Automating Infrastructure Provisioning for Financial Services

Problem

The client, a global financial services leader, struggled with a legacy infrastructure management process that was inefficient, inconsistent, and time-consuming. The lack of automation created numerous operational challenges, such as:

• Prolonged Infrastructure Provisioning: Building a single Windows/Linux VM required 28 days, delaying critical projects.
• Manual Application Deployment: Deployment processes relied heavily on manual effort, resulting in an average duration of 10 days per application.
• Testing Delays: Application testing was bottlenecked due to manual workflows, taking an additional 7 days to complete.
• Operational Silos: Lack of standardization and collaboration across teams led to frequent inconsistencies in configurations and environments.

The cumulative impact of these inefficiencies was a significant increase in operational costs, slower time-to-market for new features, and difficulty in maintaining a competitive edge in the fast-paced financial sector.

Solution

AVIQSS developed a transformative automation pipeline that addressed the client’s challenges head-on. By leveraging cutting-edge tools and proven methodologies, we created an efficient and scalable solution that included:

• ServiceNow Order Catalog: A user-friendly portal that enabled end-users to request environments with just a few clicks. This catalog eliminated the need for manual intervention, streamlining the provisioning process.
• Ansible Automation: Automated the provisioning of:
  • 5 Windows VMs and 2 Linux VMs.
  • 2 Oracle Databases with pre-configured settings.
  • Middleware components such as SimCorp Dimension, Tibco, and MQ queues.
• Integrated Testing with Jenkins: Automated sanity checks and validation processes were implemented using Jenkins pipelines. These tests ensured the functionality and stability of all deployed components before release.
• Scalable Workflow Design: The solution was designed to scale across the enterprise, allowing for additional environments and applications to be automated seamlessly in the future.

Proposed Workflow

The automated workflow followed these steps:

• User initiates a request via ServiceNow order catalog.
• Ansible provisions and configures all required infrastructure components.
• Jenkins runs automated sanity tests to validate deployments.
• Environments are delivered to end-users, ready for use, with minimal manual intervention.

Outcome

The implementation of AVIQSS’s automation pipeline resulted in measurable improvements that transformed the client’s operations:

• VM Provisioning: Time reduced from 28 days to just 30 minutes.
• Application Deployment: Time reduced from 10 days to 15 minutes.
• Testing Cycles: Duration reduced from 7 days to 15 minutes.
• Total Automated Build Time: 1 hour 35 minutes.
• Human Intervention: Reduced to a mere 10 seconds per request.

This solution not only accelerated project delivery but also improved consistency, reduced operational costs, and empowered the client to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine tasks.

Technologies Used

The solution incorporated the following technologies and tools:

• Ansible: Automated configuration management and infrastructure provisioning.
• ServiceNow: Created a user-friendly order catalog for environment requests.
• Jenkins: Orchestrated pipelines for testing and validation.
• Oracle Database: Provided robust, enterprise-grade data management capabilities.

By leveraging these technologies, AVIQSS ensured that the solution was both scalable and future-ready.