Working closely with CGI, Quebec's largest public insurer successfully completes a complex migration to Windows XP/2000 environment

“Few IT providers would have been able to handle such an important migration. We knew we made the right choice with CGI. Through its flexibility, disciplined approach, efficient and rapid execution and capacity to work in productive synergy with our many experts and users, CGI proved it was up to the task. (...)”

Richard Audet, Chief Information Officer

Established in 1980, the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec (CSST) is a public insurer serving more than 2 million workers and their employers. With 21 regional branches and more than 4,000 employees throughout Quebec, the CSST is responsible for three main areas in providing occupational health and safety coverage: prevention-inspection, compensation, and rehabilitation as well as financing. To victims of an occupational injury or disease, the Commission provides a program of financial support and medical assistance along with the rehabilitation to return to work. The CSST also offers assistance to employers, who finance the program through contributions, to improve their work environments with a view to eliminating and preventing hazardous conditions.

The Challenge
In early 2001, after successfully tackling the Y2K challenge and consolidating its IT environment, the CSST faced yet another major challenge: to simplify, modernize and integrate as quickly as possible its entire IT infrastructure as well as its corporate and sector applications. At the time, the Commission's IT environment was more heterogeneous where operations would vacillate between Windows NT 4.0 and OS/2 platforms.

Transactions between users and the two platforms were often difficult or unnecessarily limited. Not only were there several functionality modes, but navigating the existing applications was too complex and certain tools were under-utilized (either as a result of lack of accessibility or slow response time). Moreover, the CSST was not in a position to take advantage of new value-added products appearing on the market with the arrival of Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems. The OS/2 environment, especially, was hampering the operational and strategic direction of the Commission–becoming an obstacle to the attainment of its mission. User support was an increasing need and IT costs were steadily rising.

Consequently, the CSST's IT branch, the Direction générale des technologies de l'information (DGTI), issued an RFP in search of an IT provider capable of implementing a completely new infrastructure, which would involve the installation of Windows 2000 on close to 200 servers and Windows XP on the 5,400 desktops of all employees throughout Quebec (which also included portable PCs and training rooms). This would be an ambitious migration, affecting the CSST's large-scale internal systems, designed over the years for its eight business units or lines (compensation, prevention-inspection, financing, etc.)

Before embarking on the project, it was necessary to check, test and adapt almost 300 lines of business applications, 108 sector applications as well as all applications used by regional branches and administrative units, all without disrupting CSST business which provides thousands of people with support during work stoppage or employment disruption as a result of illness or accident. And with the implementation of more unified or integrated business processes for all employees, it would be necessary for several internal clients to tackle a significant learning curve, requiring considerable support and training.

The Strategy
Said Richard Audet, CSST's Chief Information Officer, “We knew we made the right decision with CGI. In its RFP, CGI demonstrated that it had the breadth of resources required and the right combination of skill sets needed for a project of this scope and complexity. We also wanted a partner with a good track record on similar initiatives, and CGI fit the bill.” To meet the project's considerable needs, CGI chose to assemble a team of several specialized vendors including Microsoft.

In keeping with the Commission's phased strategic approach, the CGI team (which totalled more than 200 people from start to finish) initially focused on the transformation of applications. The first step was to replace the existing application development tools with solutions compatible with Windows XP. CGI then worked on each of the hundred applications that all had to be retrofitted for the new environment, beginning with proof of concept to ensure that all solutions functioned perfectly on Windows 2000 or XP. Where an essential application used in OS/2, for example, was no longer supported in the XP environment, CGI had the challenge of finding an equivalent solution and of ensuring its acceptance among targeted users. The team also studied a multitude of new functions in the new environment and determined, in league with key CSST people, which could and should absolutely be added to existing functions.

CGI and the Commission had agreed that the implementation process would be executed in two principal phases: after initial testing, phase 1 would tackle the migration to Windows XP, for employee desktops that were operating on Windows NT, followed by the more complicated and delicate migration of desktops still operating on OS/2. Even at the level of office implementation, the Commission insisted on the two-phased approach, so that continuity of business activities would be maintained. This prudent strategy called for complicated coordination efforts and considerable travel by CGI consultants, particularly for the purposes of support and just-in-time training.

Given the scope of changes and the particular needs of personnel in the prevention-inspection sector, CGI rolled out the red carpet for Commission inspectors.

Coincident with the migration project, Commission inspectors (who are often on the road at employers' offices) were given a number of new critical applications and desktops using a technology similar to that of digital personal assistants. Inspectors would be able to hand in their old portable desktops to CGI on a Friday night and receive new ones the following Monday, resuming their duties with training acquired and without losing one iota of data or functionality, of course!

The Technology

• Windows 2000 server
• Windows XP
• (AIGL)COOL: Gen and Visual Basic
• DB2

The Results
Since February 2004, CSST systems have been operating on Windows 2000 for servers (except those excluded from the project) and Windows XP for desktops, completely deleting the OS/2 platform from the CSST environment, as mandated. Now, there is one platform for everyone and an integrated range of completely retrofitted applications. As a result, work management, planning and team development at the DGTI has been greatly simplified, allowing for tighter control of IT costs. For CSST's user groups, project results were equally impressive bringing more efficient business processes. For example, all employees now have access to the same complete file for each worker and each employer. “We were really anxious to reach this point, since we knew that consistency of data among business lines was going to contribute to our general strategic direction and help the CSST successfully fulfil its mission,” continued Audet. Moreover, the XP environment offers endless possibilities for enhanced functionality.

And the DGTI is already thinking of several value-added functions that could easily and rapidly be tagged on to existing functions for computer-generated correspondence, automatic notation of files, dynamic cataloguing, etc.

Concluded Audet, “Few IT providers would have been able to handle such an important migration. We knew we made the right choice with CGI. Through its flexibility, disciplined approach, efficient and rapid execution; capacity to work in productive synergy with our many experts and users and ability to work within established budgets and deadlines, CGI proved it was up to the task. Thanks to this project, our outlook for the future appears most promising and we are extremely satisfied.”