GE Capital converted its mainframe-based PMS suite to a distributed architecture to reduce costs and enable innovation. The multi-phase project included assessing over 71 million lines of code to reduce scope, piloting the new technology, converting and rehosting applications to UNIX and Oracle, extensive performance and user testing, and two parallel deployments. The conversion eliminated annual mainframe costs by 66% and disaster recovery time by 240%, while supporting the same level of performance and enabling future changes. Lessons included the need for extensive testing, accurate hardware sizing, managing scope, and executive support.

1. Case Study: GE Capital Conversion
Eliminates the Mainframe
Marc Rubel
October 19, 2011

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
GE Capital At a Glance
One of the world’s largest providers of credit
Provides credit to 100+ million customers via:
• Credit cards
• Retail sales finance programs
• Home, car and personal loans
• Credit insurance
Consumer
Commercial
Provides financing and capital to 1+ million customers for
• Purchasing, leasing and distributing equipment
• Real estate and corporate acquisitions
• Refinancing
• Restructuring

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
PMS Suite Architecture-Mainframe
Tech Stack
Hardware: IBM Z9
O/S: Z/OS
DBMS: CA-IDMS v16
Programming
Languages: ADS/O
OS/VS COBOL
DC-COBOL
Fortran
REXX
Easytrieve /Culprit
Direct
PMS
Indirect
PMS
Interfacing Applications
End
Users
CALC
CALC
US
EUR
FLAP
US
EUR
ISI
CALC
CALC
US
EUR
FLAP
US
EUR
Cheetah
US
EUR
Litigation
Real-Time
Reporting
Statistics
Applications
Databases
Interfaces
MIPS
Concurrent Users
User Screens
Batch Jobs
Transactions / Day
Lines of Code
8
5
382
900
1731
2,000
9,000
3,492,907
71,000,000

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
The Concerns, Choices & Solution
Annual RUN costs are expensive
Concerns
Technology/Skill Set Risk
Disaster Recovery and High
Availability
Unused code never purged
Rate of Change increasing –
Delivering Change is NOT
Ability to support innovation
UI and usability changes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Project ROI < 2 yrs
Re-write
Convert &
Rehost

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
U
N
I
X
COBOL
Batch
Programs
IDMS
JCL, Procs
IDMS, VSAM
Database
Definitions
M
A
I
N
F
R
A
M
E
IDMS
Maps
ADS/Online
and IDMS-DC
COBOL
Online
Programs ATERAS
DB-Shuttle
Tool Suite
Oracle DDL
IDMS
Extracts
Batch COBOL
JCL/Procs for
Oracle
CICS
COBOL
with
BMS Maps
Batch
Batch COBOL
JCL/Procs for
Oracle
TmaxSoft
OpenFrame
CICS
COBOL
with
BMS Maps
TmaxSoft
OpenFrame
Online
Application Rehosting
Assessment
Database Conversion
Application Conversion
Data
Oracle
DDL
Oracle
Databases
Oracle
Data
The Word “Rehosting”

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Project Phases
Phase 1: Proof-of-Concept
Phase 2: Assessment
Phase 3: Pilot
Phase 4: Build
Phase 5: Application Testing
Phase 6: Deployment

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 1: Proof-of-Concept
Prove out the technology – see it in action
• Complete within very short timeframe
• Convert small amount of code and few database records
• Recompile and execute code on UNIX platform
Objective
Findings
•Converted code was structured and well-formed
•Converted code appeared to be supportable and maintainable
•IDMS database converted to Oracle as expected
•Compilation of new Cobol code in Openframe seemed relatively simple
•Training of IT staff necessary for new toolsets

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 2: Assessment
Objective
To complete a full analysis of all mainframe applications and databases in order
to understand and effectively plan the project timeline, cost, and identify
complexities within the application
Top 3 Realized Benefits…
#1 Reduced Scope -- eliminated components that are no longer used
#2 Informed Decisions -- revealed language and source composition
#3 Technical Plans – identified need for a strategy around complexities
71 million lines of code collected – 16 million actually used – 78% reduction!
27 different code syntax identified
22 “Areas of Concentration” identified
Critical Information that reduced cost/scope

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 3: Pilot
Objective
Gain further insight into the new technology that PMS will be converted and rehosted to
To demonstrate to our userbase that the appearance and general behavior of a REHOSTED
mainframe platform is no different than our current mainframe environment
Scope
• Duration: 6 months
• Approximately 5% of the overall code base
• All technical nuances within the applications
• “Critical Path” functionality
• Installation/configuration of 3rd party software on GE infrastructure

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
“Everything that I saw and
tested I saw no noticeable
difference between the
rehost system and
production PMS.”
Phase 3: Pilot – “Voice of the User”
“The applications in general looked the same to
me. I utilized the same key functions as I would
in normal PMS. It did indeed feel like just another
PMS mainframe session. I didn't see any issues
as far as the look and the maneuvering from one
option to the next.”
“Overall it felt the same. Of
course the default paths etc
didn't work so that made it feel
different but the screen layouts
& functions feel the same”

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 4: Build
• Convert and Rehost remaining PMS
Suite application code and
databases
• Complete 7 sub-projects critical to
the success of the overall project
FLAP Dispatch
Reporting
Name
Matching
FOCUS
Real-Time
Reporting
Infrastructure
PMS,CALC
& Cheetah
Rehosting
Employee
Re-training PMS,CALC &
Cheetah
Rehosting

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 Translation of JCL Streams
 Translation of EBCDIC Sequential Files
 Environment install / configuration
 Automated Conversion of Languages
 Automated Conversion of IDMS Databases
 Delivery of relational DDL to mirror existing data structures
 IDMS Data Extract/Load
Phase 4: Build – Process

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
• 4800+ Scripts created & executed
multiple times
• 303 users executed test scripts
Phase 5: Testing – User Acceptance Testing
Knowledge from the 1st implementation
greatly improved the 2nd implementation
experience
DO NOT underestimate user testing phase!

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
1st Implementation
2nd Implementation
• 4800+ Scripts created & executed
multiple times
• 303 users executed test scripts
Phase 5: Testing – User Acceptance Testing

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Original Thoughts
2 Tier architecture
8 Sun M5000’s
Non-Prod/DR – same boxes
Unable to mimic mainframe performance
Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Original Thoughts
2 Tier architecture
8 Sun M5000’s
Non-Prod/DR – same boxes
Unable to mimic mainframe performance
Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
Issues
• The application is “chatty” due to the
design of the IDMS application
• High number of database calls by
the application
• High number of programs executed
by a single transaction

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Original Thoughts
2 Tier architecture
8 Sun M5000’s
Non-Prod/DR – same boxes
Unable to mimic mainframe performance
Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
Final Architecture
Single-tier architecture
4 Sun M9000’s – almost infinitely scalable
Non-Prod/DR – same boxes
Mainframe performance achieved

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
MF
Mainframe

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Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Mainframe
Openframe 2-Tier

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Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Mainframe
Openframe 2-Tier
Openframe Single-Tier

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Phase 5: Testing – Performance Testing
Mainframe
Openframe Single-Tier
100% faster than
mainframe or
sub-second

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Phase 6: Deployments
1st Implementation – May 2011 2nd Implementation – Oct 2011
• Int’l & Domestic Go-Live run in parallel
• Deployment took 34 hours
• Extract – 8 hours
• Load – 8 hours
• “Smoke Test” – 5 hours
• First batch run – 6 hours
• Business Testing – 7 hours
• 29 issues opened in first 72 hours
• Int’l & Domestic Go-Live run in parallel
• Deployment took 48 hours
• Extract – 13 hours
• Load – 11 hours
• “Smoke Test” – 9 hours
• First batch run – 8 hours
• Business Testing – 7 hours
• 14 issues opened in first 72 hours
Realized Benefits
Annual run cost: 66%
DR time: 240%
Application footprint: 78%
Platform that supports Growth & Innovation

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Lessons Learned and Recommendations
 Do Not underestimate the amount of testing required
 Sizing hardware for acceptable performance is not precise
 Code freeze/pent up demand
 Do Not allow this to become an “IT Project”
 Do Not “boil the ocean” – manageable phases
 Conversion/Rehosting requires significant
C-level support

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Re-Imagine IT- October 2011
Q & A