Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 11 | Page 66

INDUSTRY WATCH: TRADE AND LOGISTICS T ransnet SOC Ltd. is the largest and most crucial part of the freight logistics chain that delivers goods to each and every South African. Transnet Engineering is a division of Transnet SOC Ltd, with a team of 14,500 qualified personnel, seven well- equipped ISO-certified factories and 150 depots. Transnet Engineering annually manages over 11,000 wagons, 150 locomotives, 500 coaches and 52,000 wheels in its asset management system. To do this, the company uses SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), the optimal lifecycle management solution of the physical assets of an organisation. It covers the design, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance and decommissioning/ replacement of plant, equipment and facilities. With such heavy reliance on their SAP system, Transnet turned to Fujitsu for help in keeping their SAP environment secure. Kelesto Pule, Business Analyst at Transnet Engineering says, “Security is one of the biggest risks. Within Transnet, they’ve introduced the biometrics, which is a joint venture between Fujitsu and Linx.” The biometric solution referred to is Fujitsu’s bioLock, the only biometric identity and access management programme available that is tightly embedded and natively integrated with SAP ERP. SAP systems usually rely on role-based authorisation and simple password-based log on. This password system does not allow organisations to tie a specific user to an activity on the SAP platform, making accountability and rule enforcement difficult. The Fujitsu bioLock enhances security with SAP solutions by utilising biometric security to protect a company’s SAP data. “The major objective for the system improvement was securing the SAP ERP Plant Maintenance and Production Planning modules and shop floor processes in diverse locations using shared devices.” A major initiative called Project 1064 was the driving force behind Transnet’s Transnet Engineering’s major involvement in Project 1064 was the driving force behind improving security 66 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com