A modern development environment was the goal for the software developers of YOUPLUS Assurance Schweiz AG. Together with Delta Software Technology, the previous development environment was replaced by ADS on Eclipse and at the same time the generator system Delta ADS for COBOL was updated.

In 2020, YOUPLUS Assurance Schweiz (YOUPLUS) acquired an insurance portfolio from AIG Life Insurance Switzerland Ltd., Breganzona and at the same time another part of AIG - American Security Life Insurance Company Ltd in Vaduz, Switzerland.

In 2023, YOUPLUS has started its operation in a new company providing solutions for the tied pension 3a and the cost-free pension 3b, which combines unique investment logic with client's personal pension objectives.

YOUPLUS Group is now active in eight European countries. It specialises in Life & Pension solutions and is considered as one of the fastest growing insurance companies in Europe.

The insurance company YOUPLUS Lugano, Switzerland, insurance company successfully uses the generator system Delta ADS for COBOL & PL/I (ADS) from Delta Software Technology (Delta) for more than 30 years. At YOUPLUS, the ADS programs are developed and maintained on the PC and then generated exactly fitting in COBOL. The programs are then executed on IBM z/VSE.

Update to the Latest ADS Release

In the first step, ADS was updated from an outdated version to the latest version (6.6.2). For this, only the individual generators had to be updated and standard macros hat to be checked and adapted if necessary. Delta is skilled at this task and brings the appropriate know-how for the secure modernisation.

In order to provide the developers with a modern and uniform development environment, the Delta development system SCOUT² was replaced by ADS on Eclipse (Delta IDS). The use of Delta ADS on Eclipse has the advantage that it can be directly integrated in all Eclipse-based environments. In this case, the plugin was integrated into the OpenText (Micro Focus) development environment.

More Effective Maintenance and Development

With the help of ADS on Eclipse, the working method for developing and maintaining ADS programs is simplified and modernised so that developers are optimally supported. The use of the Post-generation Debugger makes maintenance much easier, simpler and faster. With it, the generation process can be followed step by step. This makes it much easier for the developers and also the application inheritors to get a handle on the ADS programs.

The development and generation processes of ADS programs were seamlessly integrated into the customer’s development environment. Thus, YOUPLUS could be provided with a uniform and integrated solution.

You Too Can Follow This Way

Do you also want to provide your developers with a modern and integrated development environment? Then contact us! Our modern and integrated development solution Delta IDS is available for many environments, e.g. ADS on Eclipse Eclipse-based development environments, as ADS on Visual Studio for Microsoft Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code. In addition, active Delta customers receive the upgrade to the latest Delta ADS version free of charge.

You can also go this way and simplify the maintenance and development of your Delta ADS applications - your developers and their application heirs will be grateful.

More about ADS and Delta IDS

You would also like to upgrade your ADS installation and know how you can easily integrate your application development with ADS into your PC-based environments? Then get in touch with us.

With the tools and services from Delta Software Technology, Provinzial Rheinland finished the complete application and data migration from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2, automated and securely, of over 75 IBM IMS databases and over 36,000 artefacts.

Provinzial: Its Modernization Strategy

On their website, the Provinzial Rheinland writes: “Insurances are not sexy – we know that. But it is wise to make provisions.” And further: “The goal of our employees in the office and in the field service: create freedom in the lives of our customers by ensuring a holistic security.” The Provinzial also acts in the same way when modernizing their IT: Create good provision, security and freedom.

“The Delta solution has its advantages in two points that are particularly important to us: Due to the complete automation of the transformation, the ongoing development of the system, as requested by the business, was uninterrupted during the entire project. Due to the in-place migration and a parallel operation concept, we achieved absolute security and quality during the migration. The guaranteed operational “smoothness” in the project, despite the complex modernization, is certainly a unique feature of the solution.”
Stephan Kaiser, Program ‘sponsor’ Provinzial

The central IT systems of insurance company Provinzial Rheinland (Provinzial) are self-developed applications on an IBM mainframe. In the medium term, Provinzial wants to move to an open platform (UNIX/Linux). The first step in their modernization strategy is to migrate all applications and data from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2.

Due to the volume of the Provinzial application systems, the amount and complexity of the required changes, the tight schedule as well as their experiences with the manual conversion of some programs and databases, Provinzial decided on a tailor-made and fully automated solution with the tools from Delta Software Technology (Delta).

Successful Migration with Delta

With Delta’s solution, Provinzial was able to successfully migrate all applications and data completely and absolutely secure from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2 and … at a fixed price.

These advantages of the Delta solution were particularly important for Provinzial:

• Tailor-made solution: Provinzial was free to design the new data model and choose between alternative transformations. This allowed them to directly influence the performance of the applications and ensure that the new data model would be fit for the future.
• Complete replacement of IMS/DB: No emulation, but clean applications as if they had originally been developed with IBM Db2.
• No Freeze: The repeatability of the processes allows the undisturbed parallel further development and maintenance of the modules that will be transformed; blockade times were eliminated.
• Maximum security: This was ensured by the rule-based and automated implementation of all changes, meta-level tests (verification of the transformation rules and complete testing of the transformation results prior to the actual modification of the sources) as well as a continuous, completely closed process (“clean room”) from the analysis to the transformation - instead of implementation “by human hand”.
• Flexibility: Data and application transformation were decoupled and could be performed independently of each other.
• No “point of no-return”: In the case of new recognitions, extensions of the set of rules or new program versions, modules that had already been converted simply went through the transformation process again.
• Audit-proof: Every application and data transformation were automatically and completely documented.
• No follow-up costs, no “footprint”, no “vendor lock-in”: After project completion, there are no licensing or maintenance costs for tools or new runtime components.
• Implementation in-budget at a fixed price
  
  

“We were impressed by the efficiency and flexibility the AMELIO factory was set up and continuously optimised with. The very good and close cooperation with the Delta managers and employees also contributed significantly to the success of the project.”
Ralf Prediger, Provinzial Project manager

The Highlights of the Delta Solution

The change from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2 is a paradigm change that affects not only the storage of data, but also the entire program logic for the data accesses in all applications. In addition to the data transformation, extensive changes to the programs were therefore necessary. However, the functionality, interfaces and data structures were not allowed to be changed.

The following highlights describe how Delta met Provinzial’s high requirements.

Clean Relational Data Model and Migration of the Data

Due to the technological differences of the database models, implicit definitions of the accesses, structural features and others, a 1:1 transformation of the hierarchical system IBM IMS/DB to the relational IBM Db2 is not possible.

Delta determined the IMS data model that was actually used in the sources and data structures as well as all dependencies and interrelationships. A proposal for the new IBM Db2 data model was automatically generated from this information. On this basis, the experts at Provinzial developed the new relational data model, that will also meet future requirements.

The data model and the mapping rules created by Delta provided the basis for the transformation of the data as well as for the generation of the IBM Db2 accesses, so that changes to the data model automatically and identically affected the application and data transformation.

Service programs generated with Delta ADS were used to migrate the data from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2.

Fully automated transformation with AMELIO Modernization Platform

In an iterative process, Delta built a customised transformation factory for Provinzial with the AMELIO Modernization Platform. This factory works rule-based and fully automated according to a clean room concept. All changes are implemented consistently and audit-proof in all sources without any manual interventions. The transformations were perfectly tailored to the requirements of the project. Operational features, standards or special implementation rules for the performance improvement were also considered.

The complete automation of the transformation guarantees maximum security on the one hand, and on the other hand it enables flexibility and short reaction times for new requirements. In addition, the testing effort is drastically reduced by the rule-based working method.

Implementation of Data Services

Data services were automatically generated for the accesses to IBM Db2. They deliver the data and status values exactly as required by the programs - despite the paradigm change.

The logic of the programs and the interfaces were not changed, naming conventions and programming guidelines were considered. The decoupling of application and data accesses has the additional advantage that changes to the data model must not have any effect on the programs.

Extra Security and Flexibility through Special In-Place Migration

The migration was performed step by step as a so-called in-place migration. For this purpose, all data accesses were performed simultaneously on both database systems, i.e. for IBM IMS/DB and also for IBM Db2. For control purposes, a switch system was implemented that would have allowed the re-activation of the old system in production at the push of a button at any time in the case of an error. In this way, all data could be compared automatically and all programs could be verified - and not only in the test environments, but also in the productive environments.

Subsequently, AMELIO CleanUp Factory was used to remove again all code components for accessing IBM IMS/DB and for the switch control of the in-place migration step. The result is clean sources, just as if they had originally been developed for IBM Db2.

“Thanks to Delta's transformation strategy, Provinzial succeeded in migrating absolutely securely from IBM IMS to IBM Db2. At the same time, this solution gave us absolute flexibility, as components that had already been transformed and those that had not yet been transformed could be used productively together without any problems.”
Ralf Prediger, Project Manager of Provinzial

Performance

The change from extremely fast IMS databases, whose application programs are often precisely aligned with the storage structures, to the more flexible Db2 databases, which are suitable for ad-hoc requests, often leads to losses in performance. Provinzial also feared this. However, due to the automated migration and the possibility to individually adapt the transformation rules, there were no performance losses. The specifications for the performance of the migrated applications were met to Provinzial’s complete satisfaction: A goal that was achieved in particular thanks to the good cooperation with the Provinzial project team.

Delta Tools for Tailor-made fully automated Migration

The following tools from Delta Software Technology were used for the fully automated transformation of the applications and migration of the data:

• AMELIO Logic Discovery
  The comprehensive assessment of the applications with AMELIO Logic Discovery provided the information on all the project's sticking points, for the migration strategy, a precise planning and the reliable cost calculation.
• AMELIO Modernization Platform
  The tailor-made, fully automated transformation with AMELIO Modernisation Platform guaranteed the consistent and audit-proof migration of the applications.
  In this project, AMELIO was also used to gain additional security and flexibility in the project through in-place migration.
• AMELIO CleanUp Factory
  Clean, fully automated removal of all superfluous code.
• Delta ADS
  Automatic generation of the data transformers for the migration of all data from IBM IMS to IBM Db2.
  
  

The Company Provinzial

The Provinzial Group is a public insurance group. With a gross premium volume of more than 6 billion Euros, it is one of the ten largest German insurers. The former Provinzial Rheinland Versicherung AG (Provinzial Versicherung AG since the end of 2021 following the merger with the westfälische Provinzial), which is headquartered in Düsseldorf, offers its private and corporate customers products and advice on all insurance topics, including home, liability, motor vehicle, accident, life, pension, occupational disability, health, long-term care, legal protection, and more.

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Further Informations

Hier finden Sie weitere Artikel zum Thema:

• Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
• Automatically replacing IBM IMS/DB
• Successfully Replace IMS Databases
• IBM IMS/DB? Modernization Now!
• Modernization Project at BSQ Bauspar AG
  
  

Gothaer Systems migrates its IBM IMS Databases to IBM Db2 together with Delta Software Technology.

Automatically migrating from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2 was Gothaer Systems' task. The goal of operating only one database system on the mainframe brought Gothaer Systems and Delta Software Technology together. Delta offered the solution of know-how, suitable tools and services for this task. By building a tailor-made factory with the AMELIO Modernization Platform, the necessary steps for the transformation could be implemented automated, well calculated and at low risk.

Gothaer’s motives

The maintenance and costs of two database management systems on the mainframe (IBM z/OS) are expensive, tie up resources and slow down innovation. The knowledge or knowhow carriers about IMS/DB will soon retire and young developers in this field are hardly available. For these reasons, Gothaer Systems (Gothaer) sought to migrate its IBM IMS/DB stored data to new IBM Db2 structures. The IMS/DB calls in existing database access programs (COBOL and Delta ADS) were to be implemented automatically in such a way that the IMS databases were completely replaced. The runtime behaviour and the performance of the converted programs were not to be impaired.

“By migrating from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2 together with Delta, we have successfully mastered the next big step in the ‘Smarter Mainframe’ project.”
Burkhard Oppenberg, CIO, Gothaer Systems

Due to the volume, the scope of the required adaptations, as well as a tight timeframe, a manual transformation did not seem advisable. High demands were placed on the quality of the adaptations to be implemented in order to reduce the test effort and duration. These requirements were met by an automatic transformation. For this purpose, Delta Software Technology (Delta) used the AMELIO Modernization Platform (AMELIO) and built a tailor-made transformation factory for Gothaer.

Advantages of the Delta Solution

For Gothaer, the following advantages of the Delta solution were particularly important:

• Tailor-made (automated) transformations
• Transformations can be retraced and reproduced at any time.
• Further development and maintenance are not impaired
• No freeze periods
• No foot-print or vendor lock-in, hence no follow-up costs for licensing
• Implementation in budget with a fixed price
  
  

Large-scale Project successfully completed

Transformation of programs and data models according to customer requirements

At the beginning, all applications were analysed for data accesses and an initial set of rules was defined for how the new Db2 accesses should look and how affected code should be transformed. In addition, proposals for the relational data base models were created by Delta and coordinated with the Gothaer. Data services for the data accesses and data transformers were then generated from the models fully automatically.
Thus, in close coordination between Gothaer and Delta, the AMELIO Modernisation factory was successfully trained and continuously expanded. Coding standards and specifications by the DB administrators were also considered. During the setup phase, the regular maintenance and further development continued at Gothaer. The resulting new versions of source modules were included into the ongoing AMELIO work. After successful transformation of the applications, they were handed over to Gothaer for meta-level testing and release.

Approval and Test of the Applications

To verify that the factory was working correctly, an application test was performed based on the meta-level test concept. This concept is based on the fact that if the factory correctly implements a rule once, it will always implement it correctly. With a factory approach, the tests can therefore be limited to a test set of representative test cases that cover all analysis and transformation rules. As a result, Gothaer was able to drastically reduce the testing effort and save expensive testing time.

“With Delta, we have found a reliable partner. A constructive cooperation with ideas and ‘short paths’ has made this project a success.”
Stephanie Bethmann, Project Management

Conversion of Data Access and Data Transformation

The changes in the COBOL and ADS programs should be as small as possible. For this reason, the accesses to the Db2 databases were outsourced to data services generated by Delta. In doing so, existing data services from Gothaer were used. This decoupling of application and data access has the additional advantage that not every later change to the database model has a direct impact on the calling programs.

Based on the new data models, data transformers could also be created fully automatically, which transferred the data from IMS/DB to Db2.

In 2 Years from IMS/DB to Db2

The conversion was implemented in manageable packages and not with a big bang. In 2 years time, all requested IMS databases and all of their data and applications have now been successfully transformed to Db2 and are in productive use.

“As ProjectOwner, I am particularly pleased that the well-calculated IMS/DB replacement with Delta went so smoothly and on time, and that the result is convincing across the board.”
Michael Buchwald, ProjectOwner

The Project from Gothaer's Point of view

The Gothaer is more than satisfied with the project, all work carried out at a fixed price. They appreciate the flexibility with which Delta responded to challenges and how easy it was to provide the factory with changed versions. The performance was considered and optimized together in order to be able to guarantee the usual performance with Db2 as well, and thus to achieve the best performance potential of the applications.

In addition, the new data models meet the current requirements, they are future-proof and enable new and more flexible accesses. For example, attributes can now be addressed individually in SQL queries instead of using predefined keys.

The meta-level testing is also mentioned prominently - massive cost savings could be realized here, since each change did not have to be viewed manually.

The entire migration project ran smoothly and without any downtime – on the contrary: Gothaer was able to further develop the applications in parallel.

At Gothaer, the replacement of old technologies is a further step in the modernization of its IT landscape. The complete connection of today’s operative systems on the host - in the context of new projects - is made much easier and makes a decisive contribution to the digitalization and the accelerated implementation of new technical requirements.

About Gothaer Systems

“Gothaer Systems is the central IT service provider of the Gothaer Group. We ensure that Gothaer is always at the cutting edge of information technology: through innovations and continuous further development of technology and organization. We also provide the infrastructure for accessing data and business processes. This is how we ensure a high level of IT quality within the Group - and thus support Gothaer’s business.”

Get to know AMELIO and Delta

Due to the high degree of automation, transformations can be repeated, comprehended and reproduced at any time. Freeze periods are reduced to a few hours. The migration can be divided into packages and the result is applications that can be continuously used and maintained without footprint and vendor lock-in.

• Would you like to learn more about modernization projects or are you planning refactorings?
• Do you want to migrate an application package to a new platform?

Like Gothaer and other customers, go the well calculated, secure and perfect way with Delta and consolidate your database systems. We would be happy to show you the possibilities offered by the AMELIO Modernization Platform. We are looking forward to your contact.

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Futher Informationen

Here you can find more articles on the subject:

• Provinzial realizes complete migration from IBM IMS/DB to IBM Db2 with Delta
• Automatically replacing IBM IMS/DB
• Successfully Replace IMS Databases
• IBM IMS/DB? Modernization Now!
• Modernization Project at BSQ Bauspar AG
  
  

Existing applications have accumulated a lot of technical debt over the years. Removing it could speed up maintenance significantly. In reality the task of improve the software by removing the obsolete parts is seldom performed. The risk of introducing errors and the cost of testing is the biggest reason for not doing anything.

RDW wants to reduce technical debt in its decennia old applications. Goal is to improve flexibility and make them fit for the future.
But:

• What measures are possible or necessary?
• Which parts of the source code can be deleted, which need to be rewritten and how?
• Which correlations and effects do exist?
• And what is the best way to proceed?

To answer these and a lot of other questions for an application of about 5.500 programs and 8.5 million lines of code without doubt, RDW decided to use AMELIO Logic Discovery.

RDW has the Advantage of the New Release

RDW also profits from the new features in release 2.0. AMELIO Logic Discovery now offers two new perspectives. KnowledgeBase and CallTree are the addition to the existing perspectives that enable to (re)gain insight in the application.

AMELIO Logic Discovery offers new, flexible and structured views on our applications. Especially the logical views help us to find and understand the bottlenecks in our application.
Marcel Rozema (Senior Software Architekt, RDW)

Can we help you understanding your applications?

Are you also, like RDW, feeling the need to improve understanding of your application, want to reduce technical debt or modernize and are looking for a secure way towards that goal?
Contact us and we are glad to show you what our AMELIO portfolio can offer you.

About RDW

RDW ICT is the IT service provider of the national vehicle authority of The Netherlands. Their main tasks include the inspection and registration of vehicles, market authorisation of vehicles, administration of driving licenses, information services for the police – in total more than 300 million transactions annually.

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