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Software Application Services
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Client Profile
The client is a Fortune 25 financial conglomerate with an annual revenue of over US $125 bn. The client serves the complex needs of its clients (including corporations, governments, institutional investors, and high net worth individuals) through a sophisticated and integrated range of advisory, financing, trading, investment, and related capabilities.
 
Situation
The client uses a Check Research & Adjustments (CR&A) application running on an IBM mainframe Pega Systems environment. The application had been developed using PegaViewAce as the front end and IDE, and is primarily used by the client employees to log customer queries and track/resolve them using Pega Rules & Workflow. The client wanted to re-host CR&A from the IBM mainframe to Unix. Re-hosting included:
  • Transaction and history data migration from mainframe to Unix
  • Pega workflow rule base migration from mainframe to Unix
  • Interface modification for functional availability in Unix
  • Check Archive changes for functional availability in Unix
  • PegaIndex data access
 
Solutions
The various work streams for re-hosting were as follows:
  • Workflow rule base - These rules were stored in VSAM files on the mainframe and were migrated to Unix, where they were kept in an Oracle database. The storage was done in Pega proprietary format and Pega supplied tools were used for the migration.
  • Interfaces - Various interfaces were modified to enable functionality in a Unix environment, leveraging mainframe-based processing wherever possible. Cognizant took end-to-end responsibility for a majority of the interfaces. Cognizant worked extensively on these interfaces using techniques, such as socket programming, send mail, OCI, PL/SQL reporting, and Pega utilities, such as Case*Loader, TGUCONV, RGUOCNV, and Report Writer.
  • Transactional and history data - Transactional and history data was stored in Pega proprietary format in VSAM files on the mainframe. This data was migrated to Oracle on a Sub-Solaris Unix platform using Pega supplied tools. Cognizant participated in the validation exercise for this activity.
  • Special modifications - Modifications to some special screens and workflow were needed as part of re-hosting. The client carried out the modifications with Cognizant support. For PegaIndex related access, an off-the-shelf Pega utility called Archive Attach was used.


Cognizant’s additional responsibilities during this project included:
  • Architecture, design and specification documentation for all modules
  • Socket prototyping
  • Performance tuning of certain critical processes, such as OS45
  • Modifications and tuning of a centralized error reporting mechanism
  • Complete project management and tracking


Benefits of the solution included:
  • Business continuity by working around a "no support" situation for the mainframe-based Pega application
  • Reduced cost of storage and processing after moving major storage and processing from mainframe to Unix
  • Consistent error reporting mechanism for most interfaces
  • Reduced maintenance and production support costs
  • Improved production support turnaround time
  • Wb-enabling of the application
  • Application documentation and component reuse
  • Enhanced application functionality over an elongated timeframe
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