MGMT600 Activity 7: Create a Technology Roadmap, Create a RFP

Evaluation: Hand in 15%

Objective

In this activity you will design an RFP based on the below case.

Deliverables:

Request for Proposal: (5+ Pages): Using the information generated during the execution of Strategic Planning report and Technology Road Map, come to a complete definition of the desired end-state of the technology in your organization. Keeping in mind that final stage (not the individual projects that would compose it!), produce a Request for Proposal to be distributed to certain suppliers that can provide solution.

Case

A large insurance company PINE (Provincial Insurance Network Enterprise) is facing the threat of significantdisruption from the insurance technology industry. A recent assessment of the companys current technology has identified shortcomings in the companys ability to pursue some of its key strategic objectives. Most notably:

To provide broker partners with the highest level of service in the insurance company

And

To provide partners and customers with a secure service and protect their privacy

Example disruptors to the industry include:https://www.esurance.com/

https://www.sonnet.ca/

And the companies discussed in this article: https://crowdlinker.com/blog/insurance-companies-using- technology/

In addition, PINE is the steward to the provinces licensing system and has been mandated by the government to participate in the OIP (Open Identity Project) that will allow other institutions in the province to access PINEslicense and driver database to allow people to use their drivers license as a universal form of identification,eventually linking it to health, birth, and other citizen records.

Your team has been tasked with assessing the current state of PINEs technology and evaluate recommendations fora path to a newer state.

PINEs Technology:

IPAS: Currently PINE use a system called IPAS (Insurance Policy Admin System). IPA uses a Java Struts architecture (version 2.5.14.1) with a combination of SWING and JSP Web front ends running on Apache.The back end is a Sybase Database (known as Advantage Database Server.

OBP: Open Broker Portal. This is a Web service mediated Web site. It uses a single page Javascriptframework and REST services to tie into the IPAS database. Many of the REST services call storedprocedures used in IPAS.

eBID: eBID is a custom built auction site built in the late 90s. It is a PHP application with a MySQLbackend. It is used to sell salvaged vehicles and other items collected from insurance claims to thepublic. It typically generates 3-5% of PINEs revenue.

OIPP: Open Identity Portal Project is a pilot project that exposes the License database in IPAS through secured SOAP Web services. This API is currently consumed by provincial police services and half adozen other small government departments.

The following concerns have been raised by a recent external IT review:

The struts framework has considerable security issues. (https://www.zdnet.com/article/critical- security-bug-threatens-fortune-100-companies/). These security concerns are known to put IPAS and OBP at risk, andmay extend into the OIPP API.

The IPAS Swing forms are dated and the PINE business users routinely complain about them.

The Sybase ADS has known scalability issues, and there are concerns that the company that owns it(SAP) is considering retiring it.

The development team has been migrating a considerable amount of code into stored proceduresinside the database.

Thousands of lines of stored procedure code have been written using proprietorial Sybase SQL instead ofANSI standard SQL. This will make a migration difficult.

Brokers have complained that the OBP system is dated and requires additional effort to get policyinformation from OBP into their local systems.

eBID is an old system and only 2 IT analysts know how to maintain it.

The following recommendations were produced through a 2-day working session with the Senior Development team.It was facilitated by the IT manager in charge of IPAS and representatives from the Broker Relations group.

Upgrade IPAS from Struts to Spring. It is estimated that this will be an 8-month project (Including a month oftraining). It will resolve the security issue with Struts. During this process all the older Swing interfaces canbe upgraded to Web applications.

Institute a policy that all new stored procedures must be written using the ANSI standard for SQL and beginto convert the non-ANSI stored procedures to ANSI standard. It is estimated that this process will take a full year. However, after that project a migration from Sybase to more standard DBMS will be possible, such asSQL Server or MySQL.

Wrap all stored procedures in REST services and publish them as an API for Brokers (3 months).

Convert eBID to Java Spring. This will involve training the 2 developers on how to use Spring (1 month) andthen converting the application to the new platform (3 Months)

The following recommendations were produced by the Enterprise Architecture Group:

Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to immediately secure existing applications. This would involve an RFP for the WAF purchase and installation. This is a network level solution and can be done with minimalsupport from the development team. It would be a 2-Month project.

Run a migration project for the database. This would be a 9-month project would convert the database to SQLServer. It would involve a full migration (and conversion of stored procedures to ANSI standard SQL)followed by a cut-over from the old database to the new one. If handled in house no other in-house projectscould run. It could be outsourced via an RFP.

Convert the IPAS system to a similar architecture as OBP. This would involve eliminating the Swing and Web front ends. The stored procedures would be wrapped in REST services and the front-end user interfaces recreated in AngularJS. This could be run as three separate projects, 3 months to wrap the storedprocedures in REST services, a 3 Month OBP upgrade, and a 6-month project to upgrade IPAS. The IPASand the OBP could run concurrently.

Once 7 above is completed, combine the REST services into an API for broker consumption.

The following recommendations were produced by a 3^rd party consulting company:

Migrate the database to a Microsoft Azure cloud database. This will be a 6-month project and will involve amigration of all data to SQLServer.

Remove stored procedure logic from the database and create a business tier using .NET core and C#.This involves some training for staff and is a 6-month project.

Recreate IPAS, OBP, and OOIP as C# Razor applications running through a REST mediated API hosted onAzure. This would allow for unlimited scaling of the applications. The REST mediated API could be published for Broker consumption. This is a 6-month project but could run concurrently with #2 above.

Retire eBID and purchase a COTS (Consumer-off-the-shelf) package for online auctions. This is a 3-monthproject.

Retire eBID and purchase a COTS (Consumer-off-the-shelf) package for online auctions. This is a 3-monthproject.