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ValueEdge: Value Stream Management
Align corporate investments with business strategy
Continuous quality from requirements to delivery
Scale enterprise SCCM with security and compliance
Resilient AI-powered functional test automation
Enterprise-level requirements management
Deliver continuous application performance testing
Plan, track, orchestrate, and release applications
Govern quality and implement auditable processes
Automate deployments for continuous delivery
Access all products in application delivery management
Modernize Core Business Systems to Drive Business Transformation
Build business applications using new tools & platforms
The leading solution for COBOL application modernization
Modernize mainframe applications for the Cloud
Modernize host application access
Discover the future of CORBA
Modern mainframe application delivery for IBM Z
Secure, zero-footprint access to host applications
Access host data and automate processes with RPA
Multi-factor Authentication for IBM z/OS endpoints
Access all products in Application Modernization & Connectivity
Security at the core to everything you do; Operations, Applications, Identity and Data
Build secure software fast
Augment human intelligence
Discover, analyze, and protect sensitive data
Drive IT ecosystem with identity-centric expertise
Deliver simplified, secure access to users
Scale to billions of identities with IGA platform
Gain control of privileged user activities
Track changes and activities in managed services
Get fast, accurate detection of threats
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Analytics for text, audio, video, and image data
Reduce risk, cost, and maintenance, and T2M
AI and machine learning for data analysis
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Meet regulatory & privacy retention requirements
Email, IM, and chat-based collaboration
Mobile workforce communication & collaboration
Secure critical file storage and print services
Access all products in Information Management and Governance
Simplify Your IT Transformation
Manage IT & non-IT services with automation and AI
Discover, monitor, and remediate with AIOps
Monitor and optimize complex networks
Discover, manage, and map configurations & assets
Accelerate provisioning with governance in place
Automate and orchestrate processes end to end
Manage IT & software assets for better compliance
Automate server provisioning, patching, and compliance
Automate screen-based human actions with robots
Access all products in IT Operations Management
Give your team the power to make your business perform to its fullest
Follow strict regulatory application testing guidelines, showing evidence throughout to ensure the test results cannot be manipulated.
Xellia Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company providing important anti-infective treatments against serious and often life-threatening infections. Xellia is wholly owned by Novo Holdings A/S and has state of the art manufacturing facilities located in Denmark, Hungary, China, and the U.S.
As a global pharmaceutical manufacturer, Xellia is under constant scrutiny from regulators. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ensures the quality of drug products by carefully monitoring manufacturers’ compliance with its Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations. The cGMP regulations for drugs make sure that a product is safe for use, and that it has the ingredients and strength it claims to have.
With many applications, such as Oracle ERP modules, quality management, change management, document management, manufacturing, and serialization systems, Xellia managed a paper-based application testing process, as described by Per Bischoff Kristiansen, QA IT Compliance Specialist for Xellia: “Our testing processes are well defined through Standard Operating Procedures, and we have to show physical evidence for every step to prove the integrity and security of our process. We collaborate with sites around the world, and when a test case needs to be signed off by different people, in specific order and all in different locations, you can imagine that this would easily take 2-3 weeks; even longer if there is a delay at some point.”
The process lacked transparency and when defects were identified during the test phases, it was unclear if, how, and when they had been resolved. This all led to delays and often lastminute remediation actions.
Scott/Tiger, a Danish IT consultancy firm, is certified in best practice testing methods and tools. It specialises in life sciences and is very familiar with FDA regulations. For Kristiansen, Scott/Tiger was the obvious partner to discuss test automation, to increase test quality, accuracy, and efficiency for Xellia. Ole Kramer, Director, Service and Support for Scott/Tiger presented their proposed solution: “We recommended Micro Focus ALM, which in our view is the mother of all test tools. It is not only a functional test solution, but it encompasses all steps involved in test management, going from requirements, test cases, test execution, defect management, and release management; all working seamlessly together to create a central repository.”
The implementation was done at Scott/ Tiger’s hosting datacentre, and also included Agiliprove, a TechData solution that was integrated with ALM. This enables requirements routing, electronic signatures, and the ability to lock test cases once they are completed, to assure FDA inspectors that test results have not been manipulated. Every individual test phase requires approval before the process moves forward. Within three weeks of starting the ALM implementation, the system was ready to begin the first test project: the serialization system.
The assignment of a unique serial number linked to the individual production data, in conjunction with sealed labels on the packaging ensures the authenticity and integrity of a drug unit and protects against tampering. Kristiansen felt this was a perfect test case for ALM:
Per Bischoff Kristiansen – QA IT COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST
Xellia Pharmaceuticals
Kristiansen notes the improved team collaboration as an unexpected benefit: “We have daily testing meetings, and with everyone working from the same central ALM system we can highlight any defects early on in the process. Often defects are corrected there and then in our multi-disciplinary meetings, shortening the release cycle and removing communication bottlenecks. Before, it would take days, or even weeks to decide how a defect would be managed.”
ALM’s built-in audit log capabilities track all changes to a specific entity. Kristiansen appreciates this: “We leverage the ALM audit trail and plan to use this for periodic review of our computer systems. Depending on the system criticality we are required to formally check our systems and documentation every 1-5 years. With ALM we can limit the audit log to just the fields that we need for this activity.”
The benefits of the ALM model extrapolate with each new project, as the repository grows.
Per Bischoff Kristiansen – QA IT COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST
Xellia Pharmaceuticals
He concludes: “Although our paper-based test processes worked, it would be time-intensive to deliver the required information during authority inspections. Now, our transparent system shows our inspectors we are in control of our processes and fully confident in the information we share.”