The ATERAS solution for legacy migration and modernization includes a complete strategy, methodology and process for the entire effort, from conception through deployment. Cindy Howard, executive vice president, Conversion Solutions, explains how clients can leverage ATERAS’ DB-Shuttle, Enterprise Application Viewer and Enterprise Field Change Manager for fast, cost-effective migration.
What technology requests are you receiving from financial institutions?
ATERAS’ financial services clients want to leverage technology to increase business value and improve their competitive advantage, and their ability to communicate with their customers. Often they want to convert from existing mainframe, non-relational technologies to SQL Server, C# and the .NET processing environment.
In most cases they are planning to rewrite, convert or replace the functionality of existing applications. But it is also important to put additional documentation in place for what is currently on the mainframe. That allows them to plan for application migration in the future and comply with regulations including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
How does ATERAS’ DB-Shuttle meet migration and conversion requests?
DB-Shuttle automatically converts non-relational databases such as IDMS, ADABAS, IMS and VSAM to SQL Server. It generates the new DDL to replace those databases and writes the programs needed to extract and prepare the data so it can be loaded to SQL Server. Then it converts the application languages such as ADS/Online, Natural and COBOL to C# in the .NET processing environment. This automated conversion process takes the functionality from the mainframe to .NET running in Windows.
What is involved in the conversion process?
We have a well-defined process that begins with an automated assessment. First we collect the mainframe code, and we use DB-Shuttle to map out the client’s current processing environment. That tells us how all of the programs fit together, how the data is used and where applications share data or programs. Once we complete that process and resolve any missing or duplicate components, we define a full project plan for the conversion. The database, data and application are converted simultaneously. DB-Shuttle then generates the code, and the applications are delivered back to the client’s environment to be built and tested.
Do you ever have to manually intervene?
Generally, no. But there are cases where we teach DB-Shuttle additional rules as they apply to a particular client or solution. In all cases, DB-Shuttle generates code that is ready to be built and tested in Visual Studio. Sometimes there are unique capabilities from the mainframe environment, so a new routine, class or method needs to be written off the mainframe and incorporated using DB-Shuttle during the conversion.
Suppose clients have some applications running on the mainframe and others in .NET?
Clients that want to document their current processing environment – mainframe or off mainframe – can use
ATERAS’ Enterprise Application Viewer (EAV) to explore application components, document their functionality, and define how they relate to other components. It lists the programs and their contents, subroutines and data. Icon diagrams show how the different programs and files fit together. EAV allows the analyst to follow the business logic, isolate business rules, drill into and across programs, and also provides information about unused elements so clean up can be done along the way.
Do you have any recent client examples?
Currently, we are finishing a conversion from IMS to COBOL in .NET using Fujitsu’s NetCOBOL suite. We are completing a project where VSAM was converted to a SQL Server Database, and COBOL was converted to C#. In addition, we are at the end of a project for Progressive Insurance in which our Enterprise Field Changer assessed 13 million lines of code and expanded 32 fields in their relational environment to meet new requirements in their policy number systems.
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