Conference Description:

A Risk Based Approach to IT Infrastructure Seminar 2018

Course "A Risk Based Approach To IT Infrastructure & Cloud Qualification, Compliance & Control" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion.

Overview:
GxP Regulated companies are dependent on validated GxP computerized applications to conduct their day to day operations. These applications are, in turn, depended upon a qualified infrastructure that can be relied upon to provide control and regulatory compliance.

The consequences of the IT Infrastructure being out of compliance can result in the failure of an entire site or geographic region being brought to a standstill while the compliance issue is resolved. It can also result in regulatory citations during a regulatory inspection as both the infrastructure be out of compliance and also cause the computerized applications that are dependent on it to be out of compliance.

The impact of such compliance issues on a regulated company can be significant: it can result in recalls of products, warning or untitled letters, import alerts, injunctions, seizures, legal action, etc. These regulatory actions can have significant financial impact to the company. However, and most importantly, data integrity issues can lead to potential patient harm!!

Effective IT Infrastructure Qualification on the other hand, confers the following benefits.
• Ensures GxP compliance
• Reduces duplication of effort
• Ensures adherence to standards
• Enhances the flow of information throughout an information system
• Promotes adaptability and agility necessary for a changeable environment
• Ensures interoperability among organizational and external entities
• Maintains effective change management policies and practices

Although all business activities depend upon the infrastructure, planning and projects to ensure its effective management are typically undervalued to the detriment of the organization. According to IDC, a prominent research firm (cited in an article in DM Review), investments in infrastructure management have the largest single impact on an organization's revenue.

Establishment and maintenance of a controlled infrastructure requires that infrastructure needs to be brought into initial compliance with the company’s established standards, through a planned qualification process, based upon domestic and international best practices and standards. The qualification needs to be documented and confirmed by Quality Assurance. Once the IT Infrastructure is qualified, the compliant state needs to be maintained by documented standard processes and quality assurance activities. The effectiveness of maintaining the qualified state needs to be monitored and periodically verified.

The Seminar:
This Seminar provide a risk based approach to meeting current regulatory expectations for compliant IT Infrastructure platforms, including the need to identify, qualify and control those aspects impacted by GxP quality and data integrity. It provides current best practices for the design, qualification and operation of an IT Infrastructure with emphasis on the qualification requirements of the major components. It addresses compliance with international GxP regulations and can be used both for the establishment of new platforms and extensions or existing platforms whether or not they are currently in support of GxP applications. Finally, this seminar covers a range of IT Infrastructures, from those found in companies operating in a global setting to isolated or semi-isolated GxP Infrastructures.
This Seminar focuses on the horizontal approach to IT Infrastructure Qualification which includes the following benefits:
• Higher level of standardization throughout the entire lifecycle
• Minimal overlap in documentation
• Minimal overlap in qualification
• Minimal overlap in audits inspections and assessments
The areas addressed by the seminar include:
• How does IT Infrastructure Qualification fit into GaMP5 lifecycle
• Quality Management for Infrastructure
• Risk management for Infrastructure Qualification
• Installation & Operational Qualification of Infrastructure Components
• Configuration management and change control of infrastructure components and settings in a highly dynamic environment
• Involvement of service provider in critical infrastructure processes
• Security management in relation to access controls, availability of services and data integrity
• Backup, restore and disaster recovery of IT Infrastructure
Platform Components Generic Qualification Strategy
Hardware and Peripherals Includes all computer equipment, including power supplies, boards, network interface cards, disk storage arrays, printers and other peripherals, etc., needed to execute programs in direct support of applications, and for providing basic IT Infrastructure services.
Hardware and peripherals used in the IT Infrastructure are typical