Alberta Blue Cross Transforms its IT Systems with accelerated Development and Testing using Delphix

About the client

Alberta Blue Cross is the largest benefits provider in Alberta, extending supplementary health and dental benefits to a population of 1.6 million individuals. 


Client challenges

In response to the inadequacy of legacy systems to meet business demands, Alberta Blue Cross embarked on a comprehensive reconstruction of its core Administration application. Faced with the need to replace its outdated IT system with an Oracle database-centric application, Alberta Blue Cross encountered several data-related challenges:

  • The proliferation of physical databases led to a rapid increase in server, storage, software licensing, and administrative costs.
  • Database refreshes required one to two days to complete, including the time needed for multiple teams to approve and process requests.
  • The introduction of a new data model, changes in business rules, and a substantial volume of existing data underscored the critical importance of system performance and quality of data conversion scripts.

Recognizing data management as a process bottleneck and a significant cost driver, Alberta Blue Cross chose Delphix to expedite development and testing to support a successful modernization initiative.

Solution
  • Delphix facilitated rapid data delivery to sandbox environments for individual developers or small teams.
  • Teams expanded environments around the Delphix DevOps data platform, virtually representing the five essential databases for the Administration application.
  • A complete environment refresh was executed every night through automated scripts, maintaining a dynamic development cycle.
  • During the project peak, Alberta Blue Cross established 18 environments housing over 70 virtualized databases.
  • Delphix played a crucial role as go-live approached, helping create a production-like environment for cutover rehearsal.
  • A troubleshooting environment was provisioned to replicate production issues after go-live, refreshed nightly for up-to-date data for support teams.
Results at a glance
Accelerated database refreshes from 2 days to minutes Enabled testing teams to rehearse cutover events and rewinding data Remediated errors and reached steady-state operations within 3 months of go-live
Benefits
  • Reducing database refresh times from 1-2 days to just minutes ensured on-demand access to updated data.
  • Delphix ensured that the teams could meet key project milestones on time by facilitating comprehensive testing.
  • Empowered testing teams to iteratively rehearse cutover events, providing the flexibility to rewind data to earlier states after executing key cutover steps.
  • Troubleshooting environments helped Alberta Blue Cross remediate errors and reach steady-state operations within three months of go-live.
  • The combination of on-demand data access and rapid refreshes instilled increased confidence in implementation dates.
Technology
  • Delphix