2015–16 Report on Plans and Priorities - Status Report on Transformational and Major Crown Projects

12-9007-047 MLAMP

Project name 12-9007-047 MLAMP

Description The Mainframe Legacy Application Migration Project (MLAMP) has been initiated to migrate a portfolio of ESDC applications, components and data from a Unisys mainframe platform to a new Government of Canada-standard and highly available computing platform before December 2016.

Project outcomes

• Reduction in platform costs
• Increased agility provided by new/modern platform
• Increased access to skilled resources

Industrial benefits

• Reduction in platform costs – Based on input from SSC, a 50%-reduction in platform costs is expected, resulting in annual cash savings of $3.7 million for the Government of Canada beginning in 2017.
• Increased agility provided by new/modern platform – The complex design of legacy systems is based on outdated technologies and architectural constructs, making them difficult to change and slower to respond to evolving business demands. Updating the outdated technologies will provide an increased ability to respond more quickly to requirements for integration of data/information. Changes in architectural constructs, where possible, will provide an increased ability to respond more quickly to new business requirements/program changes.
• Increased access to skilled resources – Legacy applications require skills that are in short supply. Moving to an open platform, and possibly converting to a modern development language, will increase access to skilled resources. Training resources on modern platforms is cheaper. For example, training from Unisys is roughly $1,000 per day of instruction, compared to $500 to $750 per day of instruction for Net training. Training for modern skills is more readily available. Unisys training is available through Unisys only. Typically, due to low demand, the courses are offered in the U.S. only, although courses can be delivered in-house at additional cost (e.g. travel, accommodations, per diem). Net training, for example, is available through many learning providers in cities across Canada.

Sponsoring department ESDC

Contracting authority PWGSC

Participating departments

SSC

PWGSC

Prime contractor Accenture Canada Inc., Ottawa, Ontario

Major subcontractors

Astadia

Asyco

Dell Canada and Dell USA

Project phase Investment Management Process Stage 3: Planning and Stage 4: Build/Deploy

Treasury Board Secretariat Phases: Project Definition, Project Implementation

*Finishing one stage/phase and started other

Major milestones

1. Gate 1 Approval: December 2012
2. Gate 2 Approval: March 2013
3. Treasury Board Submission Approval (Planning): June 2013
4. Shared Services Canada (SSC) Technical Platform Roadmap: July 2013
5. Request for Proposals Process completed and prime contractor selected: May 2014
6. Partial Gate 3: May 2014
7. Treasury Board Submission (Amended Project Approval, Expenditure Authorities and Full Contracting Authority): June 2014
8. Contract Awarded: June 2014
9. Plan and Build Deliverables completed: January 2015
10. SSC Infrastructure Acquisition completed: February 2015
11. SSC Development Environments Delivered: April 2015
12. ESDC Final Gate 3 Approval: Spring 2015
13. Treasury Board Submission (Remaining Authorities): Spring 2015
14. SSC Production Environments Delivered: June 2015
15. Migration of Applications completed: May 2016

*Milestones 1 to 8 have been completed; remaining milestones reflect current planned dates.

Progress report and explanation of variances Overall project health is presented as red due to the number and severity of short-term risks and issues, as well as a schedule indicator showing as yellow.

On June 6, 2013, ESDC received project approval for MLAMP along with expenditure authority for the planning stage of the project. On June 12, 2014, ESDC received amended project approval, as well as expenditure approval for the contract with the Migration Solution Provider (Accenture Canada Inc.) and to begin preliminary work of the Development/Build stage; Public Works and Government Services Canada received approval to enter into a contract with Accenture Canada Inc. on behalf of ESDC. A third submission will be presented in 2015 to seek remaining authorities. This submission was originally planned for November 2014, but delays in other deliverables have impacted the submission date. Overall project schedule is still on track for spring 2016.