Rail Delivery Group - Cloud Intelligence Dashboards (CID)
New analytics platform to track costs and performance of business-critical AWS workloads
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has unified Britain's railway operators to form an organisation dedicated to enhancing customer experience. With a membership that includes passenger and freight rail companies, RDG spearheads transformative change throughout the rail industry.
Nasstar has a strong relationship with RDG. We support the AWS-hosted applications and services that underpin RDG’s digital solutions. Building on this partnership, we recently deployed a new analytics platform to monitor the performance and cost optimisation of these business-critical AWS services.
Services
AWS Cloud Intelligence Dashboards (CID)
Cloud Optimisation
The Brief
To effectively manage analytics and cost information, RDG had previously relied on a SaaS solution, known as CloudHealth, provided by a third-party supplier. This platform served as a tool for reporting and overseeing costs across RDG's expansive cloud infrastructure. However, the cost of this tool was based on RDG's annual AWS spend. So, the organisation was keen to find an alternative, more cost-effective platform.
As an organisation dedicated to delivering optimal performance and value, Nasstar collaborated with RDG to identify a more appropriate solution: AWS's Cloud Intelligence Dashboard (CID).
The Benefits
With the decommissioning of the third-party tool, RDG has not only achieved significant cost savings but has also gained a solution that presents its data in a much more user-friendly format and seamlessly integrates with other AWS services.
Through comprehensive training, we’ve empowered RDG’s Service Managers to use the CID independently, providing these stakeholders with immediate access to crucial cost insights.
The Solution
Nasstar’s lead architect for the RDG NRE Service recommended the Cloud Intelligence Dashboards (CID) and provided a demo of its capability. With a comprehensive understanding of RDG's requirements, our team prepared a demonstration and then quickly set up a proof of concept which utilised RDG's billing data.
Once the CID platform was up and running, Nasstar spent time with the RDG Service Management team to guide them through the dashboards and demonstrate how to access the information required as part of their roles.
Recognising RDG’s unique structure, which operates on a four-week cycle known as “Rail Periods” rather than a traditional monthly reporting period, Nasstar modified AWS QuickSight, the business intelligence service at the heart of CID, ensuring compatibility with the organisation’s needs. To facilitate internal cross-charging, our team went the extra mile and developed a custom dashboard to report on tailor-made tags.
Thanks to the new solution, RDG and our AWS experts now have a holistic view of expenditure across the entire organisation. With CID's optimisation insights, we can fine-tune recommendations on infrastructure, security, and performance, and ultimately reduce overall costs.
The Cloud Intelligence Dashboard is not only a more comprehensive and user-friendly tool for analysing our various AWS accounts, but it has also saved RDG a significant amount of money by removing the annual cost of the previous third-party tool. Nasstar consulted with RDG throughout the whole process, from proof of concept to live and provided comprehensive training to RDG Service Managers, demonstrating why they are our preferred AWS partner. In tandem with the CID, Nasstar also introduced a new identity management process for our AWS accounts which has complimented accessing the dashboards, streamlining, and simplifying the whole process with great success.