Asset Security - Advanced Plant Protection
A globally recognized consumer packaged goods company uses Advanced Plant Protection (APP) to manage plant floor Operational Technology (OT) infrastructure and ensure assets are compliant with their computer security standards. Major problems with APP data visualization led the client to use Interstates’ expertise in the Microsoft Power BI platform to strengthen asset security.
Achieving Real Results
Take compliance from 75% to over 90%.
Save $300,000 on asset security services.
Take reporting times from four days to 15 minutes.
Unify reporting onto a single pane of glass.
Challenges
- Prior data models displaying plant assets had created a feedback loop that fed corrupted data back into the system. As a result, APP could not report accurate compliance rates.
- Existing reports were incomplete and took multiple clicks to obtain all the information about assets and the compliance status. This was time-consuming and inefficient for end users.
- Assets monitored by multiple vendors needed to be consolidated into a single report.
Solution
Interstates used its high-level expertise in Power BI to visualize APP data in a way that met the client’s business requirements. Most importantly, the tool allowed for accurate reporting, leading to compliance rates above 90%. This eliminated opportunities for cyber attacks on client assets.
Interstates also consolidated and organized the reports from APP, creating a more intuitive hierarchy. Leaders could create their reports quickly and easily using the metrics that mattered to them.
Stakeholders previously managed data in Excel files, resulting in high-touch data processing that could take up to four days of valuable resource time. Interstates implemented a data workflow tool to automate data processing from four vendors, various websites, firewall, antivirus and patching systems, and the network packet logging system. Reports that had previously taken up to four days now took mere minutes, freeing up valuable time for data analysis.
Return on Investment
When Interstates took over monitoring the standards and quality of data from a third-party firm, it discovered the client was being charged for services on physical assets that were out of date. Rectifying this issue resulted in $300,000 of savings for asset security.
The most important result of using Power BI was an increase in compliance rates from 70% to over 90%, ensuring the client was protected with the most up-to-date cybersecurity methods possible. The new reporting hierarchy made any problems quickly apparent, and consolidating reports from multiple vendors made it easier for cybersecurity leaders to read them.
Because of the agility of both key client manufacturing leaders as well as technical experts at Interstates, Power BI remains a highly flexible and customizable solution that reliably meets the needs of plant computer security professionals and high-level executives and leaders. Working hand in hand with Interstates on prioritizing asset security, the client will continue to keep pace with the quickly changing OT computer security landscape.