BOI Customer Cloud
Use Case

Audit-proof maintenance and staging of business-critical data in mainframe environments

BOI FreeDa in practice

Challenge

A European insurance company that focuses on customer service relies on individual business applications operated centrally on the mainframe. These applications are driven by master, control, reference, and parameter data — collectively referred to as business-critical data — such as data related to tariffs, validity periods, classifications, and business rules.

This data is stored in a proprietary, legacy VSAM format. The software lifecycle is complex: the staging process spans multiple environments — from testing to production — along four distinct deployment paths.

For over 30 years, BOI‘s standard software, TABEX4, has provided high-performance, auditable data access for business applications on mainframe computers. The BOI product JTC is used for decentralized Java-based portals. Now, the maintenance of data is to be modernized, and a standardized process is to be implemented for the maintenance and staging of critical business data.

Goals

  • Migration from a proprietary data format to Db2 – without requiring changes to the applications
  • Introduction of a uniform maintenance and staging platform for all business-critical data from the insurance applications
  • Standardized online maintenance by operating departments without database knowledge
  • Coordinated manual and automated maintenance and staging processes with automatic distribution to all common data spaces for unchanged TABEX access for all business applications
  • Audit compliance across all maintenance and staging processes

Solution

BOI FreeDa and the BOI FreeDa Staging add-on module provide a comprehensive solution for the maintenance, staging, and release management of all business-critical data — fully configurable, highly automated, and audit-proof.

 

Overview of core functions:

  • Audit-proof overall process consisting of data changes and staging
  • Standardized maintenance processes including check rules, 2-/4- eyes principle, data validation
  • Web interface for over 40 specialist users simultaneously
  • Manual and automated data changes
  • Parallel data maintenance is possible in multiple deployment paths with an intuitive merge mechanism for different data statuses
  • Synchronization mechanism that keeps all staging environments up to date and alerts users to outdated changes
  • Flexibility through exits, for example for synchronizing of all common data spaces for TABEX access by business applications when tables are changed
  • No system discontinuities: all editing and staging processes are fully integrated in BOI FreeDa

Benefit

With BOI FreeDa, the insurance company is introducing a central platform for maintaining
and managing all business-critical data – tailored to the complexity of its application
environment, while minimizing maintenance efforts.

 

Advantages at a glance:

  • Standardization of all maintenance and staging processes with a single software solution
  • Audit compliance at table and process level
  • Automated synchronization & data quality assurance
  • Full integration into existing systems – including access from Java and mainframe
  • Relief for the IT department, as maintenance is performed by the operating departments
  • Cost savings, no in-house development is necessary, future-proof

BOI FreeDa allows you to transfer table data easily and securely from one environment to another. BOI FreeDa automatically detects conflicting data from different processes. In the merge dialog, you can select which data is correct.

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The data maintenance process

Color legend

Within the BOI FreeDa system

Outside the BOI system

Within the BOI FreeDa system

Data access via TABEX4

Data access via JTC

The IT department configures data maintenance using table processes, roles, and authorizations, including the use of external systems. This ensures the overall process for each table, including editing and staging authorizations. Tables can only be edited in test environments. In all other environments, staging is used exclusively. If errors occur, the affected tables can easily be reset to editing status in the test environment using the process stepper. All tables are available in production and can be edited in parallel in all four staging paths.

BOI FreeDa ensures data consistency across all staging paths through automatic synchronization mechanisms. When two different table statuses coincide, the merge function displays the differences to the user so they can clearly select the desired changes.

Changes to the production status are automatically made available for high-performance, centralized access for mainframe business applications via TABEX and for web portals via JTC.

For those interested in the technical details

Data maintenance

  • Maintenance of over 10,000 web-based Db2/zOS tables by over 40 simultaneous users
  • Maintenance exclusively in test environments, display in all environments
  • Support of 2-/4- eyes control principle per table
  • Complete audit logging, including archiving data statuses
  • Maintenance of tables from legacy VSAM structures (after migration)
  • Over 1,000 table checks configured in BOI FreeDa

 

Staging

  • Definition of multiple parallel staging paths to production
  • Maintenance in all test environments → manual (web-based) or automatic staging (REST API) along the staging path
  • Automatic synchronization of table statuses across staging paths with alerts for outdated changes
  • Intuitive merge interface for competing changes
  • Flexibility: Connection of individual exits at each staging step, e.g., for common data spaces for TABEX access
  • Full audit compliance through complete logging

 

System & Integration

  • BOI FreeDa, including staging, as a Docker installation on-premises
  • Connection to OpenID Connect for SSO
  • JDBC connection to Db2/zOS
  • Central configuration of maintenance and staging processes in the admin interface
  • Each environment has its own common data spaces; data sets are automatically synchronized via exits

More informations

More information can be found in the BOI FreeDa product sheet.

View product sheet

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