Transnet is a state-owned company that manages South Africa's ports and rail infrastructure. Transnet Engineering is a division of Transnet responsible for providing its holding company's divisions with parts and services to keep goods moving. The division has seven factories, 150 depots, and 14,500 employees; it annually manages over 11,000 wagons, 150 locomotives, 500 coaches, and 521,500 wheels in its asset management system.
Transnet Engineering uses SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) as its lifecycle management solution for controlling the organisation's physical assets. This forms the basis of its services, including design, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance, and decommissioning or replacing plants, equipment, and facilities.
When using SAP software in an industrial or factory setting, multiple workers on the floor would traditionally need to sign in and out of a computer each time they transact to maintain accurate records of projects, equipment, and tools required to deliver various services. This can be cumbersome, and the risk of someone using another person’s credentials, accidentally or purposely, is high. Securing access to SAP is essential to avoid fraud or corruption, while ensuring that users can access the software quickly, easily and conveniently to do their job is also essential.
Simplified, but secure sign-in
To overcome the risk and make logging in and out simpler and more secure, a realtime North America partner provided Transnet Engineering with several locally built SAP EAM kiosks, using Fujitsu PalmSecure palm-vein biometrics to ensure secure access to SAP. Realtime's bioLock software prevents unauthorised access to SAP, while also recording transactions and linking users to the transactions they authorise (or denying them the ability to authorise transactions for which they do not have permission).
According to Thomas Neudenberger, Chief Operating Officer of realtime North America, when using bioLock, companies can assign a generic SAP ID to multiple users, such as ‘WarehouseKiosk1’, which has all SAP permissions the users need. All authorised users are registered to WarehouseKiosk1 and can simply log in by putting their hand over the scanner – biometrically identifying and authorising each user. Even if a kiosk or computer is left unlocked, a third party cannot access sensitive information, such as the accounting system, because the staff only have access to the required modules.
The shop-floor kiosks (designed for Transnet Engineering by realtime North America’s local partner) are now installed across factories and depots. They deliver SAP EAM functions through a simple and easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) to enable shop-floor operations and maintenance personnel to respond and react to events immediately. There are no delays while inputting passwords (or forgetting them), as access is via a simple scan of the user's palm.
Palm-vein authentication from bioLock
The kiosks now prevent unauthorised access to SAP data, increase employee accountability, and ensure that no staff member's identity can be fraudulently used by someone else. As expected, this has reduced shrinkage, as every transaction is linked to a specific identity.
“Palm-vein technology is ideal for industrial environments as sub-dermal biometrics do not wear out over time,” adds Neudenberger. “It is also a contactless solution that does not pass on any health risks and is also immune to dirt, moisture, and superficial injuries to the hand. It has a FAR error rate of 0.00001% FAR (false acceptance rate, where access is granted to an unauthorised person), and a 0.01% FRR (false rejection rate, where access is denied to an authorised person).”
The kiosk-based system monitors all SAP-related activity and can instantly alert management if any anomalies are discovered. In addition, all activities are logged to hold the appropriate people responsible. A short video of the installation can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yycta4z2.
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