Case Study | Bernalillo County

Bernalillo County achieves stable, proactive SAP operations with Protera

Modernizing SAP on Azure with proactive management, automated operations, and greater cost visibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASE STUDY | Bernalillo County
Bernalillo County Achieves stable, proactive SAP operations with Protera  
Modernizing SAP on Azure with proactive management, automated operations, and greater cost visibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

24
/7

Proactive monitoring and operational support

20
H

Monthly patching effort saved

4
x

More frequent system refreshes

Picture1

 

About Bernalillo County 

Bernalillo County, with Albuquerque as the county seat, is the largest county in New Mexico, delivering critical services to approximately 700,000 residents. It was one of nine original counties when the New Mexico Territory was created in 1852. 

 

Challenge

Bernalillo County was running SAP ECC on a legacy database on-prem and saw the value of incorporating a HANA database and modern cloud infrastructure. The County also wanted to modernize SAP operations such as updating a monthly patch cycle that was time- and resource-intensive and performing more regular system refreshes.

The County has a lean SAP team and wanted the benefits of SAP HANA and a modern cloud infrastructure without taking on the full burden of operating and maintaining them, so they looked for a managed services partner (MSP) to support the initiatives, selecting Protera as their partner of choice.

 

Solution

To achieve the County’s goals, Protera migrated Bernalillo County’s SAP landscapes to Microsoft Azure and implemented HANA, and the County immediately realized performance improvements. Protera also assumed ongoing services for Azure and SAP BASIS, with 24x7 operational support and proactive monitoring, ensuring that the County’s cloud and SAP environments are proactively managed and continually optimized.

Protera’s solution also includes operational improvements. For example, monthly patching was a very labor-intensive process and resulted in resource issues. With Protera’s automated patch management, the work that had required two BASIS administrators to spend 20 hours of weekend time on monthly patching is accomplished by Protera as a standard feature of managed services.

The partnership also gives the County access to Protera’s FinOps team and our next generation operational management platform, CloudVantage, which provides an accessible view of current cloud usage, costs, incident status, patch status, security alerts, and a wide range of cloud and SAP metrics.

 

Quote sign

Protera has become an extended part of our team. We’re looking forward to having them alongside us as we move into RISE, helping us navigate the gaps and keep our day-to-day operations moving.”
 
- Marilyn Howard, IT Senior Manager – ERP, ITPS

Business Outcomes

Protera’s migration and management of the County’s cloud and SAP landscapes kicked off the County’s SAP modernization, while Protera’s managed services eased the operational burden on the County’s internal team. Partnering with Protera enables the County to leverage Protera’s in-house SAP expertise without having to add headcount.

  • Proactive, 24x7 monitoring: Protera’s proactive monitoring detects and addresses issues early, often before users are aware of them. The result is a stable, reliable environment that allows the County team to focus on strategic initiatives, not day-to-day maintenance.

  • Greater visibility into cloud costs: Protera’s FinOps team helps the County investigate unexpected Azure charges, monitor reserved instances and renewals, and identify cost-saving opportunities, which is critical for a public sector organization responsible for taxpayer funds.

  • A clearer view with CloudVantage: The County leverages CloudVantage’s real-time data to review not only cloud costs but quickly access other landscape metrics in one consolidated platform.

  • System refreshes: Non-production systems that were refreshed about once a year are now refreshed quarterly. Analysts, developers, and end users can work with more current data for testing and development.

Quote sign

As a public-sector organization, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. CloudVantage lets me check our Azure usage and costs with real-time data, and Protera’s FinOps team adds another layer of support by investigating unexpected charges, monitoring our reserved instances, answering questions quickly, and helping us find savings. They make it easier for me to stay on budget and be accountable for how we spend.”
 
- Marilyn Howard, IT Senior Manager – ERP, ITPS

 

What's Next

Bernalillo County plans to begin its S/4HANA implementation with SAP RISE. The County expects to continue working with Protera to support day-to-day operations and guide the County through this transformation of its SAP environment.

Bernalillo County views Protera as a trusted liaison between the County and SAP, as well as a valued extension of their team. 

Connect With Protera For Cloud Success

Thank you for joining us and exploring how Protera powers cloud modernization. Ready to dive deeper or discuss how we can support your unique goals?