Global credit card provider migrates COBOL applications in record time
100% functional equivalence
Migration completed without business interruption
“Future-proof” technology
A cloud-native application transformation
Permanently lower operating costs
Mainframe processing discontinued
Challenge
Escape the constraints of legacy processing
Like many financial institutions, this world-leading credit card company was impaired by the technology that had built its success. Extensive batch processing on a mainframe was required to extract files from diverse data sources, including DB2, VSAM, and QSAM. This meant that systems could not be choregraphed in real time and technical development was slow.
The urgency to shift from COBOL to Java and discontinue mainframe processing was exacerbated by the escalating costs of mainframe usage and diminishing mainframe expertise. Faced with a need to modernise, the company combined its business goals in a strategy to exit mainframe processing with no interruption to business as usual.
To address these challenges, de-risk the project and accelerate progress the company sought the help of experienced technical partners.
Engagement
A migration that enables a transformation
After careful consideration, GFT and CloudFrame were chosen to transform core business processing from a legacy environment to a modern infrastructure. These partners offered the right mix of business and technical knowledge to deliver a practical solution that would de-risk the migration and maximise the benefits of a modern processing environment.
At the outset the partners developed a detailed project plan to convert the mission-critical application from COBOL to Java. Key project milestones included:
- Artifact gathering, analysis, gap assessment (3months)
- Iterative conversion, integration of the converted code with migrated data, deployment, testing of the full application (6 months)
- Parallel run of the transformed application with the mainframe (3-6 months)
The project comprised the transformation of over 200 batch jobs, comprehensive data validation and end-to-end testing. However, the strategic aim was more of a metamorphosis than a simple shift to new processing environment.
The partners transformed legacy COBOL code into highly maintainable Java, intertwining DB2 data definitions seamlessly with over 400 Oracle tables. A total of almost 1,000,000 lines of COBOL code, 1000+GDG & VSAM output files (some requiring over 7 million records) were transformed.
Benefit
Technology that’s aligned with the business strategy
The transformation was completed on time and with no interruption to business as usual. The project achieved 100% functional equivalence with the legacy mainframe batch application. But the new architecture is far more flexible and is highly maintainable. Applications can be deployed using modern schedulers, providing flexible cloud deployment options for other transformed applications.
The project delivered on its promise to exit mainframe processing within a short timeframe and with no break in service continuity. With a modern technology stack the company enjoys the benefits of increased automation and scalability of cloud-native processing. Existing processing levels can be achieved easily and at lower cost.
Measurable results
- Achieving 100% functional equivalence
- Completing the code transformation with minimal manual refactoring
- Meeting performance standards within accepted SLAs
- Deploying the transformed application using modern schedulers that matched the existing mainframe job schedule
- Achieving a cloud-native application transformation.
The project showcases a model mainframe modernisation. With its modern technology stack, the business is insulated from changes in technology and seize new business opportunities more quickly. Additional projects planned include delinking dependencies and expanding the transformation model to other business applications.
