Case study 2

International Merchant Bank

Our client is an independent international banking PLC listed on the LSE that focuses on providing select clients with asset management, private banking and investment banking services. Over the last 4 years our client has made numerous strategic acquisitions, which has meant they are now a substantial force in the worldwide banking marketplace. The acquisitions have been successfully integrated and the business continues to grow organically.

The Issues
Although very reliant on the swift delivery of information and data, our client had limited Oracle and SQL Server skills with which to manage it’s internal systems. As the company grew and new acquisitions consolidated, the IT Team inherited further Oracle systems and a strategic decision was taken to use Oracle as the core Database. They required Oracle expertise for the daily maintenance of their Databases and to take ownership of future projects, whilst providing continual development and training to their internal IT staff.

The Oracle and SQL systems are mission-critical to our clients business, which is why they required a partner whom they could trust, would serve their immediate needs and then provide a high level of long-term support. At the same they needed a partner who would help them to increase their own skills in a number of specific areas.

The Solution
Quantix initially provided a consultant on-site to carry out the daily maintenance of the Oracle systems, establish a back up and recovery procedure and train the internal team. Quantix also assisted in the recruitment of the full-time DBA by vetting candidates from a technical perspective during interviews. Quantix consultant’s provided a formal handover to the new DBA with full documentation on all the systems and the disaster recovery strategy.

Quantix assigned two Senior DBA’s to our client as well as a project manager, because continuity was key to the client. The majority of the work delivered during the 2-month project was done by the primary DBA, although other consultants were made available as and when necessary – this ensured that the client received the continuity they were looking for.

Initially Quantix were on-site for 2 months, continually managing the Oracle infrastructure. Quantix had assisted in the appointment of a full time DBA, who was by now in a position to carry out the daily maintenance. In the background the relationship with Quantix was extended further by way of a structured consultancy pack, which ensured that they had the reassurance of being able to call on our team whenever they encountered problems, or required high-level project work. Since our initial involvement with our client a further 100 man-days have been delivered on site, covering support, maintenance, disaster recovery, application development & capacity planning project consulting, for both their Oracle and SQL systems.

The Benefits to the Client
Our client benefited from having a partner who they could trust to provide high level Oracle and SQL consultancy. The reassurance of having Oracle support with Quantix and knowledge that Quantix could operate at short notice and in dynamic circumstances is a major business plus for our client, as uninterrupted data flow and data access is essential to their business. Downtime can be measured in millions of £’s and we assisted in minimising this.

The Clients Opinion
“Quantix have been involved in providing on-site Oracle and now SQL DBA assistance to us since May 2001. Quantix have worked closely with our internal IT team here to ensure that our mission critical Oracle Databases are fully optimised and operational. Quantix has provided guidance and support on key projects, migrations, back up and recovery strategies and is committed to helping us develop our Oracle infrastructure in the future. Over 100 consulting days were delivered during this period and provision at short notice gives peace of mind that we have their expertise to call on.” IT Manager, Our Client

The Next Stage
Quantix is the incumbent supplier of Oracle and SQL consulting services, delivering on-site consulting and telephone advice. Quantix will be working closely on future projects, assisting in migration paths and ensuring business decisions and I.T strategy are accurately reflected in the management of the critical database systems. Discussions are now in place for the remote management of these systems using a secure VPN solution.

Summary
Quantix provided our client with a dedicated team of Oracle consultants and a project manager. Quantix ensured that all RDBMS systems were optimised and set up correctly and that a long-term support infrastructure was created. Quantix are committed and contracted to providing consulting and support for our client in the future.