TCP/IP.  To keep cost down, eMag followed SCL’s recommendation to use the existing frame relay circuits between the 3 locations, and convert the Graham facility over to Ethernet.  This meant that eMag could preposition and test LAN based workstations and printers.  They could also forego the cost of Twinax controllers and routers that could transmit SNA over TCP/IP.   

SCL coordinated the purchase of a new AS400 model 9406/S270 and arranged for delivery and setup.  eMag arranged to have backup tapes sent from Texas to the Atlanta office for the initial load. 

Cutover Planning

Everything revolved around the delivery of the new AS400 and the cutover weekend was scheduled to take place 1 week prior to period-end processing.  This meant that the window for executing this migration was just 7 business days. 

The AS400 arrived exactly on the day it was scheduled.  SCL assigned a Senior Technical Manager (STM) to the project that came on-site in conjunction with the delivery.  The STM unpacked, installed and setup the AS400 resulting in a functional PRMS test environment within 3 days.  That left 4 business days to complete testing of the environment.    

The Technical Team at eMag was assigned the task of pre-positioning the LAN based peripherals at the Texas plant.  Originally, the plant used Twinax impact printers.  These were replaced with impact printers that included Ethernet cards.  Unintelligent terminals were replaced with desktop PCs that ran either PRMS View, or Client Access.  These peripherals were pre-positioned, installed and tested by the Technical Team in Graham.   

The location in the UK was already using LAN based peripherals, but because of the time zone difference, the UK was the first location up and running PRMS each day.  Each location relied on the PRMS and EZPrint data queues to print Pick Slips and Invoices.  The UK was responsible for manually starting these data queues and sometimes if the person responsible for starting them was not available, the data queues were not started until the locations in the United States started their workday.  This also presented problems when the European and US locations were on different holiday schedules. 

SCL came up with a backup strategy that included the automatic starting of the data queues.  This involved an extensive modification to the programs that are usually called from the MS0300 that prompts for the start of the PRMS data queues.   Because the increased speed of the new 20Gb 7208 tape drive,

the backup program was set to save all user libraries each night.  The entire process only took 50 minutes from start to finish.  This included bring the system to a semi-restrictive state then restarting all the subsystems, processes and data queues.   

The Technical team at eMag tested various functions within PRMS and each facility – Texas and the UK – had a chance to run some options from a pre-designated workstation.  Everyone was amazed with the speed of the new AS400 and was eager to see how long it took to run period-end. 

Much time was taken to document existing processes that were actively in use at eMag Solutions.  This documentation included write-ups on how eMag secured their various environments during period-end processing and a review of production jobs scheduled in the AS400 job scheduler. 

Cutover Execution

On that final Friday morning prior to cutover, the Technical Team in Graham took their final backups.  That afternoon at 4PM, UPS packed up the tapes for Saturday delivery in Atlanta.  eMag and SCL had their personnel on standby.  When the tapes arrived at 10AM Saturday morning, the call went out and the process of going live went into motion.    

Members of the eMag Technical Team and the SCL STM restored the data libraries to the new AS400 and began testing.  Any objects that were missing were electronically transmitted via FTP from the AS400 in Graham.  The entire process took approximately 8 hours to complete.  The AS400 in Graham was restricted to only 3 userids to prevent a possible update to the PRMS environment in Texas.  

Late that Saturday night, the Network Technician from eMag changed the AS400 connection settings on the workstations in Texas and the UK to redirect them to the AS400 in Atlanta. 

Post Go Live Reaction and Support

Early Monday morning, EST, the UK started the day on the new AS400.  They were pleased to see that the data queues were automatically started and by the time the eMag Technical team came into the Atlanta office, emails were being sent remarking on how much better the response time was and how much faster programs were running.