First Energy
CASE STUDY

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CUSTOMER:
FIRST ENERGY CORP

COVIANT PRODUCT:
DIPLOMAT MFT BASIC EDITION

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First Energy Powers File Transfer Management

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

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Single solution to handle both encryption/decryption and file transfer

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Ability to handle rising numbers of daily transactions – number of transactions has more than doubled to date

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Ensure files are transferred on time every time

BENEFITS:

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Tedious and inefficient scripting is eliminated using Diplomat MFT’s easy-to-use interface

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Notification of file transfer or other errors is sent immediately to the appropriate IT team members for action – before a failed transfer becomes a business problem

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Job failures reduced from 1-2 per day with the manual system to fewer than one a week using Diplomat MFT

Background

First Energy transfers sensitive files to business partners including banks, health care institutions, and government regulatory agencies and auditors hundreds of times a day. The security of this data – and the business requirement to ensure that the correct files are transferred on time every time – is paramount to First Energy’s operations.

As the volume of First Energy’s file transfers grew along with its expanding business network, the company began seeing higher rates of job failure. Ryan Andrews, senior IT security analyst with the company, decided there had to be a better way.

The Challenge

The initial search for a better approach turned up solutions that were expensive and complex. “We didn’t need all that. We needed a simple but well-designed and effective tool that would encrypt, decrypt, and transfer files, with good email notification and troubleshooting capabilities.”

We needed a simple but well-designed and effective tool that would encrypt, decrypt, and transfer files, with good email notification and troubleshooting capabilities. Diplomat MFT enabled us to take two time-consuming and inefficient processes – encrypting and setting up file transfers – and make them one single, automated process that supports First Energy’s business requirements.

Senior IT Security Analyst, First Energy

Ryan Andrews

The Solution

“Diplomat goes way beyond what I expected in an affordable product. The log viewer lets me look at information involving a specific transaction, or by specific errors, or by a search phrase.” New Diplomat MFT features such as secure FTP (SFTP and FTPS) have added to the product’s value. “Secure transfer ups the level of security overall. With regular ftp, login data and files are sent as plain text – both could be intercepted and looked at, and that is why we encrypt files. Secure file transfer goes one step farther by protecting the login data, as well.” Andrews notes. As a publicly owned utility, First Energy is highly regulated and scrutinized; audit and compliance reporting is a key requirement for the business. “With Diplomat MFT, we have a full audit trail to show the transmission and receipt of files. And transfer errors, unavoidable in any system, are quickly dealt with – before they become business problems.” Andrews has used Diplomat MFT’s extensive and easy-to-implement notification functions to create groups of users to be notified by pager, email, or both. “I can include log files with the notification to people who will review the code and find the cause, and for other groups, such as managers, I can provide summary notification.”