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AVOIDING NATURAL DISASTERBEAT THE CHALLENGES OF LEGACY SYSTEMS BY REPLATFORMING SOFTWARE AG’S NATURAL/ADABAS

WHITEPAPER

page - 02 | WHITEPAPER: AVOID NATURAL DISASTER

Numerous factors are driving companies away from Natural/Adabas platforms, but change can be risky. Replatforming Natural applications is a good way to move to distributed platforms, eliminate Software AG licensing charges, and retain legacy source code, allowing existing developers to continue to work with programs they are familiar with in the syntax they know.

Introduction

What You’ll Gain From Reading This Document

Who Should Read This: Relevance by Organizational Role

About Modern Systems

This document incorporates industry analysis, direct customer feedback and over 20 years of project experience to help you understand, build and execute on a business case for refactoring Software AG Natural/Adabas systems. The content within:

• Summarizes the market trends driving change

• Shares a Natural/Adabas replatforming success story driven by stated market trends

• Shares insight into the technology used to refactor Natural/Adabas environments

This content specifically helps:

• CIOs looking to streamline systems and add efficiencies

• CFOs looking to eliminate Software AG license spend

• Enterprise Architects seeking to ensure future needs of the organization will be met in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner

• Technical Managers seeking to gain efficiencies while retaining legacy skillsets

• Business Analysts seeking to leverage data analytics and/or business intelligence to gain competitive advantage

A global leader in modernization since 1983, we have:

• Been trusted by Walmart to modernize the world’s biggest order processing system

• Completed many large scale, successful Natural/ Adabas replatforming projects worldwide

• Developed a solution set that offers the most choice and least risk for modernizing legacy applications and databases

• Become one of the largest modernization firms in the world


Mainframe shops, particularly those with Natural/Adabas underpinnings, are faced with unpredictable and increasing licensing costs, skilled personnel retirement, and lack of IT agility. IT Managers must weigh their options carefully in order to maximize the positive impact of this change on the business and to reduce the risks a diminishing resource pool may present.

The Changing Natural World

A Diminishing Talent Pool Complicates Things

Shifts In Strategy Driving Prohibitive Licensing Costs

The evolution of software development from procedural to object-oriented design in the past few decades has opened a rift between the skills required to maintain legacy systems and the skills being taught to and utilized by today’s developers in the design and implementation of modern software.

Employees with skillsets focused on legacy code have dedicated significant time and effort to the growth and development of legacy systems and the business as a whole. The knowledge, value, and understanding that these resources possess with respect to the legacy environment they manage is unmatched.

As these employees retire or leave their positions, modernization is sometimes forced because the present generation of application designers and programmers are unfamiliar with the technologies and methods used in legacy systems development. Maintaining status quo increases risk around these systems, as fewer people are able to understand, maintain, modify, or extend them as needed.

In a press release Software AG wrote: “Software AG’s strategy has been strongly focused on growth in the Business Process Excellence (BPE) business line since 2012. As a consequence, the company heavily invested in new products and the expansion of its sales teams.”

It appears this change in focus prompted Software AG to maximize the revenue coming in for Adabas while it still could. Most Adabas customers are large enterprises, so each customer could pay a lot more than a typical Open Systems customer. Prices for Adabas quickly jumped into the hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

This short term revenue strategy has been effective. In January 2014, Software AG reported a record level of license sales in the final quarter, with Group license revenue climbing 22 percent. However, the number of Adabas installations has steadily declined, and revenue predictions for the same group in 2015 are 9 to 16% lower.

Is Refactoring Through Platform Shift The Best of Both Worlds?

Refactoring with replatforming is a modernization technique that moves mainframe applications to a distributed platform with very little change. The underlying legacy code remains, so existing Natural developers can continue to work with the syntax they are familiar with. Remarkably, robust replatforming solutions often offer the option of converting the replatformed legacy environments to object-oriented systems to maximize the effectiveness of developers with more modern backgrounds joining the team. In addition, according to Gartner, mainframe replatforming offers lower-cost and more-immediate modernization results, with reduced spending and a return on investment in 6-18 months.


Who’s Doing It: CalPERS

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency that manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees and 3,000 employers. As of April 2013, CalPERS managed the second largest public pension fund in the United States. The organization has been touted as a global leader in the investment industry, and one of America’s most powerful shareholder bodies.

(California Public Employees Retirement System)

Project BackgroundCalPERS tapped Modern Systems because they needed a quick and cost effective solution to replace their mainframe-based Natural/Adabas environment and reduce or eliminate their rising Software AG licensing fees.

It was imperative that the look, feel, and functionality of the applications used by their pension members remained unchanged, ensuring smooth operation and eliminating the need for user training or process changes.

Solution DetailsModern Systems refactored the mainframe Natural syntax to Windows and converted the Adabas files to Oracle on Linux. The project was completed in 5 months, including planning, assessment, replatforming, and all levels of testing. CalPERS has been functioning on the Modern Systems refactored solution since July 2013. Performance has been excellent, production costs have been dramatically reduced, and the refactoring initiative has been considered a total success by everyone involved in the project.

Running Water Never Grows StaleCalPERS recognized reducing risk around their ability to adapt to technical change was of the utmost importance. Shifting a massive, business-critical system was not a task to be taken lightly. CalPERS wanted to be confident the solution they chose could adapt as well.

Modern Systems’ refactoring solution assured future dexterity by not only removing the mainframe from the equation, but by allowing CalPERS to remain on the replatformed service indefinitely, or move further down the legacy lifecycle path with a complete modernization to C# at their convenience.


Who’s Doing It: US Department of Energy

The Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) is responsible for the environmental management of nuclear weapons material disposal. A key piece of the federally mandated security procedure implemented at this facility is the visitor tracking system. This system, using Natural syntax and an Adabas database, was housed in an IBM mainframe environement. In 2011, the federal goverment chose not to renew the mainframe maintenance contract, giving the Security and Information Technology Department six months to find a solution that would allow continued operation of the system.

Savannah River Operations Office

Key Project Drivers

The limited timeframe available for the implementation was a key factor in choosing the Modern Systems refactoring solution. The mainframe shutdown deadline was inflexible and the budget constrained DOE-SR’s ability to meet the challenge internally.

Challenge Accepted

DOE-SR chose to rely on a relational database for standards-based storage and access with expanded functionality in the new environment. The newly refactored applications would subsequently execute the original Natural syntax against the new relational database.

Modern Systems was able to move the Natural applications, including the additional batch process, to a Windows environment, convert the Adabas database and data to a relational format, implement the results on DOE-SR hardware, and enable the DOE-SR to perform acceptance testing within five months.

Final handover occurred in January, 2012 and the mainframe was switched off. DOE-SR has been functioning solely on the Modern Systems replatformed solution ever since. They can remain on the service indefinitely or move further down thelegacy lifecycle path with a complete modernization toobject-oriented C# in the future.

Scope CreepOriginally, the refactoring work included replatforming the online programs in two systems and converting a minor batch environment. These applications were comprised of Adabas FDTs, Natural DDMs, GDAs, Help Routines, LDAs, Maps, Programs and Sub Programs. However, the assessment phase revealed missing components and an integral batch process complete with a dedicated PDS and JCL that was essential to the functionality of the system, broadly expanding the project scope.

Getting Under The Hood

The Modern Systems Refactoring solution provides a Natural replatforming environment, processing against a new relational database, with an extended capability to convert the Natural syntax to COBOL or C#. The platform runs as a Windows rich client application using a SQL Server database for storage and execution of the Natural syntax.

The refactoring process automatically transforms non-relational Adabas databases and data to relational databases of your choice (DB2, SQL Server, or Oracle) and processes Natural syntax with the Modern Systems replatforming services in Windows. It allows you to move Natural applications without changes from the current mainframe environment to the less expensive, more robust replatformed environment thus eliminating costly maintenance/license fees and reducing mainframe workload. Since the refactoring service interprets and executes each Natural command, your legacy applications can execute against the new relational database without changes to the current Natural syntax.

In addition, the Modern Systems refactoring service is bundled with a fully-featured GUI development platform that includes Natural syntax analysis, flow diagramming, impact analysis, pattern matching,version comparison and interactive debugging. Natural developmentresources can continue to develop and maintain your applications with the support of modern development tools.

Upon refactoring and platform shift, both online and batch programs remain unchanged, meaning all the code maintenance is still in Natural syntax. The old database is converted to relational technology to blendseamlessly into the newly refactored environment.


How It’s Done: Modern Systems Solution DetailsModern Systems’ Refactoring services provide an end-to-end strategic solution for lower license costs, higher productivity, and full preservation of legacy assets and business rules. An alternative to the re-engineering and conversion solutions available for Natural and Adabas, replatforming dramatically reduces the time frame for the replacement cycle and accelerates return on investment.

Principal Solution Benefits

• Reduce or eliminate mainframe costs with a short-term project that provides fast ROI • Eliminate expensive software licensing fees • Reduce or elminate mainframe MIPS • Retain original Natural syntax, expertise, and skilled resources • Upgrade technology and computing platforms without impacting business • Replace Adabas with standards-based, easy-to-access relational databases • Easily add off-the-shelf RDBMS reporting, query, and business intelligence tools

Screenshot: Database Conversion Workbench


How It’s Done: Modern Systems Solution Details

Existing Natural developers continue to work with programs they are familiar with and will benefit greatly from the Modern Systems Natural Application Development Workbench which provides a better, more responsive, and efficient environment for Natural program maintenance than the original development tools on the mainframe.

Adabas-To-Relational Conversion

All Adabas databases are converted to relational databases (SQL Server, Oracle or DB2). These conversions are performed as a service using proven Modern Systems tools. Each resulting relational database has the same functionality and traversal capabilities as its original non-relational Adabas counterpart. Modern Systems will also create Natural or COBOL unload programs to allow the extraction of data from Adabas into a format that is ready-to-load to the new relational database.

MU & PE Data Definitions

The transformed relational database contains base, child, and grandchild tables for each of the MU and PE instances, enabling the new database to include the table-to-table relationships expected in a relational data model. Access to the MU and PE data is handled by the Modern Systems re-platforming engine so that the Natural program syntax receives the data in the expected format.

Packed & Binary Data Fields

The transformed relational database includes only field types that are definable in the new database (small integer, integer, decimal, binary, etc.). All packed and zoned decimal data is transitioned to the relational data type when it is extracted from Adabas during the database conversion. Further, Adabas binary data is preserved using scripts which prevent the conversion of the selected binary fields. The new applications continue to view the data as if it were packed or binary. The contents of the relational database tables are completely native to the relational technology.

Batch, JCL, Job Streams, & PROCs

Natural batch programs continue to be maintained as Natural syntax, just like the online programs; however, for them to run, they are automatically converted upon program save to either COBOL or C# equivalents.

The batch JCL and PROCs are converted to process against the new relational database to execute the new batch programs and to use utilities for the replacement languages/databases instead of Natural and Adabas. The new JCL and PROCs will operate on the mainframe or in an off-mainframe batch run-time environment.

Screenshot: Natural Development Toolkit



Interacting With The Relational DatabasesDuring the execution of the Natural Online programs, Modern Systems’ replatforming service interprets and executes each Natural command, enabling the legacy applications to execute as-is against the new relational database without any changes to the current Natural syntax. The processing engine interprets the Natural I/O syntax and creates SQL syntax to perform the same data access and updates against the new relational database.

For Oracle, SQL Server and DB2 LUW, Modern Systems uses ODBC. For DB2 on z/OS, Modern Systems uses a Wire Protocol Driver that is delivered as part of the Modern Systems refactoring service.

Handling ISN Processing

ISN numbers are preserved during the extraction process. New row occurrences will receive the next available ISN number using the optimum mechanism provided by the target relational database management system. In SQL Server and in DB2, an Identity Column is used. In Oracle, a Sequence Object is used. From the Natural program perspective, the ISN is used and managed exactly as it was in the legacy environment.

SecurityIn order to replace the standard security tools, (ACF2, RACF and Topsecret) access to the replatformed online applications is managed using Active Directory. A simple interface from the re-platforming service to the Active Directory is delivered as part of the Modern Systems solution. The concept of Natural Security is replaced through layering of the target applications.

ACF2, RACF and Topsecret batch access security can remain unchanged if the target environment for batch is z/OS and DB2, but these security tools are not used for the re-platformed online runtime.

TestingSince no program syntax has been changed, it becomes a simple matter of testing the replatformed environment, testing that the conversion process (where used) is providing functionally equivalent programs, and testing the performance of the converted applications and databases. Modern Systems recommends complete testing of all aspects of the applications to ensure that critical and unique processing is fully functional and performs well within the new environment.



An Alternative Approach

If the immediate requirement is to reduce the costs of the mainframe operation, the simplest solution with the highest ROI is available by using the Modern Systems Refactoring service as a conversion and maintenance workstation, converting from Natural/Adabas to COBOL, COBOL CICS, and DB2, then returning the converted applications to the mainframe. The resulting code is far more portable than the original Natural/Adabas source.

The existing infrastructure is preserved, the syntax can be maintained as Natural on the Modern Systems replatforming workstation and executed as COBOL on the mainframe, or it can be converted and then maintained as native COBOL. Additionally, utilizing the refactoring solution’s off-mainframe development environment significantly reduces MIPS.

If maintenance of the programs in Natural syntax is the desired route, these applications can be redeployed onto Windows running against an Oracle, SQL Server or DB2 database, without changing the Natural syntax in thefuture.

Business User Transparency

The Modern Systems Refactoring solution replatforms applications without affecting the business user’s experience. The functionality remains the same, so no training is required. All screens retain the same look and feel, even the keystrokes, tabbing, and PF-keys remain unchanged. It is easy to update the default colors and backgrounds, but user interface changes are optional.

Enhanced Developer Platform

The advanced development platform provides features beyond those available to Natural developers today. With Modern Systems Refactoring, Natural developers can document their applications, debug processing at run-time, execute in dual run-mode, benefit from version control, and continue Natural development and maintenance using enhanced features and a GUI interface.

• Natural syntax is the same as the legacy language but easier to maintain with the Modern Systems Editor

• The Map Editor allows the developer to drag and drop visual objects to build screens

• The Debugger includes breakpoint setting, watch variables, and step-through mode

• Developers can jump to the currently executing line of code from anywhere in the executing application for further analysis

• Fingertip Natural information includes flow charts, code paths, impact analysis, and enterprise views

• Dual Run-Time Mode allows developers to seamlessly test new application features by comparing results to the original code

• Developer Check In/Check Out/Undo Check Out and Version Tracking provide source code management

Screenshot: Debugging Tool

Lose Your License

No Software AG licenses are required for processing of any of the Natural syntax in the replatformed environment, for processing of the new relational databases (SQL Server, Oracle or DB2), nor for the conversion or the execution of the COBOL or C# batch programs that are converted from Natural to process against the new database. The resulting liberation from Software AG license fees as part of Modern Systems’ re-platforming solution provides immediate and significant cost savings.


Navigating The Road Ahead

Maintain As Natural, Exectute As C# or COBOL

For maximum flexibility, it is possible to continue to maintain both online and batch programs as Natural syntax but to also take advantage of the wide range of execution environments and options available today. Using this feature, you maintain the Natural, but can choose to have the actual syntax converted to C# or COBOL at the time the syntax is saved by the developer. Once saved, the converted code is functionally identical to the legacy Natural syntax. This feature enables the best of both worlds. Re-use the developers’ existing skills sets in Natural, and their extensive knowledge of the applications, while deploying as C# (where there is benefit from the deployment of web apps running natively) or COBOL (where it is possible to execute the applications on any platform). Regardless of the language selected, the new applications process against the converted relational database.

Full Application Conversion

Modern Systems’ Refactoring solution can act as a stepping stone on the legacylifecycle path to a full conversion. when you are ready to change environments toa new operating system or platform, there is the option to fully convert to COBOL,COBOL CICS, or C#.

The generated COBOL or C# is easy to maintain, well documented andinstantly available for compilation. The programs are maintained externally in thegenerated language, for example using Eclipse-based tools for COBOL, or VisualStudio for C#.

Plus, the original Natural statements are retained as comments for easy reference.

whitepaper - modern systems · page - 02 | whitepaper: avoid natural disaster numerous factors are...

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