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| Case Study |
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Modular credit card transaction authorization system ensures higher uptime and faster response time |
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Patni's vast experience in the credit card domain enabled a leading credit card issuer to develop a new credit card transaction authorization system that had the capability to scale and process increased volumes of over 10 million transactions per day.
The Client
The client is a Fortune 100 company operating in the business of issuing credit cards to individual consumers and business entities in the United States and Canada
The Challenge
As user demands increased and the volume of transactions on the client's proprietary credit card transaction authorization application exploded at a frenzied pace, the client realized the critical necessity of developing a new application that could effortlessly handle current and future needs
Accordingly, as part of the client's risk mitigation and optimized operations strategy, a decision was made to rewrite the existing legacy based credit card transaction authorization system. As the application processed over 3 million transactions per day and was always required to be available, any unplanned downtime was unacceptable to the client. Additionally, as the application was heavily used, the client was keen that the transition to the new authorization system be achieved in the least possible timeframe. This was also necessitated by the fact that the client had signed service level agreements with its endcustomers that stipulated high penalties for non-adherence to agreed service levels.
The development of the new system was challenging as system architectural changes were required due to the complex algorithms that were introduced by the client.
The Solution
Patni partnered with the client to develop the new application within a short timeframe. The requirement analysis phase was undertaken using the Joint Application Development approach - an approach that involves close interaction with the client or end user in the design and development of an application through a series of workshops. Adoption of this approach led to faster development and greater client satisfaction, as the client was involved throughout the development process. The architecture of the new system was designed using a modular architecture approach which meant that the client could replace or add any component or module without affecting the rest of the system.
To ease transition, Patni introduced change control management processes requiring IT and business team sign-offs on every change control received. Toll gates were introduced at the end of each phase to validate the work accomplished till a particular point.
To reduce the cycle time, data was uploaded into the new system through parallel batch processes. These batch processes were subjected to stress/volume tests for improving performance. Additionally, Patni provided a facility to the business team for uploading rule engine based risk algorithms. Further, the system was Point of Sale (POS) enabled, with customized screens being developed for customer service representatives.
The Technology
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Software: COBOL II, ADS/O, CICS/ESA 4.1 |
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Hardware: IBM S/390 |
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Database: IDMS 14.0 |
The Benefits
By partnering with Patni for developing the new credit card transaction authorization system, the client gained the following benefits:
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Higher uptime at 99.86% and faster response time measurable in subseconds |
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Modular architecture approach makes the system scalable for years to come, without any performance degradation |
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Ability to handle increased volumes of 10 million transactions per day without any major architectural changes
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Lowered fraud losses due to the implementation of improved authorization algorithms |
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The “load-into-memory- instantly” feature made the system capable of handling dynamic business changes. |
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