Centralized Audit Data Lake Storage and Analytics for Audit Logs

A customer in the life sciences industry relied on Microsoft SharePoint as their Document Management System to collaborate with Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and clinical teams.

Context and Challenge

While SharePoint and M365 applications generated extensive audit logs to track user and administrative activities for compliance, security, and operational purposes, the cost of storing and managing these logs using licensed products became unsustainable. The customer sought a scalable, cost-effective solution for managing audit logs while maintaining compliance and ensuring data security.

Solution

USDM Life Sciences leveraged its data and cloud solutions expertise to implement a robust and scalable Azure Data Lake. This comprehensive solution centralized the management of audit logs, enabling secure storage, retention, and advanced analytics. By integrating Power BI, USDM empowered the customer to extract insights from their audit logs and drive informed decision-making.

Key solution components:

• Azure Data Lake Deployment: Provided a centralized and scalable audit log storage and management platform.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensured secure retention of logs in alignment with data retention regulations.
• Advanced Analytics with Power BI: Enabled powerful querying and visualization capabilities, supporting security incident analysis and operational insights.
• Cost-Effective Storage: Leveraged Azure Data Lake’s tiered storage options for optimal cost savings without compromising performance.
• Enterprise-grade security: Delivered robust encryption and granular access controls to protect sensitive audit data.

The implementation of USDM’s Azure Data Lake solution delivered measurable and transformative results:

• Centralized Log Storage: Consolidated audit logs into a unified repository, enhancing accessibility, manageability, and scalability.
• Regulatory Compliance: Achieved secure log retention in compliance with GxP data retention regulations.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Enable powerful querying and visualization capabilities for audit logs to support security incident analysis, operational insights, and faster decision-making.
• Cost Optimization: Delivered cost-effective log storage with Azure’s tiered options, significantly reducing storage costs while ensuring high-performance analytics.
• Enhanced Security: Safeguarded sensitive audit data with enterprise-grade encryption and access controls.

Quantified Business Outcomes and Impact:

Compliance and Risk Management:

• Achieved 100% GxP compliance across SharePoint and Azure environments.
• Reduced audit preparation time by 35%, improving regulatory readiness.

Operational Efficiency:

• Accelerated deployment of new cloud services by 50%, driving faster project execution.

Cost Savings:

• Realized an estimated $200,000 annual savings through optimized storage and cloud operations.

Innovation Enablement:

• Facilitated real-time data sharing and analysis, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.
• Provided a scalable foundation for advanced analytics and AI, setting the stage for future digital transformation.

Strategic Takeaways

USDM’s Azure Data Lake solution highlighted its ability to provide innovative, scalable, and secure data management platforms tailored to the specific needs of the life sciences industry. By leveraging advanced cloud and analytics capabilities, USDM enabled the customer to achieve cost savings, streamline operations, and establish a foundation for innovation and digital transformation.