Clients Award CGI Top Marks for its AS/400 Conversion Project

CGI maintains one of the largest single AS/400 installations in Canada, with the AS/400 platform supporting a wide array of business applications for CGI's valued Application Service Provider (ASP) and outsourcing clients. When IBM released its most current AS/400 LPAR (Logical Partitioned) computing hardware and software technology, CGI saw an opportunity to convert all of these clients to the new system.

The Challenge

AS/400 technology supports applications that range from those used by financial institutions to those found in manufacturing companies, accounting firms and insurance firms, to name just a few. Because of the technology's versatility and strength, CGI had adapted up to eight versions of the AS/400 platform to address its clients' various needs.

The company realized that by converting all of its ASP and outsourcing clients to the new AS/400 LPAR technology, it would be able to offer them faster processing opportunities, while equipping them with leading-edge technology. Consolidating all clients into the same system would also be a smart business move for CGI, as it would help to standardize the systems used and reduce overall costs. The challenge was to ensure that customers lost none of the functionalities they were currently using and that the conversion process remained transparent from a user's point of view.

The Strategy

CGI involved IBM in the project right from the beginning. While the majority of clients were quick to see the benefits of upgrading to the new system, a few wanted assurances that data security would in no way be compromised by the transition. CGI was able to demonstrate to all clients that all security aspects of the new system would be as reliable as they had been in the past.

Once all clients had agreed to the upgrade, CGI set up an in-house project management team to run the project. Each client was scheduled to undergo a gradual transition one at a time. For the most part, conversions were handled during weekends and after hours to ensure that users experienced no disruptions. And because only the hardware and operating systems were modified, users saw no change to their working environment or screens, and therefore no training was required. In fact, the only involvement on the part of users was the testing and sign-off process. In this way, everyone involved were able to confirm that the new system was working well.

The entire project lasted approximately seven months, with many clients going through the conversion process during the slower summer period.

The Technology

• AS/400 I-Series 840-2353 12 Way processors
• OS400 Operating System
• DB400 relational data base

The Results

Today, CGI's ASP and outsourcing clients enjoy faster, more efficient processing time. All were very pleased to have been able to convert to the AS/400 LPAR platform easily and with virtually no disruption to their employees. CGI benefited by being able to provide its clients with state-of-the-art technology. And because the platform has now been standardized among all clients, it can be more easily upgraded.

"We were very pleased with the conversion process as it was totally transparent to our user community," states Vince Campanelli, Director, Technology Services at Parmalat. "Our users completed their work on Saturday, as per normal, and it was business as usual early Monday morning on the new system. A very well planned and executed conversion. A conversion of this magnitude is not completed successfully without a strong technical team and well thought-out project plan. We were also impressed with CGI's professional manner in communicating with us. They kept us informed throughout the project."

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