Order Management Performance & Security Audit

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1 We ll streamline your systems and solutions, so you can focus on your business KEY BENEFITS Improve application reliability and speed for a superior customer experience, paying attention to the effect of peak season volumes Reduce the risk of customer data breaches, and related financial and brand impact Minimize scope of PCI compliance audits Ensure data is displayed correctly and efficiently to reduce customer service response times T rouble free order management depends on optimal system design and configuration. But even a well implemented system can suffer performance issues over time. The reasons can be many, but here are some of the most common: Data security best practices have changed and the application has not been monitored or configured to reflect them Unnecessary customizations were developed because inexperienced implementers were not aware of all the core application functionality Customizations make more database calls than necessary, impacting system performance Sourcing engine is not being used optimally, resulting in stock outs Middleware is not integrated optimally, causing inventory and customer data to be out of sync across applications Database size increased without an appropriate data management and purge strategy Delivering Intelligent Fulfillment > BridgeSGI.com

2 It s always great when you can find an IT consulting partner that can support both older and newer technology, and figure out how to integrate them. Bridge Solutions Group has given me confidence that we will have the support we need so we can focus on what we do best, both now, and in the future. Jay Hemmady CIO, OIA Global Memory issues are not proactively monitored and addressed Participant model was not built to accurately reflect your supply chain and support future growth and acquisitions To help you maintain a high-performing system, we recommend an Order Management Audit. During the audit we ll conduct a thorough review of your application architecture, configuration, customizations, and integration points. We ll identify potential performance and security issues and provide a detailed report of our findings and recommendations. What will the audit include? SECURITY Sensitive Data Transactions - Ensure all your sensitive data transactions (payment, customer data) are encrypted during transfer (and at rest in v9.5). To prevent unauthorized access/ data breach. Tokenization - Minimize, through tokenization, the number of times payment data is transferred. SSDCS - Check you are using SSDCS correctly (including any application customizations), to minimize the size and scope of a Payment Card Industry (PCI) audit, because SSDCS is already certified as PCI compliant by IBM. System Access Login strategy review to ensure usernames/passwords are changed and encrypted. 2

3 API Exposure Exposed APIs can pose a security risk. We check that APIs are not exposed unnecessarily. Threat monitoring and detection Ensure appropriate threat monitoring business processes are in place (log reviews, etc.). SERVER & VIRTUAL MACHINE (VM) HEALTH Correctly indexed data helps your call center reps access order information more quickly and efficiently, and provide a superior customer experience. CPU, Server, Memory Usage Ensure optimal utilization, enough memory, and identify design flaws (configuration and customizations) that are utilizing too much processing power. Also, in complex implementations with hundreds of configurations and customizations it can be difficult to identify where performance issues originate. We can help identify them, and if application issues, can facilitate conversations with IBM. Monitoring Check that proactive monitoring is set up for memory issues, hanging threads, deadlocks, and infinite loops. These can slow the system down, and negatively impact user experience. Caching Identify incorrectly configured or coded caching. Too much caching can cause you to run out of memory. Too little can mean too many calls to the database which slows down the application. APPLICATION HEALTH & MONITORING Application server Health & Monitoring Check for optimal use of connection pooling, connection pool size, load balancing, etc. 3

4 Database Health & Monitoring Review of key settings that can impact application performance and review which user profiles have direct database access, to prevent malicious or accidental modification of the data or database. INTEGRATION & ARCHITECTURE Make sure users only have access to the information they need to perform their jobs. Anything more can be a security risk. Messaging and Integration We check how external systems interact with the application. Agent queues and integration queues should be utilized correctly, as misconfiguration can result in lost messages (this includes order data or inventory data), and systems can get out of sync. This can also result in overall application slowness, which negatively impacts customer experience. We also ensure your order management integration and architecture support your Disaster Recovery/business continuity strategy. SOFTWARE BEST PRACTICES Participant Model Review to ensure it accurately reflects your supply chain, and is configured to support future business growth, particularly through mergers and acquisitions. User Security Review of all access levels, both organizational and transactional (order data, inventory data, etc.) Order Pipeline Ensure optimal use so it does not create excess records. Make sure it reflects your actual business processes to reduce errors, and that a separate order pipeline is set up for each process (drop ship, 4

5 wrap and label, stock orders, procurement orders, store orders, etc.) to differentiate the processes so that a change to one won t inadvertently change another and require additional regression testing. Inventory and Sourcing Make sure Hot SKU functionality is used efficiently, and the sourcing engine is used optimally to reduce stock outs. Review of sourcing and allocation rules, and safety stock. Minimize database calls when sending order status notifications to customers. Purge & Closure Ensure records are closed effectively and purged when necessary. USER EXPERIENCE System & User Observations System administrators and Users complete user experience questionnaires. The responses help identify system performance issues. CUSTOMIZATIONS Custom Code We audit 2-3 high use customizations and review their user exits and APIs. We check for standards compliance, and ensure they are not triggering performance issues through deadlocking, looping, etc. Deployment Ensure customizations are being deployed correctly to ensure they are compliant with the application and not overwritten during upgrades. An audit is a great first step to help you maintain a top-performing system. But for those organizations who aspire to match not 5

6 Delivering Intelligent Fulfillment Headquarters, New Jersey, USA Main: Fax: Bangalore, India Main: BRIDGE Fax: Toronto, Canada Main: Fax: London, UK Main: Medellin, Colombia Main: Fax: Bridge Solutions Group just application best practices, but industry best practices, we also offer an in depth industry specific application analysis. We ll use our deep expertise in retail, wholesale and manufacturing to compare your overall implementation with industry leaders, and make recommendations to ensure your order management solution is first-class, for example: Inventory Management and Synchronization Strategy Organizational Growth strategy Cost Savings within sourcing rules Catalog and Online Catalog setup Order Processing best practices Backorder and Stockout best practices To learn how the IBM Sterling Order Management System audit or industry specific application analysis can help your business, please contact us. Ready to get started? Schedule your audit scoping call today: contact@bridgesgi.com