FUJIFILM

FUJIFILM Achieves 80% Reduction in SAP Testing Time and Accelerates
Service Pack Implementation by 25%

About
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FFDB) is a dedicated biopharmaceutical CDMO business with development and manufacturing sites in Billingham, UK and Research Triangle Park, NC, and College Station, TX, employing over 1,000 people. They have over 30 years of clinical and commercial experience in biopharmaceutical development and cGMP manufacturing.

“By automatically capturing screens and linking them to the test steps, we probably save 50% of our test time per test. As a result of the time savings, we’ve been able to work on projects that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

Campbell Kay | IT Manager, FFDB, FUJIFILM

The Challenge

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FFDB), the drug contract manufacturing division of FUJIFILM, were upgrading their SAP ERP service packs every 12-18
months. The number of patches contained within each service pack meant it was impractical to manually check each patch for impact, but they had to minimize the risk to business continuity and the systems downtime.

Furthermore, FFDB needed to fit their service pack updates and their test cycle into the timeslots made available by their manufacturing department and ensure that any changes in the development and test environments were carried through to the production system without excessive delays.

They had reduced their tests down to their key processes and processes steps and had created a number of end to end tests but the lapsed time between applying the service packs in the development system and production was still too great and they were still not sure if they were tackling the right tests.

The Solution

“We were looking at ways to speed up the service pack implementation,” said Campbell Kay, IT Manager, FFDB. “We were overwhelmed by the functionality Panaya provided. Panaya opened our eyes to the impact of the service pack change. With the impact analysis, we went to our Quality Assurance Dept. (QA) to propose and get their agreement to reduce the amount of testing we did. Panaya allowed us to clearly prioritize testing specifically relating to impact and likelihood of failure.”

“In the old manual days”, according to Kay, “the project manager used spreadsheets for visibility and tracking over the upgrade. With Panaya the project manager has a granular, real-time view of the testing cycle with the ability to track the tests, change controls and identify bottlenecks, achieving complete efficiency.”

The Results

FFDB started to realize the benefits from day one, from faster test creation and execution to increased end user involvement. “This is not only a big time saving, but the test executioner no longer dreads the more complex end to end testing which would have upwards of 50 screen captures,” stated Verrill. “We’ve taken a month off of service pack implementation quite easily.” said Kay.

In an article in Computerworld UK, Kay states that Panaya automates the test execution process, capturing and recording test steps and data with
the press of a button, saving FDDB 80% of time it used to spend on testing. In addition, automating this process has helped FFDB to implement service packs between 20% and 25% faster, Kay said.

Using Panaya proved to deliver change better, faster and safer, ensuring that FFDB’s SAP landscape meets the rising demands and pace of today’s business.