In order to guarantee the planned commercial expansion, all the bank's systems were optimized to boost their sales, with a definitive solution.
The chosen solution consisted in storing the sales package code (known as the root of six numerical digits) in alphanumeric form, and using an algorithm, numbers to be shown in the account number were translated in the screens or lists, or into card or BRN numbers.
The 23,300-hour project included a team of 15 experts in AS 400, COBOL/SQL, DB2/400 and Microsoft SQL 2008. To achieve the objectives, the following tasks were carried out:
• Assessment of the sources of all of the bank's applications. Tables containing the root field and its derivatives, for example: account number, card number and BRN.
• Identification for each bank application. Use of the root to find an account or some other numerical data. Each of these processes were affected by the conversion. Every screen or list that displays a root is converted to alphanumeric form right before it is recorded or displayed.
• Alphanumeric roots were implemented once the entire package of changes was implemented.
Upon completion of the project, which encompassed several tasks--assessment, analysis and design, development, and comprehensive testing and implementation--the client was able to use an almost unlimited number of roots for new packages. Purging was carried out without affecting the bank's activity, allowing the correct functioning of the applications. The use of an algorithm in lieu of the client code eliminated the need to change the table structures of the entire bank.