Architecture Proof of Concept
Paving the Way for Multiple Application ConversionsThe Challenge:
The MA DCS and DUA wished to position itself as a leader among its peers—nationally and within Massachusetts—in its ability to provide outstanding service. To help achieve this goal, the MA DCS and DUA wanted to move from its mainframe environment to a .NET platform within three years. Although the mainframe supports its current unemployment insurance and revenue legacy operations very well, it is more than 20 years old. As such, it lacks the flexibility to accommodate program changes rapidly. Finding the IT skills to maintain the system is also difficult.
The Solution:
Immediately following an eight-week effort during which Collaborative helped the MA DCS and DUA identify an enterprise application architecture and target technology platform, the MA DCS and DUA asked Collaborative to design, develop and implement open systems replacements for its legacy Wage Reporting system. This "proof-of-concept" project would pave the way for other legacy systems that are collectively responsible for management and reporting of Massachusetts wage data collected by the Department of Revenue.
The Wage Reporting application and its supporting systems comprised more than 60 COBOL batch programs, a dozen TIP transactions and a DMS database. It was an ideal application for conversion to the newly identified platform because it comprised technologies representative of the entire MA DCS and DUA. It also maintained both real-time and batch interfaces to each of the MA DCS and DUA's IT systems.
The major technology challenge was maintaining system interfaces between the new Wage Reporting system and the Revenue and UI systems that stayed on the Unisys 2200 mainframe. To do so, the team leveraged Unisys’ Open/OLTP and Open Transaction Integrator products to provide high-volume, real-time transactional interfaces. Several core UI mainframe transactions were modified to use these interfaces for data retrieval from the Wage Reporting system. Collaborative also conducted a data conversion to move more than 120 million wage records from the legacy DMS database and tape archive files to the Oracle 9i databases.
The Results:
Collaborative provided numerous tangible benefits for the MA DCS and DUA. For example, the proof-of-concept work generated an application that is now in production; it was not just a prototype. It has also provided the division with a clearer picture of its future.
The new, Web-enabled systems will increase efficiency and work well into the future. Moreover, the structured, iterative approach provided considerable peace of mind by splitting the MA DCS and DUA;s modernization into a series of small and eminently achievable projects, each of which adds value.