University Focuses on Mainframe Migration; Blue Hill Supports Day-to-Day Workloads

A prominent University had been processing their IT workloads on a Mainframe for nearly 50 years. Over the years, the University had gone through a few changes from in-house solutions to outsourcing. Blue Hill Data Services and the University’s relationship started back in 2015. Blue Hill was engaged to deliver a cost-efficient, dependable, and client-centric solution allowing the University’s IT department to focus on the migration of their applications off the Mainframe.

Challenge(s)

The University’s challenge was choosing the right provider to manage their IT environment while they focused on the migration project. Their environment included 13 Mainframe Applications processing critical information. These applications were crucial for the University’s batch processing operations. The most flexible and cost-effective solution was for Blue Hill to support the University’s environment remotely while the Applications were moved to a new platform.

Solution

Blue Hill Data Services’ team of experts were contracted to handle the day-to-day functions for the University’s Mainframe while University staff completed the detailed task of application migrations. This project started in February of 2022, with Blue Hill delivering Operations/Console Monitoring, Production Control, Service Desk, and Technical Support. The Blue Hill z/OS support team assisted in assessing and removing expired software, credential removal, and general support. The Production Control team assisted in moving batch applications to a new scheduling package (Zena) and the seamless managing of batch processing. Operations performed daily monitoring of the mainframe environment as various applications were phased out. The Blue Hill Service Desk kept the client informed of all issues that arose during the migration. The total time taken to migrate all thirteen applications from kick-off meetings to decommissioning of hardware was about 2 years. Despite some delays due to decisions regarding data retention and applications, the project was completed on time and within budget. In 2023 the University switched from full remote IBM Mainframe support to a read-only state for archival purposes.

I feel the relationship has been a very friendly, collaborative working environment between the two. I feel we’ve together formed a great working family and feel this could be a case study in itself how we’ve worked side by side. – (Sr. IT Project Leader)

Continuing the Relationship

Blue Hill played an integral part of the University’s Mainframe Migration project. The relationship between the University and Blue Hill has evolved into a friendly, collaborative partnership over the years. Both parties have worked closely together, forming a cohesive working family that successfully navigated a complex mainframe migration project. The partnership serves as a testament to effective collaboration and mutual trust between client and service provider. Blue Hill prides itself on being client- centric and exceeding expectations. With this Mainframe migration project, Blue Hill and this University have created a lasting relationship through hard work and consistently exceeding expectations. From the dedicated account manager to the Production Control staff, Operations staff, and z/OS support staff, Blue Hill’s team has worked to assure 100% satisfaction. Blue Hill is still providing certain operations and production control tasks on the new platform for the University.

I have recommended BH not only to private sector counterparts, but also Higher Ed colleagues. The length of this business arrangement not only indicates transactional confidence, but also an established relationship with all levels of BH service providers. – (IT Senior Director)