CASE STUDY

KFW BANKENGRUPPE

KFW MIGRATES KEY APPLICATIONS IN PL/1 FROM Z/OS to AIX

KFW has successfully re-hosted a mission critical Credit Modelling and management application written in PL/1, from
its Z/OS Mainframe to UNIX AIX. Achieving great cost savings, with minimal interruption to operations, the project
was completed within 9 months of starting, and has had a payback period of little under 8 months. Additionally, the
project has resulted in improved system performance and scalability.

We were looking for innovative ways to save costs. Although migrating the Credit
modelling and administration application was a very attractive proposition, at first we
felt reluctant to explore the possibility due to perceived complexity. Then we were
introduced to the re-hosting solution of HTWC and quickly realised this will be
successful and will bring the anticipated benefit
Mr Reiner Lein, IT Application Manager

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

KFW BANENGRUPPE

Banking Group

Frankfurt, Germany

www.kfw.de

Challenge

Solution

Customer Benefits

Absolutely mission critical credit

Implement XFRAME to Re-host

80% Annual cost reduction

application

Mainframe services onto AIX

Greater system flexibility and scalability

License and maintenance costs too

high

Project duration 9 months

Enthusiastic staff

BACKGROUND
KFW is a state owned financial institution, whose

One of their key roles is credit modelling, calculation,

origins come from finance distribution and allocation

distribution and administration for the KFW clients.

for the re-building of Germany after the second

This process is run on a mission critical application,

world war. Its main objective is to distribute credit

which also contains features for the management,

to second tier financial institutions for specifc

calculation, allocation and administration of various

purposes such as housing, SME development, Export

state funded compensations schemes.

& Import and development aid. The Bank group is

structured accordingly into corrosponding Bank

Looking to optimise their IT costs, KFW engaged

entities and is a key instrument in the German fiscal

consultants from HTWC to examine possibilities of

system, playing a major role in their impressive

application migration, and to create a compelling

reversal of the recent financial crisis.

business case which in turn would generate

management committment to such an undertaking.

KFW employs approximatley 5000 people and has

Together, HTWC and KFW decided to embark on a

revenues in the region of 75BN Euro.

project to migrate the Credit application from z/OS

It is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany with major

to AIX using the HTWC XFRAME Mainframe

offices in Bonn and Berlin

rehosting suite.

THINK, PLAN AND DO

THINK
HTWC were able to demonstrate a holistic

application strategy, covering commercial, technical

and post project operational aspect. It was clear that

Access to other Banks for electronic

payment files (input and output).

Integrated with other applications running

this would bring great financial benefits, in a really

on different platforms like MVS IMS/DC,DB,

short period of time, with virtually zero risk or

Unix and Windows

operational disruption.

Characteristics of the target application presented

challenges;

Online & batch, daily, monthly, quarterly,

half-year and end-year jobs.

Access to German Post for Address changes, Address

research

PLAN
In line with the HTWC project management

ICON repository offline, and parsed. The project

procedure, stringent project planning starts with a

team gained an in depth understanding of the

meticulous assessment of the application landscape.

Application landscape, and the migration plan was

HTWC used its proprietary ICON assessment

created in conjunction with the client IT staff.

application. The KFW application was loaded into the

Approximately 80% of all work was

conducted remotely via VPN Due to
the high levels of automation, one
sees a high proportion of the time
resources allocated for testing and
rollout
Dieter Rolinger, senior technical consultant,
HTWC

DO
The solution entailed the migration from VSAM to

Converting BMS Masks, Converting JCL, Converting

XVSAM, the XFRAME component that emulates the

files from EBCDIC to ASCII. Data was migrated as

VSAM environment on LUW platform, and the

part of the setting up of the test environment.

implementation of the HTWC XFRAME suite and

System testing took place in conjunction with the

OPEN PL/I compiler.

client personnel, hence at an early stage, they were

The target environment was populated with the

able to take more and more ownership of all the

HTWC XFRAME suite and PL/1 compiler. One after

parts of the change management tactics employed by

the other, the Online and Batch programs were

HTWC.

migrated onto the environments and parsed to

After extensive system and then application testing,

determine system functionality. The migration

new environment goes live. In the hands of the client

included; Converting Online and Batch Programs to

IT staff, and under the supervision of HTWC, any

communicate with the new PL1 compiler.

remaining irregularities were eradicated immediately.

SUCCESS FACTORS
Management Commitment

enthusiasm for the project. The inclusion of the

By nature of their business, this application is

client staff in this project during the assessment and

absolutely key, with zero tolerance to any length of

system testing phases was key both in terms of their

downtime. This of course raised question marks

commitment to the project, and their ability to

about any migration, and these needed to be

maintain and develop the applications post Go live,

answered. HTWC demonstrated the benefits of such

a step and its project methodology, which eradicated

Project

risk, thus obtaining management commitment and

In addition to the technical requirements,

attention.

management were very clear in their expectations

from the management of such a project;

Change Management and Staff commitment

With zero interruption to the operations

Such a re-hosting requires some changes to the way

In a short timeframe

people work. HTWC project staffs are schooled in

Achieving speedy payback and ROI

managing user workshops to obtain user input, and

ROI
The cash flow graphic illustrates over a
five year period the return on the
investment The green area represents
the savings accumulated as a result of
the migration, and quite clearly
demonstrates a major return on the
investment and a fast payback period.

Summarized in key ratios as follows:

Metrics

Value

ROI (Net Savings vs Investment)

361%

PAYBACK PERIOD MONTHS

8,9

Internal Rate of Return

259%

The ROI trend illustrated is a very typical

outcome of this sort of projects. Organizations
are starting to sit up and notice, that Legacy
Migrations support virtually all Application
strategies.
Karl Kaempfer Mainframe Modernization Consultant

WE ARE HTWC
As forecasted in our initial pre sales assessment,

Adapting your IT infrastructure to your needs has

HTWC has again delivered a major cost cutting

been our speciality since 1979.

solution to its client, meeting all project deadlines

budgets, causing minimal interruptions to operations.

We are the High Technology World Company.

Our pragmatic, no frills approach, has resulted in the

Our motto Beyond the Change underlines the

continuous adaption of IT infrastructures, allowing

philosophy behind our mainframe modernization

hundreds of our renowned clients to exploit more

solutions, safely guiding our clients through key,

cost effective and agile technologies to run their

decisive and valuable phases of a winning IT strategy.

applications.

We are HTWC

www.htwc.com

Absolute market leader in mainframe re-hosting and migration

97% of migration fully automated
Over 30 years experience
Truly global
All sectors
HTWC, 2011

info@htwc.com

+39 06 51964253