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Oregon PERS
Challenge:
- To convert a legacy mainframe pension system into a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product
Customer Benefits & Results:
- Achieved true business-driven automation
- Implemented business processes faster
- Derived use cases from the business process models
- Utilized UML export capabilities
Overview
The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) serves its members by enabling informed retirement and health benefits decisions while delivering retirement and health benefits. As part of its effort to become a more business-driven organization, PERS selected Metastorm ProVision as the standard modeling solution for the business operations group.
Challenge
PERS Undertakes Massive Legacy Mainframe Conversion Project
PERS has embarked on a 44-month project to convert its legacy mainframe pension system into a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product, which runs in a Java WebSphere environment. To enable this implementation, the current tasks performed in the mainframe environment must be captured, while simultaneously revisiting the overall business processes that must be supported in the to-be environment of the new system. For PERS, this project is a monumental undertaking, requiring new strategies and new skills.
The challenge is to build a system that reflects business objectives and thus delivers improved business performance. CIOs around the globe continually rank alignment of business and IT--which refers to how closely an organization's IT strategy is interwoven with the overall business strategy--among their top concerns.
Historically, PERS operated in an IT-centric fashion, according to Jordan Masanga, IT manager. They realized the benefits of a business-driven organization, and Masanga’s job was to provide the ‘steering wheel’ – a tool to empower business process owners to give direction to IT.
For the organization to optimize its performance and systems “Business needs to tell IT what processes and systems should be implemented,” he said.
Solution
Employing a Business-driven Approach to System Development
The modeling tool PERS had been using was technical, cumbersome and not user friendly. Masanga said they were looking for a robust modeling tool designed for the business user, rather than IT user.
“We wanted to give our business owners an intuitive tool they could understand and appreciate,” he said. Metastorm ProVision (formerly Proforma ProVision), which continually receives top marks from industry analysts for its usability and scalability, fit the bill.
In addition, PERS is maximizing its ProVision investment by teaming with Metastorm consultants and using ProGuide-- a methodology and service package that provides a repeatable solution for quickly implementing standardized business process modeling using ProVision.
The contract between PERS and Metastorm (formerly Proforma) was deliverable-driven, and a Metastorm consultant provided mentoring on both facilitation and business process improvement.
The benefit to business was threefold:
- The teams of business process owners and analysts completed the entire business process analysis and improvement lifecycle, from process scoping through to-be process design.
- Each business process owner practiced facilitating an actual work session, having been given pre- and post-session mentoring sessions with the Metastorm consultant.
- The business and systems analysts practiced modeling the results of each session in Metastorm ProVision.
“We chose to utilize a consultant because previously our mapping sessions were IT-driven, joint-application development sessions,” Masanga said. “We wanted to move away from a system solution to a business solution. Session facilitation by a skilled consultant is an important component to our ability to derive the business processes.”
Results
ProGuide Process Improvement Methodology Enables True Business-driven Automation
While this is a long-term project that is only recently underway, PERS is seeing some immediate benefits.
“In the past we had to wait until the end of a project to enable the business to do its job,” Masanga said. “Now, with business at the wheel from the beginning of a project, we scope out the needs and implement business processes instead of a functionality. This means faster benefits, because implementing functionality might take years, and meanwhile the process would be done manually. When we were IT-centered, we short-sighted ourselves on the complete business process.”
The PERS team is writing requirements in use cases to support the Rational Unified Process (RUP) system development lifecycle. An added benefit of Metastorm ProVision is that it allows PERS to derive use cases from the business process models and export them to UML-compatible tools.
With buy-in from the subject matter experts, PERS is sure to implement systems that support business processes. “The ultimate goal is to support the business process…not implement a system,” Masanga said.
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