Mainframe support and knowledge base at Eastern European Railway

Business Challenge

The Customer requirement was to minimize the downtime of business applications and to enhance SLA compliance. The problem was that there was no single platform to organize the application support process. Due to inconsistent actions of the customer service, the downtime of applications (individual transactions) could have increased along with the discontent of business users.

In addition, it was necessary to provide a single source of knowledge to improve the quality of support and transfer knowledge to new employees. Unified knowledge of problem resolution history and architecture features was to be distributed among all stakeholders and not get lost.

SOLUTIONS HIGHLIGHTS

IBA Group has created a centralized platform for supporting various business applications running under z/OS. APPULSE monitors critical z/OS subsystems, including IMS, CICS, DB2, MQ, TWSz, and identifies the problem early on. Whereupon it notifies the responsible support engineers of such problem and automatically generates a ticket. The AI module offers a solution to the problem and predicts its success. You can run the solution, if it seems to be appropriate, directly from APPULSE. In the event of a new type of problem, the support engineer may address it directly from the program, thereby ensuring training of AI. Next time, APPULSE will offer this option to resolve problems of this or a similar type.

Results

Client reduced application downtime and ensured business continuity. A history of resolved problems accumulates, and a knowledge base is formed that is accessible to all stakeholders. Training for beginners is faster, leading to better and faster onboarding.

Advanced APPULSE interface, AI module and more efficient support processes make this job more attractive, so it has become easier for HR to fill vacancies.