The Quantexa platform is not a point solution; it has been developed on fundamental principles of flexibility and scalability, and supports multiple business applications or use cases in a single system.
Many Quantexa deployments will originally serve a single use case, although some may be intended for broader use from the beginning. Over time, new use cases will be added.
By sharing elements of the platform between use cases, you can achieve significant cost savings compared to independent deployments. If this is done well, the effort required to add a new use case to the deployment will end up being only a small fraction of the effort for the initial deployment. The ongoing maintenance and operation costs of all use cases will also be proportionately reduced: common components can be centrally managed, with use cases being responsible for their customisations only.
Planning for multiple use cases
The needs of a Quantexa deployment which serves three, five, or ten use cases are very different to those of a deployment which serves only a single use case.
As the number of use cases grows, the deployment will evolve. It will develop mature processes and technological solutions to facilitate interaction between use cases. This will ensure that use cases have the flexibility to customise Quantexa according to their needs, whilst continuing to benefit from reusable common components and standards.
Achieving the highest levels of scalability for the platform cannot be achieved by the application team alone: infrastructure and operations teams must help advance their respective areas of ownership as the number of use cases, users, and developers grows.
By planning for your current and future multi use case state throughout the lifecycle of your Quantexa deployment, you can optimise the return on investment for the platform.
Multi use case is a journey
1-3 use cases
A Quantexa deployment with two or three use cases can look very similar to a deployment with just one, especially if the use cases are closely related. Product features support the logical separation of use cases within a single instance of the application. The programme will develop a governance structure and simple processes (such as a release process) which allow the use cases to cooperate effectively.
This setup makes it extremely simple to manage the deployment as a whole, but can limit the flexibility and independence of the use cases.
3-5 use cases
As further use cases are developed, elements of the Quantexa system may split off into more specialised sub-deployments. The deployments will continue to benefit from common code and data, and a central team will define processes to ensure that deployments remain consistent.
Similar use cases will remain closely linked to ensure simplicity of data and platform sharing.
5-10 use cases
To achieve maximum scalability, the platform will evolve to the point where onboarding new use cases is a BAU activity. New use cases will immediately benefit from ‘out-of-the-box’ processes and features, and will have a degree of control over their own infrastructure.
Use cases will be able to share code and data seamlessly whilst acting highly independently. Multiple versions of code and data will be live in parallel thanks to sophisticated operational processes.
Developing a multi use case strategy
There is no one-size-fits-all pattern for scaling a Quantexa deployment to multiple use cases. The most important step is making the decision to prioritise the platform itself as a first-class citizen, as the common foundation for business use cases.
When developing a plan, consider how all elements of your programme – people, processes, and technology – will be affected by increasing the number of use cases.
Consider which use cases are on the roadmap: the degree to which their requirements overlap will influence many of the decisions about how the platform should evolve. One of the most important choices is which elements of the Quantexa platform (such as ETL pipelines, batch analytics, and the mid-tier) will be shared between use cases, and which will be divided and customised to each use case. Sharing a component reduces total cost and ongoing maintenance effort, but is only possible if use cases can come to a consistent set of requirements for that component.
In many cases, it will make sense to form a dedicated team with responsibility for the Quantexa platform, and for the enablement of all use cases. This helps ensure that strategically-important long-term growth plans are given sufficient focus and attention. The team can also maintain core components (such as ETL for common data sources), and help to coordinate changes which impact the platform as a whole, such as Quantexa product upgrades.
Elements of a multi use case strategy
Quantexa Solution Architects are available to support you in developing and maintaining a Multi Use Case strategy. We can perform health checks, facilitate strategy workshops, and offer guidance tailored to your situation.