Business Challenge – Security Development
As a publicly-traded company, Pattern Energy Group focuses on serving clients, protecting the environment, and offering support to all its renewable energy facilities. It is one of the biggest developers and operators of transmission, solar, wind, and energy storage projects. Pattern Energy experienced accelerated growth shortly after its IPO (initial public trading). They realized the importance of security development while offering native support for the upcoming migration from Microsoft Dynamics 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Pattern Energy also had concerns about their segregation of duties (SoD). Several foreign subsidiaries were required to comply with SOX rules. They only had a few employees. This increased the risk of potential compliance problems.
For example, some offices had different mitigation controls due to local regulations. However, the auditing platform, Fastpath, made it possible for the IT team to map all of these controls. This made it much easier to perform audits. The company can quickly run a report and find any specific mitigation concerns. If a new problem arises, it isn’t always an emergency, as there may already be mitigating tools in place.
Technology Solution – Fastpath
The company decided to use Fastpath Assure for all of its security needs once it upgraded from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics 365. Fastpath offered an effective way to handle each stage of this transition process while reducing common errors and past problems.
Despite the positive results of using Fastpath, the company decided to look at the market for other options. However, it soon became apparent that Fastpath offered the best value and solution available on the market. Management also provided enthusiastic support for Fastpath. It included support from internal and external auditors.
Pattern Energy approved upgrading to the cloud version of Fastpath Assure while also upgrading to Dynamics 365 at the same time. The implementation process was swift. It only required connecting Dynamics 365 and other third-party solutions while also importing the existing data.
The IT team focused on security development. They did this by reducing or eliminating known weaknesses within the system. They were able to achieve this objective by remaining thorough during the documentation process. Team members also focused on avoiding any potential conflicts while assigning roles, duties, and users.
After creating stacks of roles for every user, the IT team realized how they could significantly reduce potential issues. They could use Fastpath to manage every duty and role. Using Faspath in a development capacity made it possible for Pattern Energy to create roles and make necessary adjustments. They also tested these roles in a variety of ways. They did this by creating assignment scenarios for each user.
Final Results
Fastpath now plays a key role in security development. It makes it possible to create various security configurations to understand the best solutions. Complex situations are easily managed through Fastpath, as the entire system is mapped out in a sandbox to provide the best security available.
Pattern Energy was delighted with using the on-prem version of Fastpath Assure. They were even happier with the cloud version, as it offered intuitive navigation, more significant report generation and distribution, and native support for conducting audits.
Working with the team members at Fastpath was also a great experience, as they always remained professional, knowledgeable, and responsive. These team members were often able to resolve issues and answer any questions within a few hours. The support team at Fastpath was always open and receptive to feedback while always providing added value for new software updates.
