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Modernizing UK bank’s legacy systems from IBM COBOL to Microfocus COBOL

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Overview.

A prominent UK bank, known for its diverse offerings and commitment to innovation, sought to modernize its core banking platform. To meet the demands of a rapidly changing financial landscape, the bank decided to migrate from a traditional mainframe setup to the cloud. Coforge was brought in to facilitate this complex transition. While the move promised scalability, agility, and cost savings, it also presented substantial challenges.

Challenges.

The bank faced a series of challenges during the planning and migration: 

  • Migration complexity: Leaving behind the familiar mainframe environment and venturing into the cloud demanded meticulous planning. 
  • Data security: Safeguarding sensitive information during migration was non-negotiable. 
  • Legacy integration: Seamless connections with existing systems were essential. 
  • Hidden dependencies: Uncovering unexpected code connections. 
  • Link-edit failures: Challenges in combining object modules. 
  • Unresolved external references: Addressing references to external functions or data. 
  • Run-time issues: Unexpected behavior during program execution. 
  • Manual code conversion: Handling differences between COBOL versions.

Solution.

Coforge stepped in with a comprehensive approach and enabled hassle-free migration of the COBOL versions along with some extraordinary features in the solution.

Key highlights of the solution:

  • Technology migration: Smooth transition from IBM Mainframe COBOL to Microfocus COBOL and migration from DB2 to Oracle on a UNIX platform.
  • Module and API updates: All modules and APIs underwent a revamp, pointing to new endpoints that referred to the Oracle DB instead of DB2.
  • Cloud hosting: The new environment now thrives on a UNIX platform, ready for cloud hosting.
  • Ongoing support: Our development, testing, and production teams ensured a successful migration and continue to support the new environment.
  • Dependency analysis and testing: Rigorous analysis and thorough testing to uncover code dependencies, enhance reliability and stability of the software.
  • Runtime testing and monitoring: Early detection and mitigation of run-time issues via boundary and stress testing.
  • Automated code conversion: Leverage automated tools for code conversion, efficient transformation and reduced manual effort.

The Impact.

20%

Reduced licensing costs by migrating from Mainframe to scalable cloud infrastructure.

30%

Reduced service development time enabled the IT team to deliver real-time insights.

99.5%

Compliance with regulatory standards ensured a safe and reliable banking environment.

15%

Increased customer satisfaction scores due to innovative technology & user-friendly interfaces.

Seeking process optimization and enhanced security for your business? Or hunting for tailored BFS solutions? Our team of experts is here to help.

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