Success: Sweeping Changes to ISV Product Suite with Zero Interruption to the Business

In late 2022, we were engaged by a major outsourcer to develop a Broadcom Decommission proposal for a major manufacturing company where they were recently awarded a mainframe outsourcing contract.  We successfully executed the migration of 46 Broadcom mainframe products across 7 LPARs, primarily to IBM equivalents.

The more complex migrations included

  • OPS/MVS to IBM SAz across all LPARs from a patchwork of nearly 10,000 OPS/MVS rules split across two Sysplex configurations
  • CA-1 to RMM across all LPARs
  • Endevor to IBM SCLM in two distinct environments. The end client wanted a source code management platform that operated as much like Endevor as possible and also wanted to avoid DevOps solutions that require deployment across distributed platforms, often relying on open source software as integral to the solution.  The training requirements for a DevOps solution were also of concern given their tight schedule (feel free to change).

We developed custom programs and tools to enhance the capabilities of native SCLM and provide like for like functions with minimal disruption and training. The scale of the project included:

    • Over 78,000 elements
    • Over 50 processors
    • Over 120 REXX programs
    • Over 30 application systems
  • A large number of Broadcom DB2 products to IBM equivalent concurrent with a DB2 V12 upgrade to a dozen DB2 data sharing
  • The scope of the project required over 460 change requests (implementation of software, tool deployment, security, decommission work, etc.) and 135 service requests (Storage, SA , TRX, job backups/scheduling, IPLs, etc.)

The migration was completed on time, achieving the end client’s objectives. At the conclusion of the project, the outsourcer’s project manager thanked us:

I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering dedication and exceptional work over the past 20+ month journey on this software conversion project. Your commitment to excellence and teamwork [were] critical to our success. Each of you has played a crucial role in navigating the complexities of this project, and your efforts have not gone unnoticed. The challenges we faced were met with resilience and determination, and the results speak volumes about your professionalism and expertise.

Thank you for your hard work, late nights, and the passion you brought to this project. It has been a privilege to work alongside such a talented group of individuals.