State Modernizes Mainframe Software to Significantly Reduce Cost and Risk

A US state that provides critical services to over 1.7 million citizens. The State’s Office of Technology is committed to delivering modern government services to empower employees and citizens. Its goals also include:

• Delivering modern government services
• Empowering government employees through technology
• Delivering high returns on the State’s technology investments
• Fostering innovation and delivering continuous enhancement
• Enhancing the State’s cybersecurity posture

To meet its goals, the State’s office of technology was working to modernize and secure its IT environment and improve digital services for both its citizens and employees. This required a review of its mainframe environment, which it had already begun to modernize with Ensono.

Ensono had been managing the State’s mainframe environment for several years and had built a good relationship with key stakeholders. As a result, we were engaged to help the State take the next step in the journey to modernization by optimizing its mainframe software.

Ensono conducted a series of workshops with key stakeholders to evaluate their needs against what their current software solutions could offer. We identified new products that would deliver the capabilities and security needed, at an equal or reduced cost, and drafted a Detailed Design Document and Detailed Project Plan for each proposed migration.

Ensono then installed, configured and migrated each of the target solutions, performed basic testing, and created a set of unique test cases for further testing of each one.

Over a period of five months, Ensono converted existing:

• Databases and reports
• Source code management software
• Testing and debugging software
• Session management software
• Report generation software

To help the State’s employees adopt these new solutions quickly, we conducted a series of online training sessions. Ensono supported the implementation of each switch, remediating any issues and providing post-implementation support for a period of 30 days.

As a result of optimizing its mainframe software, the State was able to reduce its software license spend by a significant amount. The new software delivers greater value at a lower cost. It’s also easier to use, which means that the state is no longer dependent on legacy software development skills. All of these outcomes have helped the State’s Office of Technology to meet its goals.