, what our targets are, and what the business rules are, all through a graphical interface. We now have one integrated view of our data and reporting environments.
"A further plus for us is the fact that we now have access to local support through KID," he continues."
Providing local software support and training, KID has established a detailed offering to serve the corporate market.
MTN has completed the first in a series of instructor-led courses provided by KID. This course exposed MTN to the core features of Informatica PowerCenter 7 and covered everything from an architectural overview to source object definition, target object definitions, mapping, workflows and an overview of the advanced features available in the product.
The training programme that KID offers extends beyond basic training to include specific courses for project managers/administrators, developers and senior developers.
"With the longer term goal of becoming self-sufficient, customer staff will be educated up to an appropriate Informatica certification level, giving an objective assessment of their competency in the technology," says Chris O`Connell, COO at KID.
Beyond the maintenance agreement, KID provides MTN with permanent on-site staff to facilitate immediate support and maintenance.
"With local support from KID, our developers are enjoying significantly improved response times," Ryan says. "There is no longer a need to wait for support when we hit a hurdle and get stuck. If the developers need guiding, there are people on-site and KID is immediately available to offer further assistance."
Informatica PowerCenter 7 enables MTN`s developers to adapt quickly to system and data changes; reduce development time and costs through a team-based development environment and reusable objects; improve data integrity with profiling and cleansing functions; and leverage flexible connectivity with real-time and batch capabilities.
The solution offers a single set of productivity tools and analyses relational, hierarchical, flatfile, or real-time sources to determine the format and quality of the data prior to extraction.
A batch module enables MTN to extract and load large volumes of data from any system. The real-time module provides a method for capturing event-driven data by online systems.
As a major communications player, the MTN Group operates three business divisions: MTN South Africa, MTN International and Strategic Investments. The company is expanding its African footprint into the Middle East and operates GSM networks in six African countries that collectively service the needs of more than 9.5 million subscribers.
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