Modernizing Your IT Systems While Preserving Your Investments & Managing Risk Overview The pace of modernization in Information Technology Systems is quickening. The business, technical and human capital factors driving this trend compels organizations to recognize the urgency of having a well-informed modernization strategy. To help organizations establish such a strategy, this White Paper reviews the best practices for preserving investments, mitigating risks and creating a successful modernization initiative. Trends There are several trends that have driven the need for legacy systems modernization projects. Although these trends have remained similar over time, companies are rapidly feeling the negative effects in a more pronounced way and have a greater sense of urgency to modernize their systems. Some of the trends are: Existing staff with legacy skills are steadily retiring, leaving companies at risk. 1 End-of-life of mainframe platforms is introducing risk to critical applications. 1 Decades of business knowledge, customization and investment in legacy systems cannot be easily replaced by a Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software package. The lower costs of more modern platforms compared with proprietary legacy cost models provide a compelling reason to modernize. 1,2 Cloud enablement is becoming the reality for corporate and government systems. Increased flexibility and stability of.net and Java platforms enable the successful modernization of business critical applications. 2 1 These trends point to increased risks and costs for companies that postpone modernizing. 2 These trends will continue to create favorable conditions for modernization.
The Problem The expansive scope of a modernization project is significantly more complex than most projects managed by traditional applications development teams. Modernization projects require unique methodologies, technologies, and skillsets, unlike more traditional waterfall and agile approaches. Conventional staff experiences are not up to the challenge of a complicated legacy systems modernization project. Most modernization projects are not delivered efficiently and rapidly become over budget. Too often, organizations try to incorporate new applications functionality while simultaneously moving to more modern technologies, languages, and databases introducing significant risk. Data is highly dispersed and fragmented. Lack of buy-in, coordination, and trust between the Business and Technical teams More robust project governance incorporating excellence in integration, communications and project management is required.
Solution, Best Practices, and Technology Best Practice Application Renovation Methodology (ARM ) a Key Success Factor for a complicated Modernization project is the use of a mature Methodology designed specifically for Conversions and Migrations. Project Management, Systems Programming, and Testing Skills Supporting Tools, the Methodology and Factory Approach The ASSESS / DESIGN / PILOT phase. Assess / Design / Pilot is the initial Phase of the project where all portfolio and in-scope application data is gathered as needed, and confirmed, and the initial Solution Design is created. In this Phase all portfolio and application data is gathered and confirmed through the use of automated tools, analysis, and client collaboration working sessions. The Solution Design and Migration Strategies are developed and a Knowledge Repository is created. Finally, the designs and strategies are tested during a proof of concept or pilot.
The BASELINE phase. A baseline is an initial value that can be used to compare past, current and projected future values. The baseline is the standard against which all future values are measured. A Baseline is established by executing existing programs in the current IT environment. The Baseline demonstrates the intended purpose of those programs. All input data read and output data produced by the programs are captured and saved. The Baseline output becomes the acceptance criteria when validating the modernized code. In other words, modernized code should produce the exact same outputs as the original code. The RENOVATION phase. Renovation is the modernization of elements to meet current functional and aesthetic requirements. Program source code is re-engineered to run in a new IT environment. The function of the program source code remains unchanged while the database, computer language and hardware platform may all be new. There are multiple deliverables from the Renovation phase. Renovated and clean-compiled source code including screen and database definitions and any required job control language. All of which will run in the new IT environment. And finally, all Baseline input and output test data files is converted into the new format and structures. The VALIDATION phase. Validation is the confirmation that a software system meets specifications and fulfills its intended purpose. The Renovated programs are now validated to ensure that the intended purpose of those programs has been retained. This is achieved by running the compiled programs from the Renovation phase with the converted data from the Baseline phase in the new IT environment. The Validation phase is deemed complete when the results from both the Baseline and Validation phases satisfy electronic comparison. The IMPLEMENTATION phase. The Implementation phase encompasses several key tasks required to move the renovated code into Production. Note that Implementation can be executed against the fully renovated Portfolio or in logical groupings over time. There are five primary activities in the Implementation phase. They are Synchronization of the code base, Testing (Systems, Integration, UAT, etc.), Production Data Conversion, establishing bridging technologies if moving to Production in an iterative manner, and Production Cutover itself.
Best Practice Toolset - End to End Life-Cycle Integration (Solution Design through Implementation) - Many tools can perform simple conversions; i.e., see this verb replace it with that verb, or with database conversions, replacing each access with a similar access method duplicating the legacy access method and approach. However, few encompass a fully automated suite of tools using Expert Systems / Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies throughout the entire Project Lifecycle. ExperThink - an artificial-intelligence based code transformation technology that has processed over five billion lines of code. It utilizes a data centric repository to coordinate all aspects of the conversion life cycle (assessment, solution development and pilot, source renovation, data conversion, validation and implementation) by keeping track of the movement and disposition of all data elements in applications, databases and files. Data Conversion Most Modernization Projects require Data Conversion. This may be as simple as EBCDIC to ASCII conversion, but often involves complex data structures and relational databases. A Best Practice is to use a dedicated data migration tool like ExperSolve s Universal Data Convertor (UDC ) to convert all data. The UDC, an integrated part of the end-to-end toolset, directly accesses the data repository so that little or no programming is required.
Intelligent Testing Intelligent testing is a Best Practice methodology which provides an efficient approach to the testing acceptance and approval process for the Client. With intelligent testing, the client will create a Baseline test case on the source environment and execute it, saving the source code, the inputs and the outputs in a migration package. In the renovation process, the source code is migrated or converted. As well the input and output data are converted using data conversion technology. The converted input data is processed by the converted programs, and we will compare the new output data against the converted outputs saved in the package. This is illustrated below: Factory Approach The Factory Approach is a Best Practice recommended to complement an automated suite of tools. Once the original Solution Design is tested and tuned in the Pilot Phase, the Factory can rapidly incorporate the required changes in a mass automation manner. The factory should be staffed by a team of migration experts who efficiently and consistently deliver projects on time at a competitive cost.
Freeze Applications The purpose of this Best Practice is to limit changes to source code while the implementation process is executed. An IT department can never really freeze applications, since new requirements are continually added, often by government legislation. In ARM TM, we have developed a process to keep source code change under control. Changes to the baseline renovated code are made in a controlled, separate environment. Source Code Synchronization and Merge The integration of changes is based on a three way compare of the original baseline source code, the converted and tested source code, and the current frozen production source code. Differences are researched and conflicts are resolved and retested as needed. Install Bridges This Best Practice results in the installation of bridges that were developed during the Renovation phase and tested during the Validation phase. There are normally two kinds of bridges: (1) Internal and (2) External. Internal bridges are required when the Implementation Strategy is to move some renovated programs into production before the entire application portfolio is modernized. External bridges are required when data or files within the entire inventory are used by software outside of inventory being converted. An example of an external interface would be a file extraction using client data that is being sent to, or used by systems outside of the client s conversion scope or an external entity. External bridges are typically required. These bridges can be built using the UDC TM or an equivalent tool. System testing will validate that the software or applications external to the client will continue to receive data or interface with the client as they did prior to conversion.
Benefits The financial, technological and human capital benefits are enormous when a systems Modernization project is completed successfully. A few key benefits include: Business Rules - Well-designed tools will automatically capture all business logic in an Assessment Database. Note that as a result of this approach to Modernization, a company s investment in business logic within the code base is maintained and can functionally be built upon in the future. Documentation - Tools can also be used to document Business Rules, although this effort also may require a fair amount of manual effort. Additionally, Application Systems documentation can be developed or improved through a modernization project. ROI Rapid return on investment is achieved through a move to non-proprietary systems, less expensive human resources, more efficient technologies (Cloud, etc). Platform Modernization Option to cloud-enable applications leveraging virtualization, and provisioning optimizers. Human Capital Management Larger pool of resources with education and skills in more modern technologies and platforms. In addition, modernizing provides career enhancement opportunities for current technical staff. Risk Mitigation Risk is mitigated by incorporating the use of a multi-phased program where the first phase is the movement of the current application environment to new languages, platforms and/or database technologies, followed by a second phase where new functionality and requirements are introduced. In Conclusion Information Technology systems have been in various states of modernization for many years; however, the pace and extent of these modernizations are quickening and expanding in scope. This White Paper has captured some of the key Trends and Challenges while providing Best Practices that result in real and lasting benefits while maintaining past investments in business logic. Selecting Tools and Methodologies specifically designed for Legacy Systems Modernization project are key to managing risk and ensuring delivery excellence. Steve S. Smith Vice President ExperSolve, Inc. www.expersolve.com steve.smith@expersolve.com (703) 728-6511
Examples (many others available across multiple industries and technologies) Industry The Problem The Challenge Retail Health and Wellness Sector $5B Publicly Traded Company Additional capacity was needed on an aging mainframe infrastructure. License fees were consuming a large portion of the IT budget. This successful retailer sought a new IT infrastructure that was ready to take on the future. Reduce license costs while migrating to a new, more capable and flexible platform without interrupting business or losing any of the key functions of existing applications. Complete the project in 18 months. Reduce future IT expenditures. Over 4,500 COBOL programs 100 Easytrieve programs Scope Thousands of JOBs, PROCs & CONTROL CARDS 800 DB2 Tables and Over 14,000 flat files Migration to.net with SQL Server The Solution The Partner The retailer invited ExperSolve to complete the migration. ExperSolve assessed the inventory and designed a migration plan to a Microsoft.NET platform using NetCOBOL for.net as the application language and SQL Server as the data store. The legacy code was converted at ExperSolve s factory site in Tarrytown, NY, delivered, and tested within 18 months. A recognized leader in modernization and migrations, ExperSolve has processed over five billion lines of code with its award-winning ExperThink toolset. The company s no-nonsense ARM methodology coupled with its factory approach helps minimize costs and delivers high quality solutions. Annual license fees went from $2,500,000 to under $500,000 enabling the retailer to recoup its investment in the modernization project, and start realizing annual operating savings of over $2,000,000.
Industry Finance The Challenge Leading International Bank One of the world's largest international exchange banks was modernizing its legacy systems which had been developed from an Assembler style language called Screen Write (by Honeywell). Complete with its own non-relational database, the systems had been ported to run on an IBM mainframe, but the client was still constrained by the old architecture. The Assembler-style syntax had labels, operation codes, operands, confusing data names and tangled, unstructured code. Furthermore, it was increasingly difficult to find staff competent in this Assembler type of language. Scope The Solution The Partner Conversion of Assembler style code Development of new a database Automatic Code Restructuring Use of standardized database field naming ExperSolve s ExperThink toolset allowed the bank to convert the Assembler like code into maintainable, structured code. ExperThink"" also allowed the expansion or all "short" data names to longer and more meaningful ones, further enhancing the resulting code's maintainability. Another achievement of the process was the migration of the Screen Write database to newer technology with a well-developed design and standardized data names A recognized leader in modernization and migrations, ExperSolve has processed over five billion lines of code with its award-winning ExperThink toolset. The company s nononsense ARM methodology coupled with its factory approach helps minimize costs and delivers high quality solutions.