Request for Information

Adabas/Natural Migration and Support RFI 18-02

Washington State Department of Retirement Systems April 2018

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1 SUBJECT This is a Request for Information (RFI) for re-platforming the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems’ (DRS) mainframe based business applications (Adabas/Natural and supporting systems) off of the z/OS IBM environment to support the agency’s larger strategy to modernize its major applications. This RFI seeks responses from vendors experienced in planning and performing platform migration off mainframe based Adabas/Natural.

2 PURPOSE OF THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION The objectives of this RFI are to:

Identify experienced vendors who can guide and/or support DRS through migration off the mainframe z/OS onto a Linux, Unix or Windows (LUW) hosting environment.

Gather information on an appropriate migration strategy for DRS.

Gather information necessary to decide between Windows, Unix or Linux migration target destinations.

Identify the level of effort and resources needed for a successful migration.

Gather the information necessary to produce effective Requests for Proposals (RFP). Response to this RFI is voluntary and is not a prerequisite for responding to a future solicitation for a migration support procurement. Proposals submitted in response to any subsequent RFP will be evaluated on their own merit, with no advantage or disadvantage resulting from this RFI.

3 RESPONSES DUE Please provide your responses in an electronic format. We value your time and do not require lengthy responses; a 1-3 sentence response is sufficient for most items, with links to electronic reference materials where appropriate. We are requesting that vendors not respond with any preprinted materials or marketing literature. Links to such information in electronic form may be included in the response as appropriate. As a follow up to this RFI, respondents may be asked for additional information or to clarify responses. Responses to this RFI should be submitted to the RFI Coordinator no later than April 20, 2018. Please do not cut and paste your responses into this RFI. Instead, provide your response as a separate electronic document and include numbers referencing the RFI items you are responding to. Only one electronic copy need be submitted. E-mail is the preferred method of delivery. Hardcopy responses and materials will be accepted; faxed responses will not. Please submit responses to the RFI Coordinator at the following address and/or email:

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RFI Coordinator’s Mailing Address Attn: Jilene Siegel Department of Retirement Systems 6835 Capitol Blvd PO Box 48380 Olympia, WA 98504-8380 RFI Coordinator’s Email Address jilenes@drs.wa.gov The schedule for this Request for Information is as follows:

Request for Information posted on WEBS and on the DRS website Monday, April 2, 2018

Questions due from interested parties Friday, April 6, 2018

Answers to questions posted on WEBS and on the DRS website Thursday, April 12, 2018

Responses due Friday, April 20, 2018

DRS reserves the right to revise the RFI schedule. Any schedule revisions will be posted on WEBS and on the DRS website.

4 NO CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. The issuance of this RFI and your preparation and submission of information do not commit DRS to any contractual relationship, directly or indirectly. DRS will not reimburse or make payment for any costs incurred in the preparation and submittal of your response.

5 SUBMITTALS BECOME PROPERTY OF DRS All materials submitted in response to this RFI become the property of DRS. DRS has the right to use any of the ideas presented in any such materials.

6 PROPRIETARY INFORMATION – PUBLIC DISCLOSURE DRS will comply with Chapter 42.56 RCW (the Public Records Act) and its Public Records Policy in responding to all public records requests relating to this RFI. Materials submitted in response to this RFI become public records as defined by the Act. Information in the response that the Vendor clearly designates as proprietary may be exempt from disclosure, to the extent allowable under the exemption provisions of the Public Records Act. The ultimate determination as to whether an exemption applies will be made by DRS’ Public Records Officer. Vendors may not mark the entire response or the cost information as proprietary or confidential. All claims of exemption must be clearly marked. Claims that are overbroad, vague, or not based on a statutorily-authorized exemption, will not be honored.

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7 BACKGROUND DRS Overview DRS is a state agency created by the 1976 Washington State Legislature. DRS currently administers eight statewide public employee retirement systems, including fifteen pension plans. Three of the pension plans are defined benefit plans with a defined contribution component and the other twelve plans are defined benefit only. The Department also administers a voluntary deferred compensation program (a 457 plan). In addition, the Department is responsible for administering the Social Security and Medicare coverage program, also known as the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance Program (OASI) for all state and local government employers throughout the state of Washington and serves as a facilitator and communication bridge between government employers, the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. DRS provides services to approximately 758,000 current and former members and has close relationships with 1,300+ public employers who report money and payroll data to the Department. The Department collects approximately $3.7 billion in contributions and pays out $4 billion in retirement benefits each year. DRS participates in annual public pension administration benchmarking with CEM Benchmarking Inc. CEM’s comprehensive benchmarking analysis has consistently identified that DRS administers one of the most complex groups of pension plans in the nation. You can find additional information about DRS on our website and in the following financial reports: 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) 2017 Summary Annual Financial Report (SAFR) Current DRS Technology Environment A majority of DRS business processes are currently based on mainframe applications that run on an IBM System in a z/OS environment. This environment is off-site and is operated by Washington State Technology Services (WaTech); see Appendix A – DRS Computing Environment. The applications are written in Software AG’s Natural programming language and access Software AG ADABAS databases. DRS has 250 internal application users and 200 external application users. On average, DRS processes 355,827,000 production database calls per day and 53,374,000 development database calls per day. The core production retirement business services are maintained in a single ADABAS database system. There are significant amounts of data kept outside of ADABAS, including VSAM files, virtual tapes, generation data groups (GDG) and library structured files. This application system is deeply integrated and includes the Member Information, Benefits, Disbursements, and Receivables Management Systems, and other functions. The majority of these systems are written in Natural with limited dependency on COBOL and other non-Natural languages. See Appendix B – High-level Systems Overview. DRS is currently completing phase 1 of its modernization, creating a new Employer Reporting Application using BPMS. Although the application is being modernized, it still accesses DRS’ core

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ADABAS database via Software AG’s EntireX or SQL Gateway. The mainframe Natural also uses the built-in web-service function to reach the BPMS. DRS has several C# .NET web applications, as well. DRS provides its employers electronic services for Web-Based Employer Reporting (WBET), employer payment of retirement contributions (ePay), and Member Reporting Verification (MRV), all of which are being replaced by the new Employer Reporting Application. DRS members/retirees have access to various web applications, including the ability to view account information, calculate a retirement estimate, register for a seminar and complete a retirement application electronically. These web-based applications are connected to the z/OS data and applications though middleware; either IBM Message Queue (MQ), or Software AG EntireX. Summary of current technology environment:

Technology Platform

Telephony hardware & software Avaya (not currently VoIP – Starting VoIP March 2018)

Multichannel Queue/Routing Avaya (not currently VoIP – Starting VoIP March 2018)

Server operating system Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Authentication/Authorization Microsoft Active Directory (AD), Microsoft AAD Connect/O365, Active Directory Federated Service (ADFS), SEAP/SAW (Secure Access Washington) RACF for z/OS services Natural Security SECURITRE (ADABAS’ integration into RACF)

Client/Server database Microsoft SQL Server 2016

Desktop Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise

Office Productivity Software Microsoft Office 2016/O365 Productivity Suite

E-Mail System Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 – Supports only MS Exchange web services, not POP, MAPI or IMAP for interoperability. Supports SMTP for outbound messages.

Enterprise Content Management System SharePoint 2013

Web Content Management (WCM) System

Adobe Contribute, Adobe Dreamweaver

Imaging system Open Text Process 360 with custom VB.net application

BPMS Bizagi

Web server Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 8.5

Web development tools Visual Studio – Programming Language: C#.Net

IDE NaturalOne & NDV (for Natural development) , zOS explorer

Database remote access Entire-NetWork and Software AG SQL Gateway

Data Transfer Tumbleweed – Secure File Transfer (SFT) BitVise – FTPS

CRM Microsoft Dynamics CRM in O365/Azure

Tools and Utilities Netwrix Monitoring, Orion SolarWinds Monitoring, Microsoft System Center suite 2016, Fortigate, Secure Archive Manager (Image backup/archive), Sherpa Discovery Attender for eDiscovery, BMC FootPrints

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Technology Platform

support ticket/request tool, LastPass password manager tool

Mainframe Technology Platform

Database Software AG’s ADABAS

Data replication Software AG Event Replicator

Non-database data VTape, VSAM, BDAM, QSAM, PDS[E]

Mainframe programming languages Software AG’s Natural Language (~95%) COBOL DYL Assembler

Middleware IBM Websphere MQ or Software AG’s Entire-X

Scheduler CA7

Printing VPS, EOS, JES

Tools and Utilities DFSORT, IBM Utilities, Expediter, Finalist, TSO, Endevor, N2O, Trim, Predict, SYSAOS, NATRJE

Summary of current ADABAS/Natural environment: DRS has 12 ADABAS databases: the main production database, several which are used for testing by concurrent projects and one which is used by DRS Team Members to test results or to preview results for members/clients without actually using production. There are also separate “archive” databases that hold records that are inactive for long periods, but may become active again if customer activity recurs.

Database Name ASSO Total Cylinders Allocated

Data Total Cylinders Allocated

Work Total Cylinders Allocated

Number of Files

Production 23016 73436 350 117

QA 2700 6000 100 121

Test 300 5000 100 127

Demo (aka RS Test Environment)

4000 8100 100 121

Verification 9814 16690 200 114

Tahiti 23016 66760 350 117

Fiji 23016 66760 350 117

Test Archive 100 650 100 3

QA Archive 200 1000 100 3

Verification Archive 75 200 75 3

Production Archive 4300 30042 350 3

Demo Archive 175 400 75 3

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The DRS system consists of 3 main Natural libraries (batch, online and common) and one ad-hoc library.

Natural Library Type Number of Natural Objects DRSMIONL online 4870 DRSMIBAT batch 3864 DRSCMONL common 386 Stage (production staging) All Varies depending on code

transitions.

8 MOTIVATION/APPROACH

The legacy applications are approximately twenty years old and designed based on 1990s design

theories. This results in the following problems:

Delays in implementing changes to support the business, due to the complexity of modifications

and testing.

High development costs when changes are need to support the business.

Limited access to skilled, experienced ADABAS/Natural programmers, many of whom are

nearing retirement age.

Difficulty for the organizational units to work together as a whole, because the legacy

application architecture is implemented as separate business processes across organizations.

High ongoing costs, due to the mainframe’s large base-cost from IBM and other software

vendors.

9 SUGGESTED RESPONSE FORMAT Please provide your responses to the information requested in the following sections 10-18. Formatting the responses into tables is recommended, to minimize the effort by respondents and for ease of analysis by DRS. Nevertheless, respondents are free to develop their responses as they see fit. Regardless of the format used, please indicate the item number for each response. In some sections, we have divided the questions into primary and secondary questions. We are most interested in responses to the primary questions, however responses to the secondary questions would be appreciated.

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10 COMPANY INFORMATION

CO-1 Briefly describe your company, product(s) and services and other information you deem relevant.

CO-2 Contact information including name, email address and telephone number.

11 TARGET PLATFORM

Primary Questions

TP-1 Briefly describe your strategy for choosing a target platform.

TP-2 Specify general pros/cons for migrating to a Windows platform.

TP-3 Specify general pros/cons for migrating to a Unix or Linux platform.

TP-4 What is the most significant difference a migration from a mainframe will have:

a. On the IT division b. On the end users

TP-5 What is the most significant challenge of migrating off a mainframe?

TP-6 Describe performance in a Windows platform vs. a Unix or Linux platform. a. ADABAS performance b. Natural performance c. Overall runtime d. Tuning capabilities, setting/changing/monitoring processing priorities

TP-7 Describe security in a Windows platform vs. a Unix or Linux platform for: a. User Access controls b. Resource-usage controls c. Monitoring/logging d. Files, documents and data e. Application-level security controls f. Network and transportation

TP-8 Describe [internal and inter-platform] integration in a Windows platform vs. a Unix or Linux platform.

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a. Data b. Processes c. Utilities d. Services (e.g., email, imaging, etc.) e. Security

TP-9 Describe any additional proprietary products that might be needed in a Windows platform or a Unix or Linux platform. a. Software development toolset (utilities, change management, etc.) b. Security administration and controls c. Change management (requests, incident/event, notification, authorization, etc.) d. Other?

TP-10 Describe cost considerations in a Windows platform vs. a Unix or Linux platform.

TP-11 What ADABAS utilities are available in a Windows platform vs. Unix or Linux platform? a. Monitoring b. Security c. Setup and Configuration

TP-12 Describe the Platform Support resources (personnel and skills) needed – and availability of such resources (for each target platform).

Secondary Questions

TP-13 Describe scalability in a Windows platform vs. a Unix or Linux platform for:

a. ADABAS b. Natural c. Overall operations

TP-14 Are additional products/solutions required to support NaturalOne in a Windows platform vs. Unix or Linux platform?

12 MIGRATION PREPARATION

Primary Questions

MP-1 What non-mainframe platform differences, situations or circumstances should we prepare for? Examples: EBCDIC vs. ASCII, or Endian; file structure; storage size (compressed or not); memory requirements; etc.

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Are there also special situations or circumstances related to the Software AG products?

MP-2 What opportunities should we be considering? a. As part of the migration b. After the migration

MP-3 What additional security needs (beyond platform security) should we anticipate?

MP-4 What is the best way do impact analysis, to pre-identify issues and estimate level-of-effort?

MP-5 What information should we prepare in anticipation of on-boarding professional service support?

MP-6 Describe Software Development (and change management) pros/cons for Windows vs Unix or Linux. a. Impact analysis capability b. IDE add-ons c. Data masking/mocking-up data from production, for use in dev/test d. Debugging and bug-tracking tools and capabilities/challenges e. Code check-in/check-out; change-merging; versioning, etc. f. Testing/scripting g. Portability h. Ease of use/learning (for mainframe developers to transition/adopt) i. Integration of Natural to useful OS-runtime components (TCP, SMTP, generation of

documents, user & session information, etc.)

Secondary Questions

MP-7 What load balancing needs should we prepare for? Example: Will we need multiple machines, a separate load balancer, storage capacity, etc.

MP-8 What should we anticipate for change management in regards to DRS Software Developers? Example: what will the learning curve be like, what training will be needed, what new tools, etc.?

MP-9 How is deployment done for distributed software targets? What optional capabilities exist?

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13 MIGRATION STRATEGY

Primary Questions

MS-1 Briefly describe your strategy for migrating test and production databases.

MS-2 What factors would influence or change the migration path?

MS-3 What is a typical timeline for migration?

MS-4 What is a typical cost for migration?

MS-5 Briefly describe your test strategy to ensure successful migration. Include any special tools needed.

MS-6 Is the recommended migration a cut-over or is it gradual?

MS-7 Describe testing (e.g., parallel testing or unit testing, etc.)

MS-8 Describe how you would implement data preservation for compliance, discovery or auditing purposes.

Secondary Questions

MS-9 Is upgrading the UI and creating services (SOA) part of your migration strategy? If so, a. When in the sequence of migration events would it be, and why b. What prerequisites and post-requisites are there c. What toolset, underlying “language” (HTML, java, etc.?) and deployment

architecture are recommended d. Is it done by prototyping e. What technical skills are required f. What UI standards are recommended

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14 POST MIGRATION STRATEGY

Primary Questions

PM-1 How would you implement process management and analytics, e.g., CRM?

PM-2 How would you implement data analytics, data discovery, search, tagging and governance?

PM-3 Describe how you would build SOA into a migrated system and applications.

Secondary Question

PM-4 How would you implement usage-billing and usage statistics?

15 MAINFRAME REPLACEMENT SOLUTIONS

Note: we will be needing to replace current functionality provided by our mainframe service

provider, Washington Technology Services (WaTech), which provides:

All disaster recovery, data storage and backup/restore, requirements

Batch job monitoring and problem callback

Database installation and upgrades

Programming Language installation and upgrades

Utility software installation and upgrades

Networking, network security and connectivity support

Security software installation and support

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFT)

SMTP connectivity

OS upgrade and support

Vendor contracts and product issue resolution

Please describe the recommended approach and solution for each of the following:

MR-1 Disaster Recovery Components such as backups, restores, and offsite storage.

MR-2 Batch job processing and monitoring. a. Alerting of processing problems (24x7) b. Accessing non-database files (VSAM, BDAM, PDS[E], GDG, etc.] c. Batch scheduler and triggering (CA-7)

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MR-3 A typical SDLC components, to allow for check-in/check-out of programs, migration from test to production and release notifications.

MR-4 Replacement of mainframe printing. a. Routing b. Replace Enterprise Output Server (EOS) functions c. Overlay-Generation-Language (OGL)

MR-5 Replacing current COBOL, DYL and zOS-Assembler programs

Secondary Questions

MR-6 Code debugging and optimization tools

MR-7 Interface to Secure File Transfer functions

MR-8 Replacement of Remote Job Entry (RJE) functions a. Submitting jobs b. Reviewing and routing output

MR-9 Replacement of non-database data storage solutions such as GDGs, VSAM files and Tapes

MR-10 Security. a. Files, documents and data b. Access controls c. Network and transportation

16 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Primary Questions

PS-1 Briefly describe your strategy for providing professional services support for migration services.

PS-2 How long does planning typically take?

PS-3 How long does each migration step take?

PS-4 Provide an example of a typical training plan, including: a. Types of training b. Who needs training c. Training timeline

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d. Cost estimates

PS-5 Describe how long it takes an organization to be self-sufficient

Secondary Questions

PS-6 What professional services are needed/available for investigating and strategizing the exiting and receiving platforms’ preparedness? Or, is that part of the planning process? (For example, do we have the components needed?)

PS-7 Knowledge transfer and operational transition a. What additional specialized knowledge/skills are required of agency technical

personnel, for both cloud or on premise installations (e.g., security, monitoring, tuning, customizing, integration, etc.)?

b. What additional knowledge/skills are required of agency business personnel (e.g., data flows, testing, etc.)?

c. Is the knowledge acquired via professional services, or online tutorials, help-screens, or other methods?

d. How long does it typically take for agency personnel (both technical and business) to gain the necessary knowledge/skills?

17 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Primary Questions

INF-1 Based on the information provided in this RFI, do you feel that you have sufficient information to successfully respond to an RFP for this solicitation? If not, what additional information would you recommend be incorporated into an RFP?

INF-2 Would you be willing to provide an onsite presentation of your strategy and solutions prior to a formal Request for Proposals?

INF-3 What is the expected change to the existing/required staffing levels? Which skills are most commonly acquired or increased, and by how much?

INF-4 Provide any other materials, suggestions, considerations, and discussion you deem appropriate.

Secondary Question

INF-5 Do you believe that it is realistic to expect a cost reduction by moving to LUW? If so what is the average percentage?

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18 RECENT CUSTOMERS

REF-1 REF-2 REF-3

List up to three organizations similar to DRS that you have guided or supported through a similar migration. Similar organizations include government agencies, banks and other financial institutions, and record keepers. Include the following information for each: a. Organization name b. Industry (government, financial, etc.) c. Size d. How long did their migration take? e. How much did they spend on migration? f. Contact name, title, email and telephone number

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Appendix A – DRS Computing Environment

Secure Access Washington (SAW) Gateway

ADFS for Business Partners (record keepers)

SQL and Web Servers

z/OS Mainframe

Storage Group

SQL and Web Servers

Washington State Technology Services

(WaTech)

Local DRS installation

Firewall @ State Gov. Network

Fortress Anonymous Gateway

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Appendix B – DRS High Level Systems Overview

Proposed application migration applies to the bottom 4 boxes (salmon colored)

*Currently being modernized using BPMS. Some data is stored in both SQL and ADABAS.

High-Level Systems Overview

Public Employers

Employer Information

System*

Member Information

System (Active)

Benefits

System

(Retired)

Disbursements System

(Retiree Payroll)

Employer Reporting

• State Agencies

• Higher Education

• School Districts

• Cities/Counties

• Fire Districts

• Ports

• PUDs Employer Reporting

• Active Member Account Maintenance

• Withdrawals

• Restorations

• Annual Statements

• Produce Retirement Estimates

• Initiate Retirements

• COLA Adjustments

• Issue Payments

• 1099 Processing

Receivable Management System (AR)

• Employer Statements

• Member Statements

Other State Agencies

Third-Party Record Keepers