Comparison

Legacy Black Box ETL Tool to EDT Shell with Embedded Pervasive Data Integrator

Speed

CPA can build a new business rule in less than an hour.

Scalability

CPA can service large clients more efficiently.

Robust connectivity

Pervasive offers CPA a wide range of adapters for the many data formats the company encounters.

Printable Format

CPA's customer IP data validation increases with Pervasive Data Integrator

CPA is the largest Intellectual Property (IP) service provider in the world. The company has over 40,000 clients, two million cases under management and handle almost one million renewals per year. IP renewal involves processing large volumes of information, in different formats and from various sources in an accurate and efficient way. With Pervasive Data Integrator in place, CPA is able to validate IP data at the rate of approximately 10,000 cases per hour.

Data from many sources, a need for validation and an automation requirement

With markets expanding globally, and the number of patents, trademarks and domain names growing rapidly, the need to protect IP has increased significantly. Companies are becoming aware of the relevance of IP as both a commercial and legal asset requiring protection. IP has become a key business issue and CPA has responded with software solutions to aid the formation of IP strategies. Registered IP rights need to be renewed on a regular basis: for patents in most countries this is annually, for registered designs every five years, and for trademarks every 10 years. Patents usually last for 20 years in most jurisdictions while designs are protected for shorter periods, depending on the country. Trademarks can be renewed in perpetuity. In order to renew IP rights CPA has to deal with several issues.

First, CPA receives IP data from the client. The format of this data has to be checked with government and other data sources and corrections made where necessary. For a new client, the process will begin by processing the client’s entire portfolio, known as a “full dump.” The number of cases in a portfolio typically varies from under 1,000 to over 50,000.

CPA may receive a corporation’s portfolio in parts and in various formats, from different sources as various attorney firms in each jurisdiction might have handled it in the past. Renewal laws differ between countries and these laws can be amended or new laws added on an ongoing basis.

It is possible to create a hierarchy of IP rights, with one based on another; this adds another layer of complication to the data validation process. CPA required a solution that automated the process of manipulating the IP renewal data supplied by clients and allowed both secure and efficient handling of a large number of IP cases accommodating growth.

Less data risks with Pervasive involved in CPA's IP renewal process

IP renewal involves processing large volumes of information, in different formats and from various sources in an accurate and efficient way. With Pervasive Data Integrator solution in place at CPA is able to validate IP data at the rate of approximately 10,000 cases per hour.

CPA has a highly diverse IT infrastructure. The core renewals system, based in Jersey, Channel Islands, runs on IBM iSeries hardware using a DB2 database, with other systems running on Intel hardware using Oracle and Lotus Domino databases. These run under Windows and Linux. Pervasive’s solution runs on an Intel platform and has an interface with the iSeries. CPA has regional offices in the UK, Germany, France, U.S. and Australia. These are all linked to the other offices through a high-speed wide area network. CPA makes extensive use of Citrix application servers to maintain a high level of performance across its global infrastructure.

IP data is first received by e-mail. After initial virus checks and data validation, the system incorporating Pervasive’s integration software checks and cleans the data. Furthermore, the data has to be structured correctly and formatted in accordance with the specifications of each national Patent Office. With Pervasive’s Process Designer and Map Designer CPA can easily clean data, and test and debug transformations, without labor-intensive operations. As CPA works with a multitude of data formats, over 500 business rules had to be defined in Pervasive’s integration solution. One important requirement for these rules was their generality. The wide variety of source data has to be transformed into many formats, which apply to the specifications in different countries where renewals need to be handled. Pervasive can provide this flexibility with Map Designer, which allows CPA to highly automate processes and reduce risks.

CPA effectively services clients with data reliability

Pervasive Process Designer and Map Designer allow CPA to easily clean data, and test and debug transformations, without labor-intensive operations. As CPA works with a multitude of data formats, over 500 business rules had to be defined in Pervasive’s integration solution. One important requirement for these rules was their generality. The wide variety of source data has to be transformed into many formats, which apply to the specifications in different countries where renewals need to be handled.

Pervasive can provide this flexibility with Map Designer, which allows CPA to highly automate processes and reduce risks. The use of Pervasive Integration Engine has expanded. It is embedded in Web-based application with a three-tier architecture that includes a Oracle 10g database, business rules (self-describing objects) and Web browser. The workflow system is called the EDT Shell. CPA reports that the Pervasive Data Integrator engines are working well with its workflow system. Overall, using Pervasive has allowed CPA to develop some 750 business rules. Using Pervasive, a new business rule can be created in 2-4 hours and deployed in 30 minutes to an hour.

Pervasive data reliability, ease of use and scalability bring CPA efficiency gains

Dealing with an increased number of IP renewals, Pervasive allows CPA to handle the most valuable assets of their clients and provide a high standard of service. Besides processing thousands of cases per day, CPA can be sure of the high quality and accuracy of data, which is crucial in managing IP renewals. Pervasive Data Integrator’s ease of use and scalability has enabled CPA to gain increased operational efficiency and to more effectively service large clients by making sure that their valuable IP is secure.

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