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Ranbaxy
Ranbaxy
Upgrade
A case study on ERP in Pharmaceuticals
CIO TEAM
Reader ROI
Maximum CPU utilization levels at the database server dipped from about 100 percent to 40
percent
The maximum RAM utilization level at the server slid from 74 percent to 48 percent
Executive Summary
When Ranbaxy realized that the ERP needed an upgrade, the inherent consulting costs and
hordes of subject matter experts, were a major cause of concern. But with the help from
SAP and Microsoft, David Briskman led a team took care of the entire technical and
functional upgrade of SAP, database and OS onto the newer 64-bit architecture.
The cost of consultancy usually makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the total cost of the
project. The rest largely goes in procuring hardware and software
By handling it all in-house, Ranbaxy lowered the total price of the project and reversed that ratio
All of these factors put tremendous stress on its ERP. The average response time on its
SAP servers was over 1,200 milliseconds and about 1,000 milliseconds on its DB server.
Ranbaxy also regularly hit 90 to 100 percent capacity utilization levels on its database
server. "We applied plenty of band-aids but systems began to crawl and impact the
business," says David Briskman, VP & CIO, Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Post the upgrade, maximum CPU utilization levels at the database server dipped from
about 100 percent to 40 percent, bringing life back to the sluggish servers. Similarly, the
maximum RAM utilization level at the server slid from 74 percent to 48 percent and the
average response time for an application to respond improved from about 1,000
milliseconds to just 350 milliseconds. The upgrade also reduced costs by 18 percent.