Somerford Associates Limited

PowerConnect

PowerConnect is certified SAP add-on which can extract high-fidelity, real-time and historical SAP telemetry data ready for analysis and visualization in Splunk.

Features

• Collects and indexes log and application data from SAP
• Powerful search, analysis and visualization capabilities empower users
• Fraud and cyber threat detection analysis
• Real-time analysis and insight for operational intelligence and business reporting
• Information Assurance and security analytics
• Automated compliance monitoring, alerting and reporting
• Monitor SAP database and SAP network logs
• Big Data Analytics and visualisation
• Supports SAP On-prem, SAP HANA Cloud, SAP SaaS products

Benefits

• Monitor performance of SAP applications against Service Level Agreements
• Real-time SAP intelligence, avoid costly escalations/downtime
• Provide effective security compliance and reduce costs
• Detect and reduce internal SAP application cyber threats/abuse
• Monitor SAP business process performance
• Analyse and visualise SAP performance, SAP security, SAP business data

£16,000 a unit

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

995105874631496

Contact

Penny Harrison
07897075103
penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes
• What software services is the service an extension to: SAP and Splunk
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
• Service constraints: None
• System requirements:
  • SAP
  • Splunk

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm excl bank holidays customers receive an initial response within one business hour.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Onsite support
• Support levels: We provide support from priority 1 to priority 4 cases on any existing configuration or part of the platform that is in total or partial failure as well as not working as expected. We also provide configuration guidance and recommendations for use cases. Each customer receives their own Account Manager who works closely with Support and ensures that cases can be followed up. Somerfords Support desk is available as a value added service in addition to the maintenance and support purchased alongside the license.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Virtual training and user documentation.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: HTML
• End-of-contract data extraction: The data does not reside in PowerConnect. Therefore there is no need for data extraction at end of contract.
• End-of-contract process: PowerConnect is restricted by license key. At the end of the contract it will stop sending the data to Splunk unless the contract is renewed.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Mobile web browser functionality is the same. Splunk Mobile App provides visualizations, alerting and interactivity to execute actions from a finger press. With the Splunk Augmented Reality app, you can create your own virtual workspace in augmented reality via your phone.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: The user is able to configure SAP extractors, Splunk dashboards, alerts, reports and underlying target data sources. Configuration can be through PowerConnect application and Splunk Web.; ; SAP Basis administrator and Splunk admins can customize.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: PowerConnect collects the data and sends to Splunk. User demand on Splunk side does not impact SAP services.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Data sent metrics, collector status, Splunk endpoint services can be monitored via SAP GUI and Splunk dashboards.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: SoftwareOne

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest: Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: PowerConnect does not store the data. It sends the data to Splunk. Data protection is managed by Splunk.
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: There are many ways that a user can export data. Splunk provides a REST API to export data. Data can be exported by the Splunk Web facility. Users can use the Command Line Interface, SDK's and data forwarding tools.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • XML
  • JSON
  • Raw data
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • XML
  • JSON
  • Raw data

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: SLAs are part of EULA. www.powerconnect.io/eula
• Approach to resilience: PowerConnect does not store the data. Managed by Splunk.
• Outage reporting: Splunk can be setup to send an alert when PowerConnect is down.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication: Other
• Other user authentication: Relies on SAP and Splunk and they support 2 factor auth, identity management.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We use SaaS based commercial solution for MFA/2FA. Support team have access to all customer incidents.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: Other
• Description of management access authentication: N/A. There is no management access.

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: No
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: PowerConnect sits inside SAP and sends the data to Splunk. We are governed by SAP's security governance
• Information security policies and processes: N/A

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: The components of your services are tracked through their lifetime; : all the development components or changes in the componets are tracked via SAP Standard transport request.; changes are assessed for potential security impact; : we have defined roles to make sure the security imapct are accessed.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: How you assess potential threats to your services; : via security logs.; how quickly you deploy patches to your services; : medium priority via quarterly release , high priority within a week via hotfix ; where you get your information about potential threats from; : sap security notes, published weekly.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: PowerConnect is a connector. We rely on SAP knowledge base on any protective monitoring approach.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Users can raise incidents via email or web based portal.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  As an organisation that works closely with the public sector, Somerford is keen to demonstrate our commitment to supporting the achievement of the Net Zero target of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.; ; Management and staff at Somerford have been conscious of our impact upon the environment even before the Climate Change Act was introduced, and we’ve adopted environmentally friendly practices as the business has grown. Consequently, Somerford ‘s business already has a reasonably low carbon footprint, and will continue to strive for further reductions wherever possible because this is beneficial for our business, our stakeholders and the environment.; ; We will use our influence as a value added reseller of leading edge software products and supporting professional services to select supplier-partners whose own carbon reduction philosophy and plans are aligned with ours, and who can show commitment to the Net Zero target. In practical terms, this means we participate in a carbon-net-zero supply chain in the delivery of the solutions from our supplier-partners to our customers.; ; For further details, please see our Carbon Reduction Plan online at https://www.somerfordassociates.com/carbon-reduction-policy-and-plan/
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  During the Covid-19 pandemic, our robust business continuity measures, prudent fiscal policy, and the benefits of a highly flexible team, meant we were well prepared for the difficulties ahead. ; ; Staff wellbeing has been at the forefront of our Covid-19 recovery plans, taking care of their physical and mental health, including;; ; * home working to avoid unnecessary exposure to the virus; * providing safe office space where staff personal circumstances dictated; * regular contact, albeit remotely, to prevent isolation; * organised e-based social events to maintain interaction; ; ; As a result we have been able to:; ; * give uninterrupted service to our customers; * move our staff to home working; * avoid compulsory redundancies and minimised furlough; * in 2020, gain an 11% increase in revenues; * continue to grow the workforce by over 10% in the same year; * take on new partners to enhance our solutions portfolio; * invest in staff education to meet future customer needs. ; ; Changes in business practices due to Covid-19 have shown that flexible work patterns can be very effective, and we’re unlikely to fully return to our previous style of working. ; ; Our solutions have also helped customers to cope with their changing work patterns too - supporting their Covid recovery by providing the infrastructure, tooling and monitoring to support their own remote, flexible and sustainable ways of working.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  Somerford is a healthily growing business, and actively strives to create employment opportunities that are inclusive of all socio-economic groups. For example:; ; * In the past 5 years, 20% of our staff entered our employment from leaving school, college or university;; * We have supported 12 apprenticeships;; * We run an internal academy scheme to build a broad range of technical skills in those who have the inherent skills, attitude and capability to become our next generation of experts;; * We actively participate in the Armed Forces Covenant Scheme and help to redeploy and reskill leavers from the Armed Forces. So far, 16 staff have joined us in this way;; * The ethnic mix of our staff is more diverse than that of our local community.; ; Strong technical skills are key to the delivery of services to our customers, so we’ve invested heavily in staff training - in 2020 alone, staff successfully completed over 100 technical courses.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Somerford is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or age.; ; We do not discriminate on the grounds of disability. We take particular care to respect the rights of those with disabilities, throughout all stages of recruitment and employment. We make reasonable adjustments to ensure those with disabilities are not disadvantaged in the workplace, eg. adjusting working hours or providing special equipment to help to do their job.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  Somerford is committed to promoting and supporting the wellbeing of all of its staff. We aim to create a culture which focuses on prevention of issues in the workplace that can adversely affect staff health and wellbeing, and where issues are identified, they are managed promptly before they can have a detrimental impact.; ; This includes:; * providing staff with clarity and purpose regarding their job role;; * ensuring staff have the capability, training, support and encouragement to conduct their role confidently and effectively;; * providing a physical working environment that is suitable for the work to be carried out effectively;; * encouraging staff to maintain a sensible work-life balance;; * minimising the stressful impacts of work;; * ensuring bullying and harassment have no place in the working environment;; * managing sickness and absence effectively;; * considering requests for career breaks and sabbaticals;; * providing medical assistance to staff;; * encouraging employee fitness;; * promoting dignity at work.

Pricing

• Price: £16,000 a unit
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: What’s included : Trial PowerConnect licnese; what isn’t included: Professioanl Services or any SAP/Splunk licneses.; if there’s a limited time period: 45 days

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.