Client: DuPont Crop Protection Challenge: To develop a chemical compound that will be released into nature, there are between 500 to 700 attributes that need to be researched and documented. DuPont researchers had no tool to help them easily manage and analyze this complex data. Solution: To accelerate the development and registration of new protective agricultural compounds, DuPont Crop Protection collaborated with CSC to create a novel solution for analyzing field trial data. The result included two powerful databases, the Discovery Data Warehouse and the Development Data Warehouse. Results: DuPont researchers can now traverse extensive mines of data to get immediate answers to questions that in the past that took weeks to obtain. Discovery Data Warehouse Learn more about the Discovery Data Warehouse. Read more about CSC's Chemical & Energy business. Contact us and let our experience help you produce results.

To accelerate the development and registration of new protective agricultural compounds, DuPont Crop Protection collaborated with CSC to create a novel solution for analyzing field trial data. The result was two powerful databases, the Discovery Data Warehouse and the Development Data Warehouse.

The Discovery Challenge

The process of “discovering” effective new protective compounds requires extensive collaboration among scientists across many different disciplines. As research progress is made, it needs to be accessible to all DuPont Crop Protection researchers across the globe.

Researchers also faced information-management challenges in the development phase. To develop a chemical compound that will be released into nature, there are between 500 to 700 attributes that need to be researched and documented in accordance with environmental regulations.

Matters grow more complicated after a potential compound is discovered and moved into development. Research conducted out in open fields, where the effects of weather, soil and pest infestation cannot be precisely controlled, also yields an extensive amount of complex data. But DuPont researchers had no tool to help them easily manage and analyze the complex data.

Discovery Data Warehouse

To resolve the first challenge, a DuPont/CSC team developed the Discovery Data Warehouse. Discovery Data Warehouse is a powerful information management system designed to integrate, standardize and consolidate information from all operational systems and to provide an integrated query and reporting capability for all chemical, biological and environmental research.

The Discovery Data Warehouse serves as one central clearinghouse to allow researchers to share, analyze, distribute and review research data from across the entire organization. Researchers are able to identify hits and leads more quickly, rapidly eliminate compounds not likely to become products.

One of the keys to the success of the Discovery Data Warehouse is its ability to allow researchers to obtain answers to questions they could not address previously. To date, more than 60 million scientific observations have been recorded on 1.7 million different compounds. And the tool also allows for cost savings through efficient data integration and standardization.

Development Data Warehouse

After the successful rollout of a Discovery Data Warehouse, DuPont again turned to CSC to tackle the job of managing all its global field development research data. Using the same basic system architecture, CSC created the Development Data Warehouse.

The solution established a model that allows researchers to isolate independent variables that emerge throughout the research process. All of the independent variables are grouped into six primary dimensions – Test Material, Test Method, Test Subject, Time, Place and Measure, and form the context for all experimental observations. A researcher can now look at his or her data along any of these dimensions to gain a particular perspective and see things in ways that they could not in the past.

Once a product enters into the marketplace, the Development Data Warehouse will have several added benefits. Crop Protection representatives can mine the knowledge in the Development Data Warehouse to determine the best conditions in which to apply and use the product, and which chemicals to apply it with to achieve maximum results. Such information-sharing will strengthen the bond between DuPont and its agricultural clients.

Discovering and Developing New Products Faster

Through the Discovery and Development Data Warehouse solutions, DuPont Crop Protection is making use of two powerful information-management tools that have helped them capture and reuse knowledge to great benefit.

Just as importantly, DuPont researchers are now able to traverse extensive mines of data to get immediate answers to questions that in the past took weeks to obtain. Both solutions have shaved significant time off the product development lifecycle, saving DuPont millions of research dollars and helping them get new products to market faster.