News & Events
Pharmaceutical companies can now benefit from automated SharePoint governance solution
7 February, 2011 – The DeltaPoint solution, just launched by epista IT, enables a fast and effective way of keeping controlled SharePoint-based applications in a compliant (validated) state, by providing an automated tool which supports control and overview of all critical configuration parameters and their interdependencies.
A versatile platform, Microsoft SharePoint has been adopted by many pharmaceutical companies as the backbone for Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) and Clinical Trials Portals, housing controlled and regulated content that requires to be hosted within a controlled environment.
However, SharePoint numerous functions and settings can easily run out of control if critical configuration parameters and shared services are not properly managed. It gets even more difficult to keep track of the interdependencies between critical parameters when validated and non-validated business applications co-exist within the same SharePoint infrastructure.
According to epista IT’s Managing Director Klavs Esbjerg, DeltaPoint comes to ease various pains associated with SharePoint governance, especially in the case of validating business applications and keeping them in a validated state. “DeltaPoint is a governance approach that involves all phases of the SharePoint implementation, from design to maintenance. It starts with detailed installations guides followed by a thorough identification of all critical configuration parameters, which then can serve as basis for further monitoring, whenever necessary,” Esbjerg says.
“To facilitate configuration management and change control, epista IT has developed a governance tool which extracts and compares configuration baselines automatically, generating baseline reports that cover the whole SharePoint platform, including servers, the farm and the various business applications and sites,” Esbjerg explains.
The DeltaPoint governance solution also includes policies and procedures, in order to ensure consistency during operation and maintenance of the SharePoint farm and its applications.
Configuration review made faster
DeltaPoint is the result of epista IT’s expertise in qualification of IT platforms and its deep knowledge of the regulatory requirements set for Life Sciences companies. epista IT has developed tools and methodologies that support continuous compliance with regulatory agencies for a SharePoint-based infrastructure.
In addition to assisting in keeping the SharePoint platform in a controlled state, the efficient change control and configuration management enabled by DeltaPoint contribute to ensuring stability, high availability and lower maintenance costs.
One tangible benefit of DeltaPoint for Life Sciences companies owning validated SharePoint farms can be experienced during the preparation of the periodic configuration review required by the authorities.
“When performing a configuration review, it can take up to several days of a full-time employee to collect all the data necessary” says Martin Woergaard, Business Development manager at epista IT. “With DeltaPoint, the data required for the periodic review can be retrieved in a few minutes,” he explains.
The DeltaPoint automated governance tool is fully compatible with SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010.