Integration of a new software into the existing enterprise material sampling process, improving the speed to market of new models and reducing the time spent on the sampling process in general.
Case Study: Solution Architecture for HPE and Volkswagen
- Client: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Volkswagen (VW)
- Project: Integration of a SaaS Platform into Volkswagen’s System Architecture
Objective:
To design a robust solution architecture for integrating a SaaS platform into Volkswagen’s existing system architecture, ensuring data compliance, security, and audit-proof storage of sampling process results.
Challenges:
- Complex Technology Stacks: Uniting several diverse technology stacks posed a significant challenge.
- Compliance and Security: Ensuring the architecture met VW software and VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie) requirements.
- Scalability and Efficiency: Handling a large volume of sampling processes efficiently.
Solution:
The architecture required the implementation of a microservice framework to securely load data from various VW systems into the SaaS platform. Key features of the solution included:
- Microservice Architecture: Enabled modular integration, allowing seamless data flow between VW systems and the SaaS platform.
- Compliant Data Handling: Ensured all data transfer and storage met stringent VW and VDA compliance and security standards.
- Audit-Proof Storage: Implemented secure storage solutions for final sampling process results, guaranteeing audit readiness and integrity.
Results:
The implemented system now handles 30,000 sampling processes from suppliers worldwide. Key impacts include:
- Increased Efficiency: The time required for the sampling process was reduced by 64%.
- Error Reduction: Manual errors were significantly minimized, enhancing overall process accuracy and reliability.
Conclusion:
This project successfully demonstrated our ability to design and implement complex solution architectures that meet rigorous compliance and security standards while significantly improving operational efficiency. Our collaboration with HPE and Volkswagen highlights our expertise in integrating cutting-edge technologies to deliver impactful business outcomes. Discover how to seamlessly integrate complex data flows into your enterprise landscape—schedule your free consultation today!
Full transcript
Solution architecture, especially in an enterprise environment, can be a risky issue. For example, in my project with Volkswagen, we were trying to integrate an external SaaS, software as a service, application into their systems without compromising data. And what I mean with this is we basically want to establish a pull-only mechanism that the SaaS software is not running in VW and especially is not able to just connect to every data source in there. And for this you want to design some kind of ETL mechanism which extracts the data from the relevant VW systems, which is all under the control of VW, transforms it, meaning we are throwing away data that is unnecessary or that our third party application provider does not need, and then loads them, which is the abbreviation ETL, into their system. And the same way, actually, on the way back, that we only take data that they published somewhere and pull it back into our enterprise system. And it’s really important to have a look at the different connections, that it’s all separated under control, that we are implementing auditing and logging measurements, especially in Europe where DSGVO or GDPR is very important, especially with intellectual property in companies like Volkswagen.
And therefore, it’s really important to manufacture and create a solution architecture document which documents all the decisions like why did we decide on some technology or not and especially mentions all the risks involved as well like what could happen what can we do to prevent it and how can we make sure that the application is not just integrated once, but constantly revised, that we probably close down on security measurements or impediments that are happening in the world. And actually, on my website, I’m providing several drafts on how to create such a solution architecture document. And yeah, I would invite you to just have a look around the website. You can filter for solution architecture, or if you want, we could have a little discussion about your projects, like how would you create this kind of document to probably discover risks that you weren’t thinking about and how to make sure that it’s safely integrated into your architecture. Okay, looking forward to being in contact with you and have a look around my website. See you soon.
