Please tell us about your company and your position?
My name is Andrey Zalmanov, I am the Head of IT Architecture of Otkritie Bank. Otkritie Bank is a full-service commercial bank benefiting from a diversified business structure. It is recognized by the Central Bank of Russia as a systematically important financial institution. The tasks of the bank’s Architecture office headed by me include developing basic principles of corporate IT architecture, monitoring of their execution, setting up a target IT landscape that meets the requirements of corporate business and IT strategies and managing these systems and applications’ architecture.
What projects / services your company hired Reksoft for?
We chose Reksoft based on the results of a competition among the Orbus Software iServer Enterprise Architecture providers. Reksoft’s offer was the best in terms of expertise/scope of work/price.
What were the project’s goals?
We wanted to restructure the entire range of inherited IT solutions and create a high-quality basis for effective management of our current IT landscape.
How did you choose this provider?
After reviewing several Enterprise Architecture Management solutions, the bank’s Architecture Committee has approved iServer. After that, a tender was held, in which Reksoft was recognized as the winner, since the company has the necessary experience and competences, and its offer was supported by the iServer vendor — Orbus Software company.
Describe the project in detail?
The IT landscape of Otkitie Bank historically formed as a conglomerate of different IT solutions inherited from earlier absorbed banks. With the acquisition of B&N Bank in January, 2019, the integrated overall IT landscape have been utilizing more than 700 information systems and services. As a result of the analysis of all variety of legacy applications carried out by Architecture Office of the bank, 215 information systems were recommended for further development. Other solutions needed to be discarded without the risk of any data or processes loss. At the present moment, a considerable part of this work is completed, in particular, the migration of core systems of Ex-B&N Bank is fully completed. However, during this work it became clear that the further transition from the optimization of the information infrastructure to its effective development is impossible without the use of specialized tools allowing to systemically structure a complex of applications and services, having created thereby a qualitative basis for the effective IT landscape management. For the purpose of performing this task, the teams of Otkritie Bank and Reksoft have successfully implemented a corporate Enterprise Architecture Management system.
In accordance with the developed Enterprise Architecture management methodology, the configuring of the iServer platform including structuring a repository for storage of architectural artifacts, setup of roles of users of the system and development of modeling templates were carried out. The metamodel and a set of artifacts for the current demands of architectural practice and the agreement on modeling setting rules for modeling in the bank were defined. The architectural repository was filled with such components of architecture as organizational structure, key business processes, information systems and data on their interaction, configuration units of technology architecture. As a result, the repository was enriched with data on more than 700 information systems and services via more than 1 000 integration interfaces.
The scope of the project included the creation of a specialized portal enabling the bank’s employees to communicate on the objects of architecture and their functioning. Looking forward, the possibility of its integration with the general corporate portal of the bank was envisaged. During the implementation of the project Reksoft has trained and certified 25 employees of Otkritie Bank.
What was the team of the project?
For the successful implementation of the project, the bank has formed a task force led by me, which included the heads of Enterprise Architecture management practice and specialists. Reksoft has also presented a team led by Ilya Kravchuk, Head of Enterprise Architecture.
Can you share any project results that demonstrate progress or success?
This project is one of the Russia’s first full-scale implementation of the iServer platform from Orbus Software. Within the project framework, Enterprise Architecture management system encompassing all architectural domains such as Business-Data-Applications-Technologies was created.
As a result of the implementation, out of 700 legacy applications 215 information systems were recommended for further development, which has significantly reduced the bank’s IT expenses without loss of the necessary functionality.
In addition to that, the correct description of the operating IT landscape enabled savings of up to 15% of the cost of IT projects only due to cost reduction on IT infrastructure data collection.
How effective was the working process between your team and Reksoft?
Both parties of the project successfully communicated and solved tasks in accordance with the project plan and the distribution of authorities.
It is worth noting that during the project there were quite non-trivial tasks that required a constructive approach on both sides: development and customization of the meta-model, development of special templates for modeling, and others. At the same time, despite rather tight deadlines, the project team managed to make the right decisions, which eventually led to a successful achievement of goals.
What impressed you the most about Reksoft?
I would like to note the professionalism and efficiency in solving issues related to the project. The work was completed on time and in accordance with the terms of project. We are fully satisfied with the results, express our gratitude to Reksoft and look forward to further cooperation.
Are there areas of improvement?
Based on the quality of our results and the successful collaborative work, we do not see areas for improvement.
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