Case Study
COMPANY REAPS SAVINGS WITH MINDSTREAM APPCARE, STABILIZING ENVIRONMENTS AND HELPING END-USERS GET BACK TO BUSINESS
USG, also known as United States Gypsum Corporation, has been a leader in producing innovative products and systems for the construction and remodeling industries for more than 100 years. From its origins as a major distributor of wallboard and manufacturer of gypsum products in the United States, the company has expanded into a wide range of construction materials and now serves customers and projects around the world.
As an Oracle Hyperion customer, USG recognized that its growing environment required more specialized support across multiple Hyperion applications. The company needed a reliable way to maintain stable application environments, support both planning and consolidation needs for Finance, and do so at a cost-effective rate without compromising performance or security.
MindStream AppCare became the solution that helped USG stabilize its environment, reduce support risk, and give end users a more dependable experience.
The Challenge:
USG faced a difficult support challenge. Specialized Hyperion skill sets were expensive to maintain internally, yet without the right expertise, application stability could suffer. Personnel changes further increased the risk, and in some cases instability could affect reporting all the way to the C-suite.
At the same time, strict security policies made the use of outside help more complicated. USG needed a support model that could manage the environment effectively, respond when problems arose, and fit within the company’s operational and security requirements.
The Solution
Through consultation, MindStream identified that USG needed reliable managed services that would not only maintain the environment, but also provide on-demand support when issues surfaced. MindStream delivered that through AppCare, a customized monthly managed services model with escalation support and predictable costs.
Under the tailored AppCare plan, USG gained access to expert administrators who could handle patching, migrations, and upgrade support across its Hyperion footprint. MindStream was selected because of its demonstrated knowledge across the Oracle Hyperion suite and the finance function, including both planning and consolidation processes.
MindStream also worked within USG’s security concerns by establishing protocols that allowed coordinated support across development and production environments. The AppCare team provided regular communication, direct Oracle coordination when needed, and specialized assistance such as application recovery, currency translation support in Hyperion Financial Management, and migration work.
Key solution components included:
The Result
Since engaging MindStream AppCare, USG has seen meaningful improvements in support responsiveness, stability, and cost control. AppCare has helped the company recover assets quickly during emergency crashes, support new application migrations, and provide targeted application assistance when needed.
In one notable example, access to AppCare enabled a rapid recovery of a crashed Essbase application. Beyond emergency support, the engagement also gave USG broader expertise across multiple Hyperion applications without the much higher cost of building an equivalent in-house team.
Today, USG benefits from a more reliable and stable Oracle Hyperion environment with predictable support costs, helping both IT teams and end users get back to business faster and with less disruption.