Mainframe Application Development Strategy White Paper

Transcription

1 Mainframe Application Development Strategy White Paper

2 Abstract The new Micro Focus was launched on August 13, 2001 when Micro Focus separated from MERANT to become a totally independent company. Originally founded in 1976, Micro Focus has long been a leader in providing COBOL technology solutions to Fortune 500 companies in the United States and around the world. Since late 2001, Micro Focus has met with a significant number of customers, including those from our existing APS and AppMaster Builder user base, to understand how the products were used historically, how they are being used today and what Micro Focus could do to enable customers to move their applications forward. Based on these investigations, Micro Focus has developed a new strategy and resulting product release, detailed in this paper, which outlines a positive and exciting future for all customers currently using Micro Focus products to develop mainframe applications. This paper is therefore equally relevant to users developing mainframe COBOL applications using Micro Focus Mainframe Express, COBOL Workbench, APS and AppMaster Builder products. This strategy and the resulting product reinforce our dedication to our existing customers, their investment in our technology, and their future success.

3 Contents Introduction...4 Micro Focus Pedigree...4 Customer Input...4 Micro Focus Technology Assets...5 Micro Focus APS for z/os Micro Focus AppMaster Builder V Micro Focus Component Generator technology...5 Micro Focus Mainframe Express...5 Micro Focus Revolve V The Micro Focus Vision for Mainframe Application Development...6 Mainframe Marketplace Direction...6 Mainframe Market Requirements...6 Realizing the Vision...6 Product Strategy...7 Business Value Benefits...8 Benefits for Existing Customers...9 APS and AppMaster Builder Users...9 Mainframe Express and COBOL Workbench Users...10 Moving to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition...12 Development Process Outline...12 AppMaster Builder (AMB) Users...12 AppMaster Builder Users with Mainframe Express...13 AppMaster Builder Users with Workbench...13 APS for MVS or APS for z/os Users...13 Commercial Considerations...14 Conclusion...14 Appendix A Milestones...15 Appendix B - Future Releases...16 The Micro Focus Studio Vision...16 Capabilities Not Being Carried Forward...16

4 Introduction With over one billion lines of application code running in production daily, APS and AppMaster Builder (AMB) are proven products for rapidly creating high quality, high performance applications. The architecture of the products was such that existing customers could tailor the application code generated to their unique needs. This is a key reason why APS and AMB are still in use today at over 200 major corporations around the world. With the new Micro Focus taking ownership of the APS and AMB product lines, and our pedigree in COBOL, it seemed prudent to understand the value of the technology and to validate how the technology would fit into Micro Focus future strategy. Micro Focus Pedigree Micro Focus has over 28 years of experience in COBOL analysis and development technology, primarily focused in two areas: 1. Development, extension and deployment of COBOL applications on Open Systems architectures where Micro Focus COBOL is the de-facto industry standard on Windows and UNIX. 2. Development of IBM mainframe applications using workstation-based technology to offload analysis, development and maintenance activities from the mainframe. Hundreds of major corporations worldwide are today using Micro Focus technology to create and maintain mainframe COBOL applications. Over the last two decades Micro Focus has produced the most comprehensive, state of-the-art Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for COBOL developers working in a 3GL paradigm. Customer Input APS and AMB offer quite a different development paradigm. They provide a framework and tools to define applications and generate application infrastructure code to enable developers to focus on solving business problems. When they met with Micro Focus management, existing APS and AMB customers reported productivity gains of up to 120 percent compared with using traditional mainframe-based native COBOL development tools. Users of Micro Focus products for mainframe COBOL development on the PC also reported significant productivity gains. Both approaches remain valid, and indeed they target the same end-result, namely the efficient creation and maintenance of robust, mission-critical COBOL applications. Our customers commitment to realizing the very real value in these technologies was a key factor in shaping our future strategy. Before describing this vision and strategy, let s re-cap the existing key technology assets available from Micro Focus today. 4

5 Micro Focus Technology Assets Micro Focus APS for z/os 5.0 Micro Focus APS is a native IBM mainframe framework-based development technology to generate applications for compiling and executing on IBM mainframes. Micro Focus released APS 5.0 for z/os in February See for more details. Micro Focus AppMaster Builder V4.0 AppMaster Builder (AMB) is a native Windows framework-based development environment to generate applications for compiling and executing on IBM mainframes. See for more details. Micro Focus Component Generator technology Component Generator is a native Windows technology that enables users to capture complete legacy application business processes and automatically generate reusable, industry-standard components in the form of JavaBeans, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), XML, WML, J2EE and Web services for use throughout the enterprise, without the need for host application code changes. Contact Micro Focus for more details. Micro Focus Mainframe Express Mainframe Express (MFE) is a native Windows 3GL based IDE for IBM mainframe COBOL applications combined with: CICS, DB2, IMS, JCL and Assembler emulation engines that provide a mainframe on the desktop for developers. Advanced mainframe connectivity technology to transparently transfer source and data between the mainframe and the LAN and keep revisions synchronized, or to enable connectivity to mainframe data or processes, which must remain only on the mainframe. Contact Micro Focus for more details. Micro Focus Revolve V6.2 Revolve is a native Windows *1 application understanding and impact analysis environment for IBM mainframe and other COBOL applications. It provides developers with a means to rapidly understand and fully scope the impact of any potential modification before applying any change, thereby ensuring all necessary changes are made before the job is promoted to the next testing stage. See for more details. 5

6 The Micro Focus Vision for Mainframe Application Development Micro Focus strategy for the future of mainframe application development is based upon our vision of how the marketplace is evolving, and the technical and operational requirements of our customers. Mainframe Marketplace Direction Micro Focus sees the following key attributes of the mainframe application development marketplace today and into the near future: Increased focus on exploiting the assets with emphasis on re-use Greater application heterogeneity (COBOL, Java, middleware[mq], WSDL, SOAP, etc.) and architectural complexity and associated skills shortages (e.g. J2EE) Need for faster time to production through renewal of the development process Re-evaluation of strategic vendor choices to find the provider of world-class products and support Mainframe Market Requirements Micro Focus therefore recognizes the need to assist customers looking to: Do more with less and re-use human and IT assets (legacy is an asset) Exploit new platforms while reducing complexity Make business sense of J2EE, Web services and.net Look for a new COBOL partner as other vendors move out Realizing the Vision Micro Focus vision, and therefore strategy, is the provision of a single product entity, providing a fully coherent and integrated development environment for mainframe applications. The product: Is the strategic path for all our existing mainframe development product customers Is the default mainframe application development solution to all new customers Contains real added value to encourage migration from predecessor technologies The strategy is built upon Micro Focus foundation of distinctive competence, namely: The de-facto standard for COBOL across the enterprise World-class customer support Proven and scalable technology 6

7 Product Strategy In simple terms, Micro Focus product strategy was to create a successor product to APS, AppMaster Builder and Mainframe Express, for release within Our offering for mainframe application development, this is the strategic upgrade path for AMB and APS customers, as well as users of all Micro Focus mainframe application development tools. This product is called Micro Focus Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, and includes a combination of the following Micro Focus technology: Mainframe Express Revolve-based analysis technology AppMaster Builder technology Component Generator technology Workbench Workbench+ Revolve MFE MFE+ Revolve APS AMB AMB+ Workbench AMB+MFE ELCG All customers have the same upgrade path Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition Enterprise Edition New product draws on strengths of all predecessor products. So, all customers Have migration path Derive added value Support the strategy Additional facilities and integration provides best-ofbreed application development. Fast analysis, development, testing and deployment of mixed Java/COBOL applications on WebSphere for zseries running zos or Linux. 1 The launch date for Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition was June

8 Having discussed this with our existing customers, we see many advantages of this strategy, both from a higher-level business value perspective, as well as at a more detailed product perspective. Business Value Benefits The value statement for Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition is simple yet compelling: Micro Focus' unified environment for mainframe development significantly reduces risks and costs, and offers improved business agility through extension to J2EE,.NET and Web Services. Aligning IT to the business with improved application delivery will yield a more impressive ROI. Essentially Micro Focus is providing organizations with the ability to Leverage and Extend existing assets in order to realize the value of legacy. Each of the aforementioned business value benefits is supported by specific capabilities as follows: Reduce costs Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition provides existing developers with the most productive workstation-based environment for all aspects of mainframe application delivery, including code generation, analysis, development, extension, debugging and testing. Mainframe application delivery is faster than ever before, yielding high availability and quality. By improving application turnaround time and removing the burden of maintenance tasks from the mainframe, IT costs on core infrastructure and even software will be greatly reduced, and mainframe power refocused on running business-critical production systems. and risks Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition dramatically reduces ongoing risks by providing a complete, familiar and unified environment for all mainframe application delivery. Removing organizational fragmentation will improve the flexibility and availability of IT skills, and therefore operational efficiency. Micro Focus support of open standards, together with capabilities to extend existing business processes into new architectures, further minimizes risk by removing dependencies on outmoded or proprietary technology, and motivates programming teams with a best-in-class, contemporary development platform. with increased agility Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition also benefits organizations needing to extend legacy functionality. By helping improve time-to-market of application maintenance projects, it frees up key staff to work on strategic initiatives. Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition includes capabilities to allow COBOL programmers to quickly and easily extend legacy systems into J2EE,.NET or Web Services, without changing the original code, or having to learn new architectures. This further improves organizational dexterity by delivering proven business value into new channels. and a total commitment to customer success World class customer support 2 Customer driven development Partnerships with solution providers 2 See 8

9 Benefits for Existing Customers Recognizing the broad portfolio of existing technology our customers have today, it is important to highlight the additional benefits of moving to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, in the context of each particular current environment. APS and AppMaster Builder Users Today, users of APS and AppMaster Builder are seeing real benefits in the productivity and quality of the generated business applications. However, even today there are hidden costs in terms of host CPU cycles and time waiting for compiles (in the case of APS), and for all users the additional cost of providing suitable compilation, debugging and analysis technologies. Even then there are few existing technologies that allow those applications to be extended to a modern componentbased deployment environment (for example Web services). By providing a single product to embrace the whole life cycle of mainframe application development, Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition reduces the ongoing cost and effort of mainframe application development by limiting the required tools, skills and administration to a single, integrated product. The provision of APS maintenance releases as part of the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition strategy allows our APS customer base the ability to effectively plan their transition to the new environment at a time suitable to their business priorities. All improvements made to APS for z/os v5.0 are also incorporated in the AMB technology within Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, including support for the latest IBM sub-system releases. Instead of using the host for analysis, generation, compilation, debugging and unit testing activities, APS developers can utilize the workstation for these activities, thereby reducing costly mainframe cycles. APS developers can use state-of-the-art workstation based user interfaces to improve their productivity in creating applications. Transparent access to processes and data still resident on the host reduces the overhead of changing the development environment and thereby improves productivity. The necessary first step of moving APS source artefacts to the PC environment is greatly facilitated by the Migration Wizard utility, which will greatly reduce the effort required and provide the necessary environmental support changes to move to the PC environment. Migrated APS applications will be functionally equivalent and the generated code will be the same. The generation and compilation process is greatly simplified in Mainframe Express such that users can automatically generate and compile applications without switching between tools. Generated APS code can be fed simply into the Mainframe Express IDE where the developer can undertake further test compilations, analysis, source-code debugging and unit testing. The Mainframe Express editor recognizes and colorizes APS and AMB S-COBOL syntax automatically. Using the advanced editor capabilities available in Mainframe Express, it is possible to provide automatic validation for APS (S-COBOL) statements, and highlight typing errors immediately, rather than having to wait until after compilation for the error to be flagged. The Mainframe Express source-code debugger can debug at the APS/AMB S-COBOL level or on native COBOL. AppMaster Builder project information can be automatically used to populate 3 rd party tools via XML. 9

10 During maintenance, Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developers will be able to utilize analysis capabilities in a number of ways: Application generator source-code (S-COBOL) can be automatically analysed to provide vital and hitherto unavailable information about relationships, dependencies and impacts. Generated applications can be examined by the developer and the Analysis option will automatically provide a wealth of application information, for example: o Invokes and invoked by information at a program level o Possible values and previous/next modifications at the variable level o Graphical representation of application dependencies o Automatic location of items of interest During defect investigation, generated COBOL code can be examined to help Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developers understand the structure and organization of the native COBOL application. Items of interest identified by the Analysis option can be automatically investigated in the Mainframe Express IDE, thereby allowing the developer the ability to more productively undertake maintenance activities. The Analysis capabilities are further described in the sub-section, Mainframe Express and Workbench Users. The Component Generator technology allows Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developers to make existing mainframe transactions (possibly generated by APS/AMB) available for access via de-facto standard or open industry standard interfaces like Java Beans,.NET, EJBs, XML or Web services. This support will include capturing IMS transactions as well as CICS, 3270 and COMMAREA transactions and then exposing them as Web services or other industry standard components. Micro Focus continued commitment to open standards means: We will always certify against the latest releases of IBM systems (operating system, COBOL version, subsystem releases). We will always generate native COBOL to allow customers the flexibility to move their applications forward. This evolutionary strategy allows customers to exploit technology improvements without having to undergo expensive re-training. This strategy provides customers with an unequivocal confirmation of the commitment and support Micro Focus is investing in its loyal APS/AMB customer base. Mainframe Express and COBOL Workbench Users Users familiar with offloading the development of their mainframe applications to the PC will need little introduction to the value and cost reduction of this approach: existing Mainframe Express or Workbench customers understand the profound benefit of using the PC for this task. In addition to the environment and tools with which they are familiar today, Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition widens the scope and flexibility of what they are doing to include highly effective programmer analysis capabilities, and provides further flexibility in their deployment options, such the COBOL applications, their major asset, remain truly open, flexible and easy to take forward to meet future needs. Major improvements have been made for the native COBOL programmer, to help them understand more about the application code being worked on. This is the Analysis Option, a feature built-in to the development environment. Facilities include: A new, dockable Auto Browser that provides application information, which the user may find useful in their current context and which can suggest actions they may wish to perform. For example, the Window will indicate if multiple programs use the current copybook, and from where the current program is called. 1 0

11 A new, dockable Browser window that can be used to query for data-names, procedure names, etc across the whole Mainframe Express project - not just within an individual COBOL program, and display the usages of these items. It is possible to search for Wildcards, to narrow the scope of the search, and to search for non-cobol artifacts (e.g. BMS maps). The tool window simplifies the approach of browsing for information, to provide a minimal amount of information, which is of maximal use to programmers. A graphical Inventory view of a program that shows the resources it uses, such as copybooks, BMS/MFS maps, files, etc. This and other views can be accessed easily from within the Mainframe Express IDE. A Flowchart facility to show a flow chart representation for a paragraph. This will intuitively explain the structure of complex procedural code. A Program Call Tree gives a graphical view showing how the programs within the application call one another. A Programmer-oriented Code-Flow Analysis facility that allows the programmer to ask such questions as previous / next places this data item could have been modified Various HTML reports that identify copybook usage, program calls, and the results of code-flow analysis. The new Workset concept. Worksets are mechanisms for the programmer to persistently mark items of interest, and provide a description. A new, dockable, Workset manager window is provided so the programmer can keep track of all the Worksets they have created for a project. Items can be added to a Workset from most of the views of the Analysis Option (including the HTML reports) and from many of the views within the standard Mainframe Express development environment (including the source & BMS editors). Many views also support drag and drop into a Workset. Additional Editor improvements that help navigate the source file. The Editor now shows the locations of errors and breakpoints in the right hand border of the window. This provides an easy means to locate to these positions. This mechanism may be used to display other information in future. When typing in the Editor, the programmer can request (by right clicking) to "complete word" and the Editor will display a list of data & procedure names that matches the word typed so far, from which the user can pick. The Component Generator technology allows Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developers to make existing mainframe transactions available for access via de-facto standard or open industry standard interfaces like Java Beans,.NET, EJBs, XML or even Web services. This support will include capturing IMS transactions, as well as CICS, 3270 and COMMAREA transactions, and then exposing them as Web services or other industry standard components. Micro Focus continued commitment to open standards means: We will always certify against the latest releases of IBM systems (operating system, COBOL version, sub-system releases). We will always generate native COBOL to allow customers the flexibility to move their applications forward. The Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition strategy reaffirms Micro Focus commitment to providing world-class technology and support for mainframe application development. This evolutionary strategy allows customers to exploit technology improvements without having to undergo expensive re-training. These benefits would equally apply to users of Micro Focus Workbench or Mainframe Express. 1 1

12 Moving to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition Let us consider the migration path to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition. As a start point, it is worth summarizing the anticipated development process. Development Process Outline One of Micro Focus core beliefs is that application development is more productive on workstations, regardless of where the application will execute, and workstations will become the standard platform for all developers in the future whether they are COBOL, C or Java developers. Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition will be a PC-based product. 1. Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition supports both an application generation development paradigm, as well as a 3GL native development paradigm. The start-point for the developer is therefore optional, as flexibility will be required to support existing development procedure. Importantly, the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition development process also allows the following: Developers using the 3GL paradigm wishing to exploit application generation facilities to more productively develop new code. Developers using the application generation paradigm wishing to exploit native COBOL facilities of compilation, debugging and unit testing on the workstation. 2. The customer s development support team will set up a synchronized LAN/mainframe development infrastructure utilizing the mainframe connectivity capabilities within Mainframe Express. This will ensure source code is synchronized between the LAN environment and the mainframe SCM system and that the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developers can access processes or data, which must be accessed on the mainframe from the developer s workstation, transparently during unit testing. 3. Within Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, developers will use the AMB technology to define their application characteristics on the workstation and then generate the application code. The generated application code will then automatically be set up within Mainframe Express, where it can be compiled on the workstation, rather than the mainframe, so the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition developer can perform unit testing on the workstation. 4. For large and complicated tasks, considerable time was often required to build large test suites and databases. Within the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition environment, developers have the freedom to use their own test suites, or access test components that already exist on the mainframe platform. Let us look at the migration considerations specific to each customer community. AppMaster Builder (AMB) Users The transition to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition will involve broadening the existing LAN/mainframe synchronized development environment to support analysis, compilation and testing capabilities. Once this is done, the rollout of Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition can begin and AMB developers will immediately see significant improvements in productivity, while in parallel, significantly reducing mainframe CPU utilization. For all AMB users, the transition from a developer usability perspective will be easily accomplished, as we will provide, wherever possible, the same user interface of the existing AMB Windows GUI. 1 2

13 AppMaster Builder Users with Mainframe Express The transition to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition will be very straightforward (provided an appropriate LAN/mainframe synchronized development environment is already established). AppMaster Builder Users with Workbench The transition to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition will involve the replacement of COBOL Workbench with Mainframe Express, along with replacing any bespoke LAN/Mainframe development infrastructure with one that supports the more modern Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition synchronized environment for analysis, compilation and testing capabilities. Dependant on the infrastructure you have in place around COBOL Workbench, to synchronize source between the LAN and mainframe SCM systems and provide mainframe connectivity, efforts can vary widely. APS for MVS or APS for z/os Users The transition to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition will mean setting up a new LAN/mainframe synchronized development environment to support analysis, compilation and testing capabilities. Once your development support team completes this and installs Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition on their workstations, the transition training can commence. This will enable the APS developers to understand how to perform the functions previously carried out via ISPF dialogs within the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition GUI environment. Once trained, developers will immediately see significant improvements in productivity, while in parallel, mainframe CPU utilization will be reduced drastically. Additional tools, utilities and on-line help will be available to assist with the migration from the APS environment to the new product. 1 3

14 Commercial Considerations To ensure we can encourage the majority of both APS and AMB customers to migrate to Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, we will be providing the following: Aggressive upgrade programs for all existing customers. Training and consulting services to assist with transition and migration. Conclusion We at Micro Focus sincerely hope our customers share our excitement as we move forward with this strategy, and in particular with the Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition product line. Micro Focus wants to strengthen its relationship with all customers and we believe this strategy, and the resulting product Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, marks a significant step forward for all existing mainframe customers, which will enable you to service your business better over the coming years. For information on the release of Micro Focus Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, please visit 1 4

15 Appendix A Milestones The following table lists the product deliverable dates mentioned in this document: Product Deliverable Target Release Timeframe Beta Program for Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition Summer 2003 onwards GA Release of Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition May 28 th 2004 Launch Date for Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition June 2004 Release Certification Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition application code will be certified for the following IBM Releases: Z/OS Z/OS 1.2 Enterprise COBOL Enterprise COBOL V3R1+ CICS CICS TS 1.3 and 2.2 IMS IMS TM V7R1+ DB2 DB2v7r1+ ISPF ISPF V4R2+ NOTE: The Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition development environment is certified for use with Windows 2000, NT and Windows XP Professional. 1 5

16 Appendix B - Future Releases The Micro Focus Studio Vision The ethos for Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition is to provide application developers with everything they need to develop enterprise COBOL-based composite applications today and in the future. On the deployment side, Micro Focus is looking at similar unifying concepts, where the same application should be deployable across any of a range of servers. To allow the creation and deployment of such applications within a heterogeneous architecture (z/os, Linux, UNIX, Windows) from a single development environment is a broad objective for the future, and will over time - culminate in the availability of the Micro Focus Studio (Development) and Micro Focus Server (Deployment) brands. We recognize the need for our customers to have the necessary flexibility and openness to support the ever-changing needs of their business: Micro Focus Studio is the single unifying brand that will support this flexibility. Capabilities Not Being Carried Forward During our discussions with existing users it was clear that there is only limited functionality within APS or AMB, which the majority of our customers do not exploit. Also, where there is overlap in functionality we have decided to eliminate this over time rather than for initial release, as we believe this will help facilitate the easiest migration path for both APS and AMB customers. Some functionality introduced to generate application code not targeted at the mainframe, which is seldom used by existing customers, will not be carried forward in Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition. The following elements of APS and/or AMB will not be carried over as standard functionality within Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition. If you are using any of these capabilities, please contact your Micro Focus representative to discuss potential options. Importers, Generators and Screen painting for AS400 applications User Interface Painters, Generators and Client Express for Windows applications Generators for OS/2 applications Additional DBCS support, other than what is currently available Generators for SQL/DS for VM, Informix and Sybase SQL Server 4 Databases Client/Server Generators for OS/2 CPI-C Server, CICS APPC Server, MVS CPI-C Server and IMS TM/APPC Server Generated Windows Applications In the case of applications generated for Windows (which make use of the native WinAPI interface), these are standard COBOL applications that could exploit other Micro Focus technology to provide a forward path. Net Express is the Micro Focus development system for building and maintaining applications in a distributed environment we would be happy to discuss how Net Express would be able to help maintain and extend these types of applications. 1 6

17 Micro Focus Micro Focus Unlocking the Value of Legacy Micro Focus is a leading provider of legacy development and deployment software for enterprise platforms. Micro Focus enables organizations to reduce costs and increase agility with minimal risk by reusing their legacy applications with contemporary architectures and Web services. Founded in 1976, Micro Focus is a global company with principal offices in the United Kingdom, United States and Japan. For more information, visit www. microfocus.com. Micro Focus Worldwide Australia Austria Belgium Canada France Germany Ireland Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Switzerland United Kingdom United States Other Countries Micro Focus. All Rights Reserved. Micro Focus, EnterpriseLink, Mainframe Express, Net Express, Revolve and Workbench are registered trademarks, and AppMaster is a trademark of Micro Focus. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. WPAPSA0405-US 1 7