Project at a Glance

Industry:
Pharmaceuticals / Life Sciences

Challenge:
NextPharma faced the challenge of replacing its existing SAP-based reporting landscape with a modern, cloud-based data platform. Multiple SAP systems needed to be harmonized while providing reliable reporting for both internal management and external customers. At the same time, regulatory requirements, data governance, and a scalable long-term architecture had to be ensured.

Technology & Methodology Stack (Excerpt):
The selected technology stack was designed with scalability, security, and maintainability in mind. All components support a modern cloud-based analytics architecture and enable the efficient integration, modeling, and delivery of reporting and analytics solutions within a highly regulated environment.

  • Snowflake
  • Azure Data Factory
  • dbt (including Runtime)
  • Azure DevOps
  • SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, SAP S/4 Public Cloud
  • Data Vault 2.0
  • Star Schema / Data Marts
  • CI/CD & Automation

Key Benefits

  • Replaced complex SAP reporting structures with a flexible analytics platform
  • Established a unified and harmonized data foundation across multiple SAP systems
  • Implemented clear governance and data quality standards for data and models
  • Created a technical foundation for future advanced analytics and self-service use cases

“The new platform has made our reporting significantly more flexible and future-proof.”

— Joel Fidalgo, Chief Information Officer, NextPharma

The Customer

NextPharma is an international pharmaceutical CDMO specializing in the development, manufacturing, and packaging of pharmaceutical products. Operating in a highly regulated environment, the company relies on reliable, auditable, and scalable data and reporting solutions for both internal management and external customer reporting.

Initial Situation

NextPharma needed to build a modern, cloud-based data platform that would replace existing SAP reports while meeting new requirements for data harmonization, external customer reporting, and regulatory traceability. The existing reporting landscape was heavily SAP-centric, lacked flexibility, and was not well suited to emerging analytics and self-service requirements.

Key challenges included:

  • Replacing legacy SAP reports with a future-ready analytics platform
  • Integrating and harmonizing heterogeneous SAP systems (SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and SAP S/4 Public Cloud)
  • Building a scalable data platform with strong governance standards
  • Establishing modern ELT and data modeling practices using dbt, Data Vault, and Data Marts
  • Delivering reliable reporting solutions for external customers
  • Supporting an organizational carve-out initiative
  • Ensuring maintainability, automation, and operational stability

The goal was to create a robust and extensible platform capable of supporting both operational reporting needs and future analytics and reporting use cases.

Solution

INFORM DataLab supported NextPharma from the initial concept through implementation and into stable platform operations. The focus was on a clearly structured data architecture, automated processes, and maintainable long-term standards. The objective was to build a scalable data platform that would replace SAP reporting and reliably support new analytics and reporting requirements.

Key components of the solution included:

  • Building a Snowflake data platform with comprehensive governance and security concepts
  • Implementing agile data ingestion using Azure Data Factory
  • Integrating multiple SAP source systems
  • Harmonizing data across different source systems
  • Establishing a Data Vault 2.0 model as the central integration layer
  • Developing business-oriented data marts using a star schema for reporting and analytics
  • Introducing dbt, including dbt Runtime, for transformations and testing
  • Replacing existing SAP reports and delivering new reports for external customers
  • Setting up Azure DevOps repositories along with CI/CD pipelines and automation templates
  • Providing ongoing platform maintenance, enhancements, and support
  • Creating technical sketches, architecture documentation, and operational documentation
The resulting solution provides a stable technical foundation for scalable reporting, strong governance, and future advanced analytics and self-service initiatives.

“The data modeling and automation were particularly valuable—they significantly reduce our effort today.”

— Joel Fidalgo, Chief Information Officer, NextPharma

Eine Produktionsstraße auf der Medikament hergestellt werden. Eine Hand hält eine Pillendose,

Benefits for NextPharma

The new platform delivers measurable value for NextPharma in both day-to-day operations and the ongoing evolution of its analytics landscape. By replacing complex SAP reporting structures, NextPharma now benefits from a flexible and extensible analytics platform. A unified and harmonized data foundation across multiple SAP systems ensures consistent metrics and reliable reporting.

Key benefits include:

  • Replacing complex SAP reporting structures with a flexible analytics platform
  • Establishing a unified and harmonized data foundation across multiple SAP systems
  • Significantly improving the scalability and extensibility of the reporting landscape
  • Accelerating the delivery of new reporting solutions and customer requirements
  • Implementing clear governance and data quality standards for data and models
  • Ensuring sustainable operations through automation, templates, and standardized processes
  • Providing a technical foundation for future advanced analytics and self-service use cases

Good to Know

Building on the established platform, NextPharma is now focused on further expanding its analytics capabilities. The goal is to enhance existing structures, address new business requirements, and strengthen platform adoption across the organization.

  • Approach: End-to-end delivery—from architecture, data ingestion, and modeling to operations and ongoing support
  • Project Duration: Multi-phase project delivered over an extended period
  • Project Scope: Large-scale initiative with significant implementation, operational, and support components

Next Steps

In the next phases, the platform will be expanded step by step. Planned initiatives include the integration of additional source systems and the development of new data marts to support evolving business requirements. At the same time, internal reporting capabilities will continue to be enhanced. In addition, the platform will be extended with new analytics and automation use cases, while governance and self-service capabilities will be continuously refined and expanded.

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