Set-up of an analysis environment for REWE International AG

Challenge

The central challenge of this project was to understand the conflicting requirements of IT and data science. While security, reliability and maintainability are important for IT as the operator of the environment, the operating mode of data science for the user of the environment requires flexibility, high innovation speed and agility. The challenge was to find a solution that would meet the needs of both departments equally.

REWE International AG’s Group IT provides infrastructure and services for a total of six trading companies centrally. However, the individual trading companies operate independently of each other. The analysis environment must therefore be able to be managed centrally and have comprehensive rights and access management that can map workflows with individual role definitions and a granular authorisation concept.

Solution: eoda | analytic infrastructure consulting

eoda provided REWE with comprehensive support within the framework of eoda | analytic infrastructure consulting, from determining the status quo of the analysis landscape to implementing the new analysis environment and operating it.

The Assessment

In an on-site workshop – the assessment of eoda | analytic infrastructure consulting – the requirements and expectations of the analysis environment were commonly worked out with the customer. Based on this, system engineers and data scientists from eoda developed an individualized implementation concept. The 50-sided concept includes points such as:

• A solution for the administration of R packages and their dependencies
• A procedure for testing and rolling out updates of the recommended applications and systems and the R packages used
• A strategy for versioning and version management of R-analysis code
• A solution for the time-controlled execution of R analysis
• Options for visualizing the results

The implementation

The realization concept, which was presented by eoda, convinced responsible persons at REWE. REWE also relied on eoda’s experience and know-how for the installation and configuration of the analysis environment.

Some of the central components of the operationalization are:

• RStudio Server: Central development environment for the data scientists of all trading companies and REWE’s IT.
• Shiny Server Pro: System for the provision and interactive visualization of analysis results – easily scalable and allows a differentiated role and rights concept.
• GitLab & Git/Flow: For a professional and traceable development of analyses in teams, a system for managing source code is indispensable.
• Jenkins: Continuous integration system for time-controlled execution of R analysis. Integrates seamlessly into the branching concept and can be managed locally.
• LRAN: Local repository for R packages in the intranet, that provides tested and approved packages for productive use.
• In order to ensure a reliable operation of the production system, eoda has set up an identically configured test system in addition to the actual analysis environment. This is the key component of eoda’s guide for updates to ensure the stability and availability of the implemented applications and systems as well as the R packages used.

The operation

In addition to the support during the settling phase, the training of the employees in the new toolset and the receipt of detailed documentation, REWE relies on the support of eoda. In addition to make regular updates of the software components used, eoda is also available for REWE’s employees as a support provider for questions and faults.

The resume of the customer:

„The implementation concept of eoda | analytic infrastructure consulting is very well elaborated and suits to our requirements perfectly. eoda has implemented a productive analysis environment for us that meets the strict requirements of a corporate IT environment without restricting the way data science works.“

Alex Burisch | IT Organizer| REWE International Dienstleistungs GmbH