AIG - Enterprise Security Inheritance Automation Project
Business Problem
One of the world's largest insurance companies wanted to implement a Business Intelligence solution utilizing the Cognos toolset. Their current data resided in a DB2 database. This was not conducive to the PowerPlay cubes they were trying to build.
The main issue revolved around the different ways of handling security restrictions by each database. Essentially, DB2 is secured by only permitting access to fields users are given permission to see. Conversely, Cognos's PowerPlay cubes are protected by removing all fields that users do not have permission to access. This inherent difference in how different databases handle security restrictions was a major obstacle that had to be overcome quickly.
BI Source Solution
BI Source was able to develop a unique solution for this difficult problem. Essentially, BI Source developed a method to allow the comparison of the security layout in both environments. First, the DB2 security permissions were subtracted from the total universe of all possible fields which resulted in a 'negative set'. Then by removing the negative set, BI Source was able to properly employ the security inheritance between the database and PowerPlay cubes. This unique solution had never been deployed by any other organization, anywhere.
Result
As a result of this solution, AIG was able to realize a tremendous ROI compared to their previous DB2 solution.
