Calypso Case Study:
Calypso Upgrade Services: Nephila Capital

First Derivative was selected by the client to upgrade its Calypso implementation from v13 to v16.1 on a fixed-price basis. First Derivative was responsible for the technical upgrade, functional testing and its go-live support. The project was contracted as a like-for like upgrade of existing functionality along with training for the new functionality delivered in v16.

The engagement was viewed by the client as a complete success, going live on time and on budget. The client was quoted as saying “The smoothest upgrade [he] had experienced”.

As a follow-up to the successful upgrade the client retained First Derivative’s to provide production support as part of a managed service.

Problem

• The client’s business was that of Weather Derivatives, Re-Insurance and Fund Management. The nature of the business meant that the Calypso system had been heavily customised.
• The project had users in three distinct Business Lines, requiring the project team correlate and align differing requirements and priorities.
• The client had 83 Custom Pricers which needed to be translated to the new OPL screen.
• The client had no automated testing in place.
• The client had offices in London, US and Bermuda which meant FD had to be available to cover those time-zones.

What we did

Planning & Preparation

• Project methodology was agreed with the client.
• A two-week technical and functional scoping workshop was undertaken.
• A detailed project plan was prepared along with the resource requirements and fixed-price quote.
• As part of project methodology business users were involved at an early stage in validation testing to enable early detection of issues and ensure a shorter UAT phase.
• Throughout the upgrade First Derivative managed the project plan, execution and testing, with little involvement required from the client.
• A monthly governance structure tracked overall project delivery from First Derivative team and with resourcing and escalation issues.

Knowledge Transfer

• First Derivative team work closely with the business to provide training on new functionality introduced in the latest version. Further training was provided on-demand and via white board sessions.
• Built out reusable test packs with detailed steps and expected results for subsequent reuse in SIT & UAT phases.
• Assisted the business teams in conducting the UAT phase.
• Documented the upgrade process on the company Wiki.

Live Service

• Business were involved through-out engagement. Minimal issues were encountered post go live building up the confidence in the system.
• Detailed test-scripts fully executed, and all evidence documented.
• Ongoing Issue analysis and retesting of all issues raised throughout each test phase.
• Project went live on time and First Derivative team were able to roll off as per scheduled.
• Ongoing post go-live support to ensure that the business function was unaffected by the upgrade.
• Areas for improvement identified during the upgrade were documented for the client to create a book of work which has now been delivered by First Derivative team.
• Due to confidence in First Derivative team built up during upgrade, client has transitioned their production support to First Derivative via a managed service.
• First Derivative Provided experienced Calypso BA and developers to optimise programme delivery within aggressive timelines set by programme board.
• Built automated deployment process with test regression packs for continuous process.
• Managed Service Production Support team.
• Client had an experienced system integration partner to plan, manage and delivery the core components of the programme. First Derivative as an SI partner worked closely with the vendor to deliver the overall engagement.
• Client meet their aggressive timelines for the implementation.
• Production Support Outsourced to First Derivative utilising resources who delivered implementation.

Results

• Delivered detailed delivery approach, plan and structure on the various phases of the project.
• Provide experienced Calypso BA and developers to upgrade the environment in line to the project plan approved by the client.
• Provided detailed test cases, in addition to the process steps to upgrade the environment.
• Delivered a stable upgraded Calypso environment which had been thoroughly validated and tested.
• Client has an experienced system integration partner to plan, manage and delivery the core components of the programme.
• First Derivative team had provided the key knowledge transfer and support to the business, as well as ensuring all issues were thoroughly retested and resolved ahead of deadlines.