State Export and Import Bank of Ukraine uses with utmost efficiency the HP Software instruments

While expanding its business, UkrExImBank continues to increase the scope of its operations carried on in Ukrainian market and provide its customers with the broad range of services offered in international banking practice. The work in this direction is possible only in case of availability of well thought-out and implemented business and IT development strategy, if flexibility is shown in a dynamic business environment, and there is a capability to become leader of the banking market.

In 2005, after analysis of development prospects of the IT infrastructure, State Export and Import Bank of Ukraine, OJSC made decision concerning implementation of infrastructure and service management means to ensure quality support of the bank’s main business processes and to increase the efficiency of performance of its IT divisions.

One of the main goals of this project was creation and introduction of efficient mechanisms which ensure uninterrupted control over the complex and heterogeneous IT infrastructure of the bank.

The second but not less important goal was creation of Service Desk, charged with the organization of a single contact point to process users’ inquiries.

Main objectives of the project were:

	To establish control over network devices by monitoring active network equipment which ensures functioning of the bank’s global network;
	To provide administrators and responsible managers of IT divisions with information about the current functioning of critically important server platforms and databases by monitoring the necessary set of their parameters;
	To receive operative and exhaustive inventory information about workstations of internal users;
	To organize a unified service desk to process users’ inquiries.

After a deep analysis of software solutions existing in the market, thorough study of their functional capabilities, and also consultations with a system integrator experienced in this field – BMS Consulting, the bank decided to choose the HP Software products. This choice was also based on the popularity of software solutions from НР which have already proved itself well in complex and important projects in IT structures of European and international banks.

Considering the distribution and heterogeneity of the bank’s information structure, the end software products were chosen taking into account traditional preferences of specialists of different IT departments to the platform components of future hardware and software monitoring and service desk complexes.

Therefore, the set of licensed HP software consists of the following:

	HP NNM for Solaris Sparc (monitoring of network components)
	HP Radia Inventory Manager for Solaris Sparc (workstation control and management)
	HP Operations for Windows with necessary components (server and database monitoring)
	HP ServiceDesk for Windows (service desk)

As a result of completed works, network, server, database, and application monitoring and equipment inventory systems have been introduced and successfully set up in the bank, single contact point to process users’ inquiries was implemented, and the Service Desk was organized.

In course of the project, works have been done on the design and implementation of IT management processes based on recommendations of the leading world experience – ITIL|ITSM. Regulating documentation was prepared for the operation service support department and for system administrators.

Besides independent functioning of certain monitoring modules in the interests of technical personnel of the appropriate IT departments, in the course of implementation of the project we have also taken into account the desire to build a complex integration model based on the interaction with the service desk which represents, in a way, a mirror reflecting dynamics of relations between the IT and the business.

As an example of such integration we could mention a set up interaction of the workstation control and management module and the service desk.

Filling and automatic actuation of the directory of configuration elements of Service Desk system was set up as part of integration of Radia and Service Desk using the inventory data gathered by the Radia Inventory Manager system. We have also set up the possibility of context call of Radia Report Server window from the Service Desk console, thanks to which a Service Desk operator may receive prompt and exhaustive information about configuration of any element of the IT infrastructure.

When implementing the projects of this nature, all participants of the process are interested in the successful end result. Customer is interested in receiving full-fledged solution of the tasks set before integrator, while the integrator company is trying to show its professional approach. Joint work groups created for the period of implementation of the project were working coherently and fruitfully.

UkrExImBank and BMS Consulting are planning further development of partner relations in the subject area of the project described above. The subsequent steps will be aimed towards the scaling of the solution (including the bank’s regional sites), and also to add new functional modules analyzing productivity of the IT environment and managing user software.