ACI EXPERT SERVICES CONSULTANCY

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1 DELIVERS PEACE OF MIND SERVICE LINE FLYER ACI EXPERT SERVICES CONSULTANCY RECOMMENDATIONS MADE FOLLOWING DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS SPECIALIST GUIDANCE ON TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES EXPERIENCED CONSULTANTS WITH EXTENSIVE INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE The ACI Expert Services team provides a number of critical services for the ACI customer base. These services cover areas such as system reviews, business continuity consultancy and application migration, and are important for clients running payment engine solutions on HP NonStop and UNIX platforms.

2 THE TEAM HAS MANY DECADES OF EXPERIENCE, NOT ONLY IN SYSTEM ANALYSIS, BUT ALSO IN THE GLOBAL PAYMENTS INDUSTRY. System and performance management is an imperative discipline, requiring multiple and regular reviews in order to be effective. This typically involves collecting data, analyzing data, making amendments and repeating the cycle. It is important to consider this when planning for the management of a business-critical payments environment. Business continuity arrangements are another crucial aspect of providing a quality service to the bank s customers. The Expert Services team is often called upon to provide specific guidance during technical activities, such as hardware and software upgrades, business continuity planning and application migrations. The team has many decades of experience, not only in system analysis, but also in the global payments industry, therefore the consultants are able to call upon their knowledge and experience in the payments industry to recommend improvements to client environments and to maximize the existing investment in the current infrastructure. The ACI Expert Services Consultancy offers the following services: HP NonStop system review HP NonStop capacity planning HP NonStop performance health check HP NonStop business continuity UNIX performance health check UNIX system review Application migration Networks First TSS upgrade and Networks First installation Networks First certification On-request services HP NONSTOP SYSTEM REVIEW The system review provides a detailed analysis of all aspects of the system activity, including hardware and software configuration, systems throughput and performance, disc configuration, system log messages and transaction processing. Before the review takes place, the customer is required to collect the measure data over peak transaction periods. The consultant will then visit the customer s site, performing analysis and gathering additional data. Further analysis is then carried out offsite, from which a detailed report is produced. The report highlights the key findings, includes recommendations and outlines any items that require urgent action. Changes that can be implemented quickly are made during the onsite element of the review. 2

3 HP NONSTOP CAPACITY PLANNING In addition to the system review, the capacity planning exercise is designed to determine the hardware and software requirements for current and anticipated future transaction volumes. The capacity plan involves the use of analysis tools and builds on the data collected to provide the key indicators required by the customer. Once the analysis has been carried out, the consultant makes hardware and software recommendations to facilitate orderly growth of the system. This exercise is specifically tailored to the customer s needs and usually follows on from the system review, as the system should be tuned prior to taking the necessary measurements. HP NONSTOP PERFORMANCE HEALTH CHECK The HP NonStop performance health check has been designed by the ACI Expert Services team to identify issues which may be affecting the HP NonStop system throughput performance or availability. This service is intended for smaller clients processing less than 5 million transactions per month. The service involves a check of the system before a peak processing period, so that any potential problem areas can be identified. In advance of the health check, an ACI Expert Services consultant will identify the HP NonStop system measure data and other data required for analysis, and provide the client with a form to be completed. Alternatively, a member of the Expert Services team could collect the data via remote system access if that is preferable. Once the analysis has been undertaken, the ACI consultant produces a detailed written report, containing recommendations for optimum hardware utilization. By implementing the recommendations, the client can be confident the system is configured efficiently and effectively so it can meet the expected transaction volumes. HP NONSTOP BUSINESS CONTINUITY ACI Expert Services offers consultancy services for BASE24 disaster recovery. With the consultants extensive knowledge and experience, they are able to inform the client of the disaster recovery options available for the chosen platform. This involves providing guidance and advice on the implications for each option, and recommendations are made in order to ensure that the customer s requirements are met, with regards to implementation and the adoption of best practices. Assistance with procedures, documentation and production support are also available as a part of this service. Typical options for business continuity are: 1. ACTIVE/QUERY This configuration allows a shared workload where the source system does the online transaction processing (OLTP), but the target is available for read-only work. This setup exists primarily to take over the full transaction workload in case of a system failure. The replication system can be tuned to do the takeover within seconds, with no performance loss upon takeover, therefore creating an active disaster recovery. 2. ACTIVE/STANDBY The source system handles OLTP, but ensures the target is ready to take over in the event of an outage. 3. SHARED WORKLOAD The source and target systems share the transaction workload and either system takes over full processing in the event of an outage. While some files may be shared in this configuration, the core databases are updated independently by each running instance of the application. 4. ACTIVE/ACTIVE This is a high-availability configuration where both systems are processing simultaneously and updating the remote system. In the event of a failure (scheduled or otherwise), either system can take over the full workload. In this configuration, both active instances of the application perform updates which are applied to a shared database. Potential data duplications are handled by the replication solution. UNIX PERFORMANCE HEALTH CHECK The UNIX performance health check has been designed to identify issues which may be affecting the UNIX system throughput performance or availability. This service is typically utilized by 3

4 smaller customers, processing less than five million transactions per month. The health check involves an onsite visit by an ACI consultant who collects information on the system s hardware and application configuration as well as performance measurement data. The analysis involves a check of the system before a peak processing period so that any potential problem areas can be identified. provide a highly customized and focused service that is specific to the individual customer s needs. This approach has been proven to ensure that migrations run smoothly and that the customer s business and technical users experience a stressfree project. These packages are also suitable for cross-platform migration activities, although certain activities will be different. Common migration packages feature: 4 Following the analysis carried out on the onsite visit, the consultant provides a written report detailing the findings and recommendations. By implementing the recommendations the client can be confident that the system is configured efficiently and can meet the expected transaction volumes. UNIX SYSTEM REVIEW The UNIX system review is an extended version of the UNIX performance health check. This service is designed for large clients seeking to ensure peak performance and throughput, or customers experiencing a current performance problem. An ACI Expert Services consultant will visit the customer site to gather the measure data. Once the data has been collected, the ACI consultant analyzes the information and produces a report detailing the findings. APPLICATION MIGRATION NETWORKS FIRST The Networks First initiative from ACI is a proposed approach for migrating from BASE24 to BASE24-eps in a controlled manner. It enables the customer to move their BASE24 network interface components to BASE24-eps in advance of the migration of other parts of their BASE24 system. Essentially, Networks First involves installing a BASE24-eps system alongside an existing BASE24 system to handle incoming and outgoing interchange traffic. There may also be other customer-preferred methods of migration and the ACI Expert Services team is perfectly placed to advise and assist in whichever strategy the customer selects. The Expert Services consultants are available to provide assistance on an ad-hoc basis or as part of a structured package. They are able to fully manage and execute the migration process as part of the ACI Enhanced Support Program (ESP). This flexibility allows the Expert Services team to 1. INSTALLATION This option is typically used by a customer that has no experience with the BASE24-eps application and requires assistance in establishing the initial environment. Standard tasks that are undertaken are: A workshop to discuss requirements and establish scope; this can be remote or onsite Facilitation of the delivery of all the necessary software Installation of the new BASE24-eps solution Installation and configuration of the ACI desktop as per customer requirements Configuration and population of the BASE24-eps database Configuration of XPNET Configuration of the BASE24 test system Conversion of security key-related files to TSS (transaction security services) Execution of test transaction(s) to confirm the installation was a success 2. TSS UPGRADE AND NETWORKS FIRST INSTALLATION This service is appropriate for existing BASE24 customers who already have the BASE24-eps TSS components installed on their systems. It is comparable to the installation package, but includes the migration of the existing environment to the latest version and includes it into the new BASE24-eps configuration. The standard tasks undertaken are: A workshop to discuss requirements and establish scope; this can be remote or onsite Review of the current TSS environment, including any custom software modifications (CSMs) Facilitation of the delivery of all the necessary software Installation of the new BASE24-eps solution Installation and configuration of the ACI desktop as per customer requirements Configuration and population of the BASE24-eps database Loading the TSS migration script(s)

5 Configuration of XPNET Configuration of the BASE24 test system Execution of test transaction(s) to confirm the installation was a success 3. NETWORKS FIRST CERTIFICATION Since the BASE24-eps solution is a new payments processing environment, it will need to be recertified with the card schemes. It will also often require recertification with local switches and central organizations specific to a customer s location. Since certification is often a task that is not performed frequently, it can be time consuming for the customer s staff to regain familiarity with the processes. The Expert Services team is familiar with all aspects of certification and can undertake this work on behalf of the customer. By utilizing the ACI consultants who regularly perform such activities, the process is accomplished smoothly and in a timely manner. ON-REQUEST SERVICES In addition to the clearly defined packages mentioned above, the Expert Services team is also able to provide specific guidance on a wider range of activities, which can range from reviews of application customizations to bespoke development or specialized advice on all aspects of the application and system configuration. The consultants can also provide bespoke services for performance-related issues on the IBM System z platform. These can be especially valuable when working with the BASE24-eps solution which runs on z/os UNIX system services. ACI s Expert Services Consultancy has greatly benefited our system and we are now able to process a high volume of transactions during peak times. - Adriana Marcela Rey Serna Redeban Multicolor 5

6 REVOLUTIONIZES PAYMENTS ACI Worldwide, the Universal Payments company, powers electronic payments and banking for more than 5,000 financial institutions, retailers, billers and processors around the world. ACI software processes $13 trillion in payments and securities transactions for more than 250 of the leading global retailers, and 21 of the world s 25 largest banks. Universal Payments is ACI s strategy to deliver the industry s broadest, most unified end-to-end enterprise payment solutions. Through our comprehensive suite of software products and hosted services, we deliver solutions for payments processing; card and merchant management; online banking; mobile, branch and voice banking; fraud detection; trade finance; and electronic bill presentment and payment. To learn more about ACI, please visit You can also find us on 6 Americas Asia Pacific Europe, Middle East, Africa +44 (0) Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc ACI, ACI Payment Systems, the ACI logo, ACI Universal Payments, UP, the UP logo and all ACI product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide, Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, in the United States, other countries or both. Other parties trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. AFL