Risk Considerations When Migrating from COBOL to C#

by HSG on Oct 16, 2018 in

 

Over time, companies are migrating from COBOL to the latest standard of C# solutions due to reasons such as cumbersome deployment processes, scarcity of trained developers, platform dependencies, increasing maintenance fees. Whether a company wants to migrate to reporting applications, operational infrastructure, or management support systems, shifting from COBOL to C# solutions can be time-consuming and highly risky, expensive, and complicated. However, the following four techniques can help companies reduce the complexity and risk around their modernization efforts. 

All COBOL to C# Solutions are Equal 

It can be daunting for a company to sift through a set of sophisticated services and tools on the market to boost their modernization efforts. Manual modernization solutions often turn into an endless nightmare while the automated ones are saturated with solutions that generate codes that are impossible to maintain and extend once the migration is over. However, your IT department can still work with tools and services and create code that is easier to manage if it wants to capitalize on technologies such as DevOps. 

Narrow the Focus 

Most legacy systems are incompatible with newer systems. For years now, companies have passed legacy systems to one another without considering functional relationships and proper documentation features. However, a detailed analysis of databases and legacy systems can be useful in decision-making and risk mitigation in any modernization effort. It is fairly common for companies to uncover a lot of unused and dead code when they analyze their legacy inventory carefully. Those discoveries, however can help reduce the cost involved in project implementation and the scope of COBOL to C# modernization. Research has revealed that legacy inventory analysis can result in a 40% reduction of modernization risk. Besides making the modernization effort less complex, trimming unused and dead codes and cost reduction, companies can gain a lot more from analyzing these systems. 

Understand Thyself 

For most companies, the legacy system entails an entanglement of intertwined code developed by former employees who long ago left the organization. The developers could apply any standards and left behind little documentation, and this made it extremely risky for a company to migrate from a COBOL to C# solution. In 2013, CIOs teamed up with other IT stakeholders in the insurance industry in the U.S to conduct a study that found that only 18% of COBOL to C# modernization projects complete within the scheduled period. Further research revealed that poor legacy application understanding was the primary reason projects could not end as expected. 

Furthermore, using the accuracy of the legacy system for planning and poor understanding of the breadth of the influence of the company rules and policies within the legacy system are some of the risks associated with migrating from COBOL to C# solutions. The way an organization understands the source environment could also impact the ability to plan and implement a modernization project successfully. However, accurate, in-depth knowledge about the source environment can help reduce the chances of cost overrun since workers understand the internal operations in the migration project. That way, companies can understand how time and scope impact the efforts required to implement a plan successfully. 

Use of Sequential Files 

Companies often use sequential files as an intermediary when migrating from COBOL to C# solution to save data. Alternatively, sequential files can be used for report generation or communication with other programs. However, software mining doesn’t migrate these files to SQL tables; instead, it maintains them on file systems. Companies can use data generated on the COBOL system to continue to communicate with the rest of the system at no risk. Sequential files also facilitate a secure migration path to advanced standards such as MS Excel. 

Modern systems offer companies a range of portfolio analysis that allows for narrowing down their scope of legacy application migration. Organizations may also capitalize on it to shed light on migration rules hidden in the ancient legacy environment. COBOL to C# modernization solution uses an extensible and fully maintainable code base to develop functional equivalent target application. Migration from COBOL solution to C# applications involves language translation, analysis of all artifacts required for modernization, system acceptance testing, and database and data transfer. While it’s optional, companies could need improvements such as coding improvements, SOA integration, clean up, screen redesign, and cloud deployment.

Teaching You Tools to Become Empowered
To build a successful business and career, you must always keep up with changes in the IT Marketplace. AWS, Office 365, LinkedIn, Sales Force, SEO, Social Media are just a few examples of where knowledge is a huge factor for success.
Training with HSG addresses your knowledge gaps and provides you with the requisite tools to outpace the competition.

Tags: C#

other blog entries

Course Directory [training on all levels]

Upcoming Classes
Gain insight and ideas from students with different perspectives and experiences.

Interesting Reads Take a class with us and receive a book of your choosing for 50% off MSRP.

did you know? HSG is one of the foremost training companies in the United States

Information Technology Training that enables companies to build better applications and expertly manage the software development process.

Our courses focus on two areas: the most current and critical object-oriented and component based tools, technologies and languages; and the fundamentals of effective development methodology. Our programs are designed to deliver technology essentials while improving development staff productivity.

Personalized courses for unique business and technology needs

An experienced trainer and faculty member will identify the client's individual training requirements, then adapt and tailor the course appropriately. Our custom training solutions reduce time, risk and cost while keeping development teams motivated. The Hartmann Software Group's faculty consists of veteran software engineers, some of whom currently teach at several Colorado Universities. Our faculty's wealth of knowledge combined with their continued real world consulting experience enables us to produce more effective training programs to ensure our clients receive the highest quality and most relevant instruction available. Instruction is available at client locations or at various training facilities located in the metropolitan Denver area.

Upcoming Classes

consulting services we do what we know ... write software

Design and Development
Application lifecycle management
We generate use cases, UML documentation, architect the system, create an object model, iteratively develop the system, unit and system test and modularize where necessary. These types of engagements are typically longterm and, almost always, incorporate a variety of software technologies.
If you are in need of expertise but only require the assistance of one or two engineers, the Hartmann Software Group can be of help. Instead of procuring talent by way of a placement agency who is likely to contact us, come to the Hartmann Software Group directly. You may realize some savings.
Mentor
The best way to learn is by doing.

The coaching program integrates our course instruction with hands on software development practices. By employing XP (Extreme Programming) techniques, we teach students as follows:

Configure and integrate the needed development tools

MOntitor each students progress and offer feedback, perspective and alternatives when needed.

Establish an Action plan to yield a set of deliverables in order to guarantee productive learning.

Establish an Commit to a deliverable time line.

Hold each student accountable to a standard that is comparable to that of an engineer/project manager with at least one year's experience in the field.

These coaching cycles typically last 2-4 weeks in duration.

Provide Expertise
Services for your business growth.
With the introduction of smart devices, e-marketplaces, electronic forms, SEO practices, big data, virtual office environments, media streaming and so much more, there is hardly a business whose livelihood is not, in some way, dependent upon the inclusion of such software functionality into its online presence, work environment and product offerings. Such inclusion often presents a complex array of challenges that are far beyond the expertise of the business as it demands an understanding of technological options, modular decomposition, backend systems integration and web services. Most importantly, the business requires IT talent and expertise; this is where the Hartmann Software Group shines. To that end, here is an overview of some of the services that we offer:

Business Rule isolation and integration for large scale systems using Blaze Advisor

Develop Java, .NET, Perl, Python, TCL and C++ related technologies for Web, Telephony, Transactional i.e. financial and a variety of other considerations.

Windows and Unix/Linux System Administration.

Application Server Administration, in particular, Weblogic, Oracle and JBoss.

Desperate application communication by way of Web Services (SOAP & Restful), RMI, EJBs, Sockets, HTTP, FTP and a number of other protocols.

Graphics Rich application development work i.e. fat clients and/or Web Clients to include graphic design

Performance improvement through code rewrites, code interpreter enhancements, inline and native code compilations and system alterations.

Mentoring of IT and Business Teams for quick and guaranteed expertise transfer.

Architect both small and large software development systems to include: Data Dictionaries, UML Diagrams, Software & Systems Selections and more