DATA STREAM SOLUTIONS -- tools for network documentation and information management : netViz

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Network Documentation for Customer Support - First Data Corporation

No business can survive these days unless it has the ability to smoothly process a wide variety of electronic payments. First Data Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of transaction-processing services, supplying hardware and software support to over 2 million merchant locations around the globe. And in First Data's case, those "merchants" include multi-national corporations with processing systems that span continents. First Data is often the party responsible for making sure that the merchants' payment-processing network stays on line. The tool used by First Data to understand and troubleshoot its customers' electronic payment processing systems - netViz.

The challenge - keeping customer systems up and running

The First Data Telecommunication Department's Network Engineering Team is responsible for understanding requirements and delivering solutions to address the IT needs of its customers. Getting a full picture of a client's existing architecture is the first step in addressing maintenance and help-desk issues. This is no small undertaking - in addition to supporting the IT and telecommunications requirements of First Data's business units, the group must also map and catalog each client's data-transmission and processing architecture.

The Solution - netViz

About
First Data Corporation

First Data Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of transaction processing services - credit, debit and pre-paid card processing; payment systems; electronic commerce and information-based services to both business and consumers. The corporation has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and also has major international offices in Europe and Australia.

In 1998, First Data and its principal operating units maintained data for 212 million accounts and processed more than 4 billion cardholder transactions, 61 million electronic funds transfers and 5 billion electronic payment transactions. With an international employee base of more than 32,000, First Data's 1998 revenues were in excess of $5 billion.

Network engineers at First Data traditionally used Harvard Graphics to create diagrams showing existing and proposed connectivity for internal and external customers. But in 1995 the engineering department made the transition to netViz. "netViz delivered strong drawing functionality, and it offered a host of other features that simple drawing packages could not provide," says Bill Howell, a First Data network analyst. "netViz was flexible as a drawing tool, had the ability to nest hierarchies of drawings, and had a strong database component that we had not found in other products. Its capability to integrate graphics and data provided an excellent media to allow us to map and document networks to provide a full picture of each client's installation."

Given that the information had to be accessible to a large number of personnel, First Data also liked netViz's ease of use. Said Howell, "in our case, we've got personnel with varying levels of expertise looking at our documentation. netViz's easy interface meets the needs of all of those users. That consideration will drive the potential for it to become a standard for network documentation and communication across the telecommunications department. netViz has helped us get a better understanding of our clients' networks. As a result, we've been able to offer better, more efficient service to our customers."

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