Project Description

Profile

Located in northeast Ohio, this client has been a health insurer since 1934. It serves more than 1.6 million customers and employs more than 2,500 people.

Client Environment

The mainframe environment which hosts the mission–critical applications consisted of an IBM z-Series mainframe running CA (Computer Associates) Top Secret Security, z/OS, CICS and DB2. There were 4 mainframe LPARs and 142 applications that depended on mainframe security.

The Challenge

Our client identified a requirement to migrate from CA Top Secret Security (TSS) to IBM RACF. The challenge was to do this migration in less than 8 months with the least amount of impact to critical business systems. They determined that outside resources were needed to make this happen.

The Solution

Altus was brought in to provide the expertise needed to manage this data center migration project. The team was limited to two Sunday test sessions per month so it was imperative that each session was optimized. To that end, hour-by-hour plans were created for each of the 10 test sessions. In addition, a detailed spreadsheet to track testing status was created and updated for each session.

During each session, the system was brought up under RACF and both infrastructure and applications were tested under RACF. Once testing was completed, the system was brought back up under TSS. All issues uncovered during the testing were addressed during and after testing, thus positioning the team for a non-disruptive cutover to RACF.

The final cutover to RACF was straight forward as we followed the same process used during each of the prior test sessions (with the exception that we did not fall back to TSS).

Critical Success Factors

  • Adopted a proven method for well-orchestrated infrastructure and application test sessions
  • Fostered a sense of team-work and collaboration with outside RACF consultants and client employees
  • Coordinated schedules and communications with the application teams so that they understood what and how to test
  • Provided structure for consistent problem identification and resolution for any application testing issues
  • Continuously improved testing quality with the use of Lessons Learned sessions

Planning a migration from CA-TSS to IBM RACF?

Managing a complex IT project like this is where Altus Technologies Corporation excels.

Can we be of assistance? We hope so! – please contact us to have an initial conversation. See our other data center services here while you are visiting.