Everyone who worked on Murex has been exposed to Murex go live. This is a crucial moment where many different things can happen:

• Legacy system replacement by Murex
• Upgrade (or major version migration)
• New functions launch

Regardless of the reasons for a go live, they are moments of stress, pressure and (hopefully) joy. But most of them (especially the first ones and the big ones) will leave lasting memories.

A go live happens usually on weekends. Once New York finishes trading, the EOD runs and depending on timings, migration might or not start yet. The idea is to have a fallback environment, all ready to go in case the go live won’t happen.

Migration, configuration, checks and regression testings. They happen more or less consecutively with (and that’s mandatory) at least one thing going wrong. Then there’s the rush to get everything all ok before the endusers coming in to approve the results (if required) and finally the go/no-go decision.

The first times one goes through this exercise is highly stressful. But with experience, one starts to learn and stress much much less. During one of my first Murex go live weekends, I met someone really relaxed. He had a few go lives under his belt and was able to take a step back and advise what to do. I remember being very stressed and stumped on a problem but he took him 2s to suggest a report that would help me. You indeed need small hands during these events but you also need knowledgeable people who can keep a cool head.

More recently, I was only on call for the migration/config part (the privilege of experience and seniority) and onsite when the endusers were coming in. I have to admit that I missed the long Saturday nights sitting in front of the computer to get it all working. And catching some Z’s early on Sunday morning to be back for the endusers. I think that’s the downside of experience, you get less thrills.

And you, dear reader, what’s your experience with Murex go live? Got some great stories or some horror ones you want to share?