From Seven To One

Assumption University (AU) in Bangkok, Thailand, too had integrationneeds. They faced many challenges. Firstly, transactional data weredistributed in seven standalone systems, with three databasemanagement systems and four developer tools. These systems ran onSolaris and Windows platforms. Various system owners created their owndata, resulting in data inconsistency across departments and systems.There were no ways to tell which set of data were the most updated andaccurate. Secondly, sharing of data amongst departments and officeswas by means of diskettes and off-line transport, and real timeupdates were not possible. This often resulted in wrong representationof important data, which greatly affect the reliability of informationdispatched to the public and community.

In the area of infrastructure management, user identity and resourcedistribution and services were manually operated. Services became slowand untimely, and customers became dissatisfied with the servicesprovided by IT. Systems were also continuously attacked by bothexternal and internal agents. The total cost of management was high,with the need to employ many IT staff.

To solve its integration problems, AU implemented ONE NET solutionsusing Novell Net Services software. The implementation took 10 monthsfrom requirement assessment to the final ONE NET systemimplementation. It engaged three teams of more than 30 implementers,from Novell, TCS and the University.

The solution, put in place since March last year, has paid off. Forone, AU's complex internetworking infrastructure has been integratedby the deployment of a global directory, resulting in centralised IDmanagement and resources distribution. By integrating the globaldirectory with specific security equipment, the ONE NET infrastructureand eBusiness solution are protected against malicious attacks andother security threats. The deployment of Novell Netmail and iFolderhas also facilitated closer collaborative work across geographic areasand time differences.

Using the Directory system, user ID management and resourcesdistribution are centrally and almost automatically replicated andmanaged, requiring fewer employees to service and less specificexpertise to master. Business continuity, enhanced by the new securitysystem and consolidation of all data storage, is 99.99 percentguaranteed. Distributed databases, using ONE NET to manage, are alsomore manageable, and sharing of data becomes easier, resolving dataredundancy and integrity problems. User experience in accessing theuniversity's IT resources has also greatly improved with the newportal system that comes with a secure single sign-onfacility.

AU expects to reduce its total cost of operation of the newinfrastructure and information systems. It expects to have to employless than 10 specialised employees to reinforce its current ITworkforce of 100 to handle and operate the quantitative expansion, andquality of services provided by the university to the increasingnumber of students on the two campuses.