Advancis' WinGuard Solution at Merck
Merck is active in Life Science, Healthcare, and Electronics. Around 63,000 employees work on products and services for the rapid development and production of medicines, methods of treating illnesses, or applications for intelligent devices. Merck has recently introduced the manufacturer-agnostic WinGuard platform from Advancis. The system integrates security, building and IT systems, and visualizes event reports and response procedures.
As in many other companies, the digitization of processes at Merck is a constant challenge that affects all parts of the company. A specialized company-wide IT team for security and crisis management looks after its own network that is sheltered from external influences by a firewall. The systems must run with the highest availability at all times because company-critical functions must run uninterrupted.
In contrast to the general company IT, one cannot rely on the outsourcing of responsibilities in all divisions. This is due to the fact that security requirements must largely be met with specialized and sometimes individual and specific system software and not standard software, for example for fire protection or for the dispatch system for the company fire brigade.
For danger management however, Merck is using the open WinGuard integration platform from Advancis. The former danger management system was replaced after an intensive project study period and the creation of a new security concept.
Comprehensive Solution
The introduction of WinGuard led to a remarkable transformation and optimization of various processes. The whole sensor planning, commissioning, and maintenance right through to deactivation was digitized. The comparison of the systems and data bases involved was largely automated, although the four-eyes principle was intentionally applied to provide additional security.
WinGuard enabled existing processes to be digitized and thereby considerably shortened, accelerated and even completely removed. This led not only to a significant reduction of errors, but also to a beneficial reduction of manual effort. The reliable presentation of the current status of the connected systems provides the security team at Merck with comprehensive situational knowledge. This enables them to maintain an overview, to initiate predefined measures, and to work through them efficiently.
One main requirement that WinGuard fulfills is ensuring data consistency. Data discrepancies are prevented by the central management system and data entry enabled for the users. This ensures that all relevant information is always up-to-date and completely available when required. A further major advantage of WinGuard is the promotion of cross-team cooperation. Messages from the technology department that is responsible for the building’s systems, for example, can be forwarded immediately to the fire brigade. This problem-free communication and coordination between the departments greatly increases the efficiency and reaction time of the whole team.
Central Security Management
WinGuard handles all the scheduled events and is controlled by the existing web application used by Merck. This already supports the user with the processing of their daily tasks. It has been adapted by Merck so that the required events are communicated to WinGuard and the status of the events is monitored.
The user will be notified if there is any discrepancy from the expected status. Of particular interest here is the use of the authorization definitions from the existing web application, which ensure that only authorized persons can administer events for their defined area of responsibility – right from the moment they are created.
Routine checks can now take place without central supervision, and scheduled events carried out automatically. The supervisor receives a report on completion via the app on their cell phone. This enables significant savings when making regular detector checks and also makes it possible for just one person to do the audit revision of job tickets.
Harald Buchner, a site manager at Merck, is very satisfied: “WinGuard supports us with carrying out our daily tasks and displays all the relevant information that is needed to handle an event when required. WinGuard is seamlessly integrated into our existing complex infrastructure and provides the necessary operational security and versatility through its redundancy structure. WinGuard fully meets the very differing requirements of various user groups and enables each to concentrate on their respective core business. We were able to replace the previous danger management system from initial planning to going live within eighteen months through the work of a highly competent project team. The first positive harmonization effects in processes and in data environments could already be seen during the implementation phase of WinGuard and, amongst other aspects, measurable optimization could be made through fire watch reduction and time savings in research tasks.”
