Dear Reader,
When you think about modernising your central IT applications, do you already have a solution for the following problems:
- How can technical debts be safely eliminated or how can you modernise your applications without accumulating new technical debts?
- How do you get a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the current implementation of the applications?
Read on to learn about how your colleagues in other companies solve these problems.
We also have new versions of our products AMELIO Logic Discovery and ADS. Plan the update of your installation with us now.
We wish you an inspiring read.
Your Delta Software Technology Team
Large Financial Service Provider Succeeds in Secure Platform Change with AMELIO
Away from the Mainframe at the Push of a Button: Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform Enables Large Building Society to Replace Platforms Securely
A leading building society consolidates its platforms and has therefore replaced their IBM mainframe with Red Hat Linux.
The migration of the central, strongly interconnected applications with more than 4,500 programs and over 1,000 DB2 tables, involved particular risks: parallel changes and further development, performance in the new environment, ...
Find out here how this challenge was mastered:
Large Financial Service Provider Succeeds in Secure Platform Change with AMELIO
Large Financial Service Provider Succeeds in Secure Platform Change with AMELIO
Away from the Mainframe at the Push of a Button:
Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform Enables Large Building Society to Replace Platforms Securely
A leading building society consolidates its platforms and has therefore replaced their IBM mainframe with Red Hat Linux. The migration of the central, strongly interconnected applications, however, involved particular risks, e.g., due to parallel changes and further development. Also, the performance in the new environment was a major concern. With the AMELIO tools from Delta Software Technology, this company successfully migrated its highly critical core application.
The project management particularly praised the good cooperation with the manufacturer. Delta offered the project at a fixed price and was nevertheless very flexible in responding to special requests. Due to the good cooperation with Delta, the transformed application exactly meets the company's requirements.
The Business-critical Centrepiece
The building society sees its social mandate in fulfilling people's desire for home ownership. In order to perfectly support its services, the heart of the IT applications, the core booking system, was developed in-house: Several thousand programs with millions of lines of code process data in one thousand database tables and perfectly support employees in their daily work for several million customers.
Requirements: Absolute Security and Parallel Further Development
As part of the corporate-wide platform consolidation, the core booking system was to be migrated from the previous IBM zOS CICS platform with DB2 databases to Red Hat Linux with Oracle.
The importance of the application resulted in additional requirements for the migration solution:
- No disruption of the day-to-day business
- Permanent availability of the subsystems for parallel changes and further development, no blocking, no freezing
- Consistent adoption of changes and further developments of the productive application for the migration
- Audit-proof documentation of all changes
However, the migration of the core booking system was only part of an extensive overall project. This meant that changes that resulted from other sub-projects had to be considered in the transformation of the core booking system on time. It was also necessary to react flexibly to schedule changes in other projects.
Technical Data
Technical Data of the Project
The project: Migration of a central application
- Platform replacement: IBM z/OS CICS → Red Hat Linux + Micro Focus EDz
- Application transformation: IBM VS COBOL → Micro Focus COBOL
- Database replacement: IBM DB2 → Oracle DB
- Data and application conversion: EBCDIC → ASCII
- Data migration
The sources:
- 4.500 Programs
- 16.000 Copybooks
- 11 Mio. Lines of Code COBOL
- 1.000 IBM DB2 Tables
The Tailor-made Solution with AMELIO
The financial service provider decided to work with the modernisation specialist Delta Software Technology. Delta offered the company a tailor-made and at the same time fully automated transformation of its core booking system with AMELIO tools at a fixed price.
The Delta tools used:
- AMELIO Logic Discovery
Complete analysis of the application in advance to determine all the key points and pitfalls for the project. - AMELIO Modernization Platform
This adaptive transformation factory works rule-based. As a result, it can be perfectly tailored to the requirements and it also implements operational peculiarities, standards or special rules to improve performance.
Delta's AMELIO Modernization Platform works fully automated applying a clean room concept: All changes are implemented consistently and in an audit-proof manner in all sources without any manual intervention. - Data Transformers
Based on the results of the application analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery, Delta generated tailor-made data transformers that performed the migration of all data.
With AMELIO Modernization Platform, Delta has configured a highly specialised transformation factory that is perfectly tailored to the project and that automatically, i.e. without manual intervention, implemented the specified mass changes to the programs of the core booking system.
This approach enabled the company to transform new versions of their sources, which emerged from maintenance and further development or by the effects of other projects, at any time during the duration of the project.
Performance
The project management was impressed by the efficiency and flexibility with which the AMELIO factory was set up, continuously optimized and adapted to their needs.
Just one example for the good cooperation and the flexibility of the solution: Everyone who leaves the mainframe worries about the performance of the applications. During the course of the project, performance tests showed that the components in the new environment behaved differently than expected. Delta changed the transformation rules for certain accesses and simply transformed the application again. And the problem was solved!
Planning Reliability and Fixed Costs
Before the project started, Delta performed a complete assessment of all sources with AMELIO Logic Discovery. Through the results of this assessment, the financial service provider has already gained important knowledge for the planning and implementation of the project:
- Which transformations are required?
- What are the key points and pitfalls?
- What are the dependencies?
- How can packages be tailored to bring them into production piece by piece instead of a big bang?
- And what about the project schedule? Which timeframe is realistic?
Moreover, this preparation gave the company additional security with regard to costs:
After the detailed assessment, Delta offered the entire transformation at a fixed price and nevertheless responded to additional requests during the project with extraordinary flexibility.
Successful Transformation In Time and In Budget
With the AMELIO tools from Delta Software Technology, the financial service provider was able to securely migrate the centrepiece of the system, the large, business-critical application developed in COBOL, from the mainframe to the new environment in parallel with ongoing operations.
The following advantages were particularly important for the company:
- During the entire project, the normal maintenance and further development could continue undisturbed. The resulting changes were neatly adopted into the transformation of the application.
- The solution considered the company's own standards and the project management was free to choose between implementation variants.
- The Delta solution also helped optimising the application for the new platform. New insights into the runtime behaviour of the application in the new environment could automatically be applied for the transformation of the entire application.
- The partial packages were taken into production step by step - without a big bang.
- The application performed well in the new environment
- No footprint, no vendor lock-in: Delta’s tools are no longer required after the transformation. The company does not incur any follow-up costs.
A degree of automation of 99.5% was achieved by using the AMELIO Modernization Platform, i.e. 4,478 programs of 4,500 programs were transformed completely automatically. 22 programs required a special solution. They were modified in advance before they were also transformed completely automatically.
The company's project manager and the managing director of Delta Software Technology, Dr. Daniela Schilling agree:
"The open communication and the excellent cooperation between all employees and those responsible made a significant contribution to the success of the project."
Delta Software Technology
Delta Software Technology is a specialist for automated solutions that help their customers to develop and modernise their individual IT applications securely and sustainably.
Delta's tools and tailor-made solutions are particularly characterised by reliably calculable costs as well as sustainable and future-proof investment security. Customers reduce costs and risks for the maintenance, modernisation and re-implementation of their applications and gain flexibility, freedom of choice and security.
RDW uses AMELIO Logic Discovery for decision-making
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.
Find out how RDW efficiently reduces technical debt ...
RDW uses AMELIO Logic Discovery for decision-making
RDW uses AMELIO Logic Discovery for decision-making
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.
Also read ...
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21093.02
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.
Read more
Understanding Applications: Finding instead of Searching
AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you to (re) understand your large and complex COBOL, PL/I and ADS applications.
The two new perspectives “KnowledgeBase” and “CallTree” speeds up this process.
Further information about AMELIO Logic Discovery you can find here:
Understanding Applications: Finding instead of Searching
Understanding Applications: Finding instead of Searching
AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you to (re) understand your large and complex COBOL, PL/I and ADS applications. The two new perspectives “KnowledgeBase” and “CallTree” speeds up this process.
KnowledgeBase – Finding instead of Searching
With the KnowledgeBase perspective, you get an overview of all analysed artifacts at the push of a button. You can quickly and safely find the access to the modules that are relevant for your task.
Furthermore,
- You get analysis information on groups of artifacts as well as on each individual artifact
- You will find out which (code) patterns were found and how often, both for the entire application, for groups of artifacts or just individual artifacts
- You can use the comment function to record findings and make them available to others
- With the bookmarks and tags you get the possibility to mark artifacts of particular interest to find them easier
- With intelligent filter functions, you can simply focus on the artifacts that are relevant to the current task
Query Technology
The new query technology expands the KnowledgeBase perspective and provides you with exactly the modules that are relevant for your task. In addition to the ready-made queries, you can now easily define your own queries with the query builder.
Overview in the Application Network
One question that always recurs is to identify dependencies in the network of artifacts: Who is calling whom and who is being called by whom? AMELIO Logic Discovery provides that too at the push of a button. The new CallTree perspective is the counterpart to the established ProgramTree perspective. For a program, it shows the other programs from which it is called.
And beyond,
- You receive information about the program interfaces, which parameters are expected and which are actually transferred
- Decision tables show you clearly and unambiguously which conditions must be fulfilled to enable a program to be called.
Ensure the Success of your Project through optimal Application Analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery
Do you want to (re) understand your application, carry out a migration or modernization project?
Or get rid of technical debt from your applications?
AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you with this and automatically provides all the information you need. Try it.
You can find more information about AMELIO Logic Discovery on our website ... or just contact us directly.
Also read ...
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21093.02
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.
Read more
Support Information: New Product Versions available
We have released new versions of the following products:
- AMELIO Logic Discovery 2.1.1
- ADS for COBOL 6.4.4 - for all Platforms
- ADS on Micro Focus Enterprise Developer 7.2.0
- ADS on Eclipse 7.2.0
- Generator Engine 6.5.2 for IBM z/OS; Windows, Linux, ...
You can find more information about new features and fixes here:
Support Information: New Product Versions available
Support Information: New Product Versions available
We have released new versions of the following products:
- AMELIO Logic Discovery 2.1.1
- ADS for COBOL 6.4.4 - for all platforms
- ADS on Micro Focus Enterprise Developer 7.2.0
- ADS on Eclipse 7.2.0
- Generator Engine 6.5.2 for IBM z/OS; Windows, Linux, ...
AMELIO Logic Discovery: Better overview faster with new perspectives
Benefit from the new features: Besides the proven perspectives, the new release AMELIO Logic Discovery 2.1 now provides two further perspectives (KnowledgeBase and CallTree) that helps you to (re)gain the knowledge about your applications. Furthermore, we have created the possibility of annotating each artifact in order to secure knowledge and to further facilitate the work in the team.
Do you also want to re-understand your application, remove technical debts like our customer RDW or modernize like the IT service provider msg systems and do you look for a secure way to achieve your goal? Then get in touch with us, we will be happy to show you, using your examples, how you can easily understand your applications and modernize them securely with AMELIO.
Delta ADS on Micro Focus Enterprise Developer: Final release available now
With ADS on Micro Focus Enterprise Developer you can standardize your working environments for the application development. ADS on Micro Focus ED integrates all ADS tools seamlessly into your individual development environment.
For this purpose, a suitable function package was created for the Application Workbench Manager (AWM), which helps with the generation on the host and supports the local generation with access to host datasets, e.g. via FTPS.
Delta ADS on Eclipse: Offers even more
ADS on Eclipse has been extended with various convenience functions: The ADS XREF view now provides additional information on the generations and the post-generation debugger can be called directly from there. In addition, there is support for the ftp and ftps protocol in search paths.
Besides the development environments mentioned above, the plug-in is also available for other Eclipse-based development environments and for Microsoft Visual Studio.
Further information
Our customers can find detailed information on new functions and corrections in the release notes in the support area of our website.
Request information and updates directly. The list of our current product versions can be found here.
Download Newsletter
Download Language: Englisch - Version: nl21021.02
Content
- Large Financial Service Provider Succeeds in Secure Platform Change with AMELIO
- RDW uses AMELIO Logic Discovery for decision-making
- Understanding Applications: Finding instead of Searching
- Support Information: New Product Versions available
AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you to (re) understand your large and complex COBOL, PL/I and ADS applications. The two new perspectives “KnowledgeBase” and “CallTree” speeds up this process.
KnowledgeBase – Finding instead of Searching
With the KnowledgeBase perspective, you get an overview of all analysed artifacts at the push of a button. You can quickly and safely find the access to the modules that are relevant for your task.
Furthermore,
- You get analysis information on groups of artifacts as well as on each individual artifact
- You will find out which (code) patterns were found and how often, both for the entire application, for groups of artifacts or just individual artifacts
- You can use the comment function to record findings and make them available to others
- With the bookmarks and tags you get the possibility to mark artifacts of particular interest to find them easier
- With intelligent filter functions, you can simply focus on the artifacts that are relevant to the current task
Query Technology
The new query technology expands the KnowledgeBase perspective and provides you with exactly the modules that are relevant for your task. In addition to the ready-made queries, you can now easily define your own queries with the query builder.
Overview in the Application Network
One question that always recurs is to identify dependencies in the network of artifacts: Who is calling whom and who is being called by whom? AMELIO Logic Discovery provides that too at the push of a button. The new CallTree perspective is the counterpart to the established ProgramTree perspective. For a program, it shows the other programs from which it is called.
And beyond,
- You receive information about the program interfaces, which parameters are expected and which are actually transferred
- Decision tables show you clearly and unambiguously which conditions must be fulfilled to enable a program to be called.
Ensure the Success of your Project through optimal Application Analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery
Do you want to (re) understand your application, carry out a migration or modernization project?
Or get rid of technical debt from your applications?
AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you with this and automatically provides all the information you need. Try it.
You can find more information about AMELIO Logic Discovery on our website ... or just contact us directly.
Also read ...
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21093.02
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.
Read more
Dear Reader,
As much as the pandemic restricts us - professionally as well as privately: it creates the opportunity for many companies to tackle long-needed projects in software development.
The modernisation as well as the re-implementation and maintenance of your applications cause high costs and considerable risks for the operational business. You can reduce costs and, above all, risks through automated solutions.
Find out today about automated assessments, complete analyses and customised clean-ups that can help you make better use of your resources and reduce risks for your projects.
We hope you enjoy reading and welcome any feedback!
Your Delta Software Technology Team
3 Important Steps for the Sustainable Software Modernisation
You value the reliability, speed and functionality of your COBOL and PL/I applications?
These applications are an indispensable part of your application landscape for you in the future?
You want your operational back-end applications to be permanently of good quality?
But: You also want to implement changes quickly and benefit from new technologies. You want to play it safe with all changes.
We show you 3 steps that will help you modernise your applications securely and sustainably.
3 Important Steps for the Sustainable Software Modernisation
3 Important Steps for the Sustainable Software Modernisation
- Do you value the functionality and reliability of your COBOL and PL/I applications?
- Are you struggling with the complexity and do you lack precise knowledge about the implementation of the functionality?
- Have you also been reducing your investment in existing backend applications for a long time and your experts and knowledge carriers are on their way to retirement?
- Do you want to modernise your operational backend applications and benefit from new technologies while playing it safe with all changes?
We discuss 4 steps that will help you to modernise your applications securely and sustainably. Read now:
Best Practices for Application Modernisation
Although there are countless reasons for application modernisation, the overarching goal is always to reduce the risks of legacy applications, save costs, increase organisational agility with modern IT and, last but not least, be attractive to new specialists.
The following 4 steps will help you to modernise your applications securely and sustainably.
- Custom-fit Assessments for good decisions: For detailed information, read ‘4 Important Steps for Sustainable Software Modernisation (Step 1: Custom Fit Assessments)’
- Automated Application Analysis for a comprehensive and accurate (re)understanding of the implemented application logic in order to reduce risks and costs for modernisation or new implementation and ensure easy knowledge transfer. For detailed information, read ‘4 Important Steps for Sustainable Software Modernisation (Step 2: Automated Application Analysis)’
- Agile Clean-up to optimise the use of your resources.
- Fully Automated Transformation for a completely secure and flexible modernisation.
Simplify Your Legacy Application Modernisation
For almost 50 years, our customers have benefited from our automated solutions to develop their customised IT applications securely and sustainably while reducing costs and risks. From our experience with very large projects, we can say that most of the applications developed in COBOL and PL/I or created by generators are very large and complex because the business logic they implement is extensive and complex.
Application size, complexity and strong interconnectivity of the individual components, code that is no longer required in the applications as well as a lack of knowledge about the applications' implementation and inappropriate documentation hinder safe, effective and efficient modernisation.
So, how do you gain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the applications that enables secure modernisation and flawless transformation of your valuable legacy applications into future-proof applications?
So, how can you attain good decisions and realistic planning, get a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the applications and execute a reliable clean-up that enables a secure modernisation and error-free transformation of your valuable legacy applications into future-proof applications?
Step 1: Custom-fit Assessments
Step 1
Custom-fit Assessments for Good Decisions
So, how can you attain good decisions and realistic planning that enables a secure modernisation and error-free transformation of your valuable legacy applications into future-proof applications?
The solution is an assessment. But, be careful: It is not enough - as many providers propose - to simply list a few figures about the approximate size and number of modules in order to receive reliable estimates of the effort and costs. The risks, as so often, lie in the details.
Of course, rough decisions and gut feeling could also lead to success. As a rule, however, they lead to delays (also in other projects) and significant cost increases and, unfortunately, often also to the failure of modernisation projects.
In its Chaos Report 2019, the Standish Group reports that 83.9% of IT projects fail partially or completely. The following reasons for failure are repeatedly cited in studies:
- Badly defined requirements
- Poorly defined or unrealistic planning
- Inaccurate and unrealistic estimates
The modernisation projects that we have implemented for large financial service providers have shown that only a complete analysis of all sources in advance provides reliable information. The emphasis here is placed on Complete and All. This is the only way to recognize all obstacles and dependencies. This is the only way to make good decisions and eliminate the risks.
Tailor-made Assessment - Why?
Simply collecting all the data about your applications will not help you to reliably assess the risks and costs of extensive changes. This can only be achieved by an analysis that is precisely tailored to your project goal and your applications.
Our projects have shown us that a targeted and individually tailored analysis of the applications is a crucial basis for:
- The exact definition of the requirements
- Reliable planning
- Inaccurate and unrealistic estimates
The modernisation projects that we have implemented for large financial service providers have shown that only a complete analysis of all sources in advance provides reliable information. The emphasis here is placed on Complete and All. This is the only way to recognize all obstacles and dependencies. This is the only way to make good decisions and eliminate the risks.
Tailor-made Assessment - Why?
Simply collecting all the data about your applications will not help you to reliably assess the risks and costs of extensive changes. This can only be achieved by an analysis that is precisely tailored to your project goal and your applications.
Our projects have shown us that a targeted and individually tailored analysis of the applications is a crucial basis for:
- The exact definition of the requirements
- Reliable planning
- The realistic assessment of the risks and efforts
A tailor-made assessment finds all stumbling blocks and helps to precisely define the requirements for a project, enables precise planning and thus paves the way for the successful implementation.
What Can We Do for You?
If you want to ensure the success of your modernisation projects, find out about the possibilities of our tailor-made application assessments.
You can find an initial overview in our flyer “Application Assessment: Don't Guess – Assess”.
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21085.02
Tailor-made application assessments enable you to pinpoint and to reliably evaluate all critical issues for your projects. They help you to accomplish your projects in the areas of modernisation, migration, mass changes and clean-up of your COBOL and PL/I applications successfully in time and in budget.
Read moreEvery project is different and our flyer just gives you a first general idea. To get the best solution for you, you should directly discuss the requirements and details of your project with us.
Step 2: Automated Application Analysis
Step 2
Automated Application Analysis – Why?
Regardless of whether you want to modernise the functionality of your backend applications by changing the data management system or replacing individual technology modules, or whether you want to redevelop them using ‘modern’ languages, you always need to know exactly what is currently implemented and how it is implemented.
Understanding large and complex applications is a Herculean task! Especially if you have not developed the applications yourself and even more so if the original developers are no longer available. The documentation - if available and up-to-date - does not provide the knowledge about the implementation of the functionality that is necessary for understanding and modernising or rewriting.
Even if the applications were originally well structured, this design has often suffered over the decades. Old architectures and techniques are used. New code was repeatedly added to fulfil new requirements. However, code that was no longer needed was rarely removed, as there was no real certainty that this code was no longer needed under any circumstances and the cost and effort of testing was spared. It is generally estimated that the proportion of ‘dead code’ in applications increases by around 10% per decade. This also prevents precise understanding.
Poor understanding of existing applications leads to
- poorly or even incorrectly defined requirements
- poorly defined and unrealistic planning
- unrealistic estimates of risks and expenses
- errors during modernisation or new implementation
Read also ‘Chaos Report 2019 by the Standish Group’ for more details.
In addition, a lack of understanding of existing applications usually also leads to delays (also in other projects) and significant cost increases and, unfortunately, often to the failure of modernisation projects.
Really Understanding Applications – A Dream?
The truth or rather the entire knowledge about your applications, their functionality and their actual implementation is in the current source code!
But beware: It is not enough - as many providers propagate - to simply visualise the application code, data usage and possibly also the dependencies. Some tools, especially those that are also used for maintenance, also offer step-by-step execution of the code. All of this is not enough to really understand the applications and their implementation.
But, the good news is: this knowledge can be recovered quickly using our automated application analysis.
Proper Structuring and Logical Abstraction
Real understanding can only be gained through the right structuring and logical abstraction, through the ability to view the analysed code under varying aspects and from different perspectives and, above all, to be able to abstract the implementation across multiple levels.
The aim is not only to visualise the physical code and data structures, but also to determine the logical components of the source code and the conditions for their interaction. This is the only way to derive the implemented functions, their interfaces and the conditions for their execution.
To simplify knowledge transfer, onboarding and subject-specific communication, the information also needs to be presented in a language-neutral way.
Automated Application Analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery
AMELIO Logic Discovery is an innovative analysis tool that helps you to better understand your native and generated COBOL, PL/I and Delta ADS applications and to comprehensively secure the relevant functionality.
Through in-depth and comprehensive analyses of the applications, AMELIO Logic Discovery determines
- what is implemented
- how it is implemented
- which logical relationships exist
- which components form a logical unit (procedures, composites, ...)
- the conditions under which procedures and components are called or executed
- what the interfaces of these components look like
- which data structures are used, how and where (definition, scope, ...)
The implementation details are abstracted, the information obtained is connected, logically structured and the knowledge about the functionality of the application is derived. The result is a clear, language-neutral and technology-independent visualisation of the application logic, in which users can navigate freely across all levels, in topic-related views and in selectable levels of detail, so that your teams can easily understand the applications.
The modernisation projects we have accomplished for large companies have shown that a precise understanding of the functionality of the existing applications and their implementation is essential for the success of modernisation projects.
AMELIO Logic Discovery offers new, flexible and well-structured views of our applications. Especially the logical views help to find and understand the crucial points in our applications.
Marcel Rozema (Senior Software Architekt, RDW)
AMELIO Logic Discovery offers you a reliable basis for your application modernisation, for the elimination of technical debt, for decisions on the next development steps, for new development with modern languages and for many other tasks.
The AMELIO Tool Family
AMELIO Logic Discovery can be extended according to your specific needs. For example, it is possible to use code-smell analyses to determine whether company-specific coding standards are being violated and, if so, where. For modernisation projects, the ‘points of interest’ and thus possible crucial points can be determined automatically.
Especially for clean-up and modernisation projects, AMELIO Logic Discovery can be combined with other tools from the AMELIO family to perform the necessary changes to the source code in a fully automated and audit-proof manner.
Our tools help you to analyse COBOL, PL/I and Delta ADS applications in a targeted manner, to adapt them quickly and securely to new requirements and technical infrastructures and to reliably assess risks.
This (and more) is what we can do for you!
If you want to reduce the risks and costs for your modernisation projects and to make it easier for your teams to really (re)understand your applications, then find out now about the possibilities of our automated application analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery.
We offer you an initial overview in our flyer ‘Analysis for COBOL & PL/I - (re)understanding applications’
Download Language: Englisch - Version: MT21098.02
AMELIO Logic Discovery is an innovative analysis tool that helps you to better understand your native and generated COBOL, PL/I and Delta ADS applications and to comprehensively secure the relevant functionality.
Read moreFurther information on AMELIO Logic Discovery can also be found here:
AMELIO Logic Discovery: Really Understanding COBOL, PL/I, Delta ADS Applications
Every project is different and our flyers only give you an initial overview. To get the best solution for you, you should discuss the requirements and details of your project with us directly.
Step 3: Agile Clean-up
Step 3
First Clean Up, Then Modernise - Why?
How often have you removed code from productive applications? Were you sure about it or did you feel queasy because you were not 100% sure whether this code would really never be needed again? Or did you simply add the new functions, thinking that code that won't be executed won’t do any harm? And if you only add code, you only need to test this code. So everything is OK? Not at all!
With the important backend applications in COBOL and PL/I, which have been in use for decades, it is not uncommon for 25 - 40% of the code to be no longer required. This code impairs readability, makes it difficult to understand the applications and not only drives up maintenance costs, but it is also a significant hurdle to modernisation and obstruct development processes.
Technical debt and neglected clean-ups in productive applications are responsible for
- poorly defined and unrealistic project planning
- higher maintenance costs and maintenance delays
- slower development and higher workload for developers
- bumpy development processes
- greater risk due to security vulnerabilities
- larger module sizes and therefore higher system load
- higher costs and risks for modernisation projects
- lack of future sustainability of applications
- poorer support for business processes
- and much more ...
It is therefore worth to execute clean-ups and the elimination of so-called technical debt before starting to modernise and also at regular intervals or as part of the maintenance. After all, you also regularly declutter your possessions or take your car in for a service so that you can enjoy and benefit from the things you really need for as long as possible.
Automated and Agile Clean-up of Applications - Why?
The requirements for the clean-up are high:
- Ongoing operations must not be disrupted under any circumstances.
- The maintenance and further development of the applications must not be impaired in any way.
- A step-by-step approach is required as it economises resources.
- The clean-up should be automated in order to ensure audit compliance.
Normally, software clean-ups are carried out manually (if at all). The variety of possible clean-ups is executed programme by programme. However, not all necessary or possible clean-up measures are always known from the outset. Some can only be recognised when other measures have already been completed.
It is safer and more manageable if a specific clean-up is executed for all programs or program packages at the same time. This may require programs to be tackled several times. Risk and effort can be minimised with an automated procedure that can be used as often as required for clean-ups and that can also be expanded to include new clean-ups.
All this is guaranteed by cleaning up your software with AMELIO CleanUp, our washing machine for software. AMELIO CleanUp also offers an agile approach:
- New clean-up measures can be added gradually.
- The applications can be divided into manageable packages and the measures to be applied can be defined separately for each package.
- Each package can be processed by the washing machine as often as required.
For more information, read the report from our customer RDW: ‘RDW eliminates technical debt with Delta's automated solution’.
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21093.02
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.
Read moreAutomated, Secure and Efficient Cleaning with AMELIO CleanUp - the Washing Machine for Your Software
AMELIO CleanUp is an innovative solution that cleans up your native and generated COBOL, PL/I and Delta ADS applications securely and automatically - a washing machine for your software.
You can
- define any number of steps for the clean-up
- use ready-made wash programmes
- have project-specific wash programmes developed iteratively
The washing machine AMELIO CleanUp will be perfectly customised to your situation. Each wash programme solves a problem in all applications. Several wash programmes can be run in one wash cycle. After each wash programme, the sources can be returned directly to production.
The clean-up of your applications is performed in stages, fully automated and therefore absolutely audit-proof. This is the very best preparation for your modernisation projects.
The projects we have accomplished for large companies have shown: it pays off to eliminate technical debt: A (regular) clean-up increases software quality, reduces costs (TCO) and ensures that applications are future-proof. It also significantly reduces costs and risks for modernisation projects.
"AMELIO CleanUp allows us to make our applications future-proof in small steps and without any freeze time."
Roland Römer, Product Owner, RDW ICT
AMELIO - The Tool Family for Your Successful Software Modernisation
Our tools help you to analyse COBOL, PL/I and Delta ADS applications in a targeted manner, to adapt them quickly and securely to new requirements and technical infrastructures, and to reliably assess risks.
Our tailor-made Assessment, AMELIO Logic Discovery and AMELIO CleanUp offer you a reliable basis for your application modernisation, for the elimination of technical debt, for decisions on the next development steps, for new development with modern languages and for many other tasks.
This (and more) is what we can do for you!
If you want to reduce the risks and costs for your modernisation projects, reduce technical debt and reliably free your applications from unnecessary ballast, then find out now about the possibilities of our agile, automated software washing machine AMELIO CleanUp.
You can find an initial overview in our flyer ‘AMELIO CleanUp: Eliminate your technical debt’
Download Language: Englisch - Version: MT21102-02
Software also accumulates dust over the years. Because of the effort and risk, a removal of the dust is often avoided. On the other hand, the maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult. If the proven code should be used continuously, either in maintenance or as a basis for rewriting, it is worth cleaning up the applications. To save the time-consuming manual work and to minimize the risks, we have developed a washing machine for software for this task.
Read moreYou can also find more information about AMELIO CleanUp on our website: AMELIO CleanUp aka. Washing Machine for Software
Every project is different and our flyers only give you an initial overview. To get the best solution for you, you should discuss the requirements and details of your project with us directly.
Step 4: Automated Transformation
Step 4
Fully Automated Transformation
Coming soon
What's next
In the next newsletters you will receive further information on important steps for sustainable software modernisation and we will explain the criteria for security and flexibility in software modernisation.
We help you to make good decisions for your modernisation projects through customised assessments, to recover the necessary application knowledge through automated application analysis, to retain only what is really necessary through agile clean-up and to modernise your applications in an absolutely audit-proof manner through fully automated transformation.
We help you to accomplish your modernisation projects successfully - guaranteed!
Let us discuss your projects now!
Send us an e-mail to
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msg Relies on AMELIO Logic Discovery for Modernizing Applications
On behalf of a large insurer, msg Systems ag Switzerland was looking for an analysis tool to rewrite parts of a business-critical core application. For this purpose, a tool should be found that automatically extracts the business logic from the application and displays it clearly so that it can be understood more quickly and transferred into a new language.
The msg is convinced that AMELIO is a great help with modernization and offers support with the conversion.
We would be happy to show you the capabilities of AMELIO Logic Discovery using your examples.
You can find out more about the project here:
msg Relies on AMELIO Logic Discovery for Modernizing Applications
msg Relies on AMELIO Logic Discovery for Modernizing Applications
On behalf of a large insurer, msg Systems ag Switzerland was looking for an analysis tool to rewrite parts of a business-critical core application. For this purpose, a tool should be found that automatically extracts the business logic from the application and displays it clearly so that it can be understood more quickly and transferred into a new language.
There are special hurdles to overcome in modernization projects: On the one hand, some of the original developers are no longer available. Instead, the applications are maintained by their "heirs" who, however, know nothing of the origins and the reasons for certain decisions. On the other hand, the existing documentation is used to support the maintenance. But for modernization or rewriting information is required that the documentation usually does not provide. Thus, the only reliable source is the source code itself. The problem is aggravated when a service provider wants to understand or modernize a customer's application. So how can the knowledge necessary for modernization be transferred and possibly even regained?
The msg is confronted with this task - for a large insurance company, parts of a business-critical core application should be rewritten. The existing application was developed in COBOL and PL/I, partly native and partly generated with Delta ADS. The msg decided to evaluate the performance of AMELIO Logic Discovery. A part of this application has been removed and analyzed and assessed manually and automatically. It quickly became clear:
"AMELIO Logic Discovery helps and presents everything very clearly!"
msg Systems
AMELIO works model-oriented and makes the analysis results available as language-neutral documentation. AMELIO is configurable and can be perfectly adapted to the needs of a (modernization) project.
Clear Recommendation for AMELIO
The msg is convinced that AMELIO is a great help with modernization and offers support with the conversion. The knowledge of an application can be built up faster, easier and more securely so that it can be rewritten more efficiently.
About the msg Group
The msg systems ag Switzerland is part of msg, an independent group of companies with more than 8,500 employees. The msg group is active in 28 countries in the automotive, banking, consumer products, food, healthcare, insurance, life science & chemicals, manufacturing, public sector, telecommunications, travel & logistics and utilities sectors and supports its customers in their digital transformation.
See for Yourself
Do you also have business-critical core applications and are looking for a way to analyze them fully automatically and reliably?
Then contact us. We would be happy to show you the capabilities of AMELIO Logic Discovery using your examples.
RDW Removes Technical Debts using Delta’s Automated Solution
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 has been able to take up the task of removing technical debt in a secure manner. Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform plays a key role in this endeavour.
You can find out more about the project here:
RDW Removes Technical Debts using Delta’s Automated Solution
RDW Removes Technical Debts using Delta’s Automated Solution
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 has been able to take up the task of removing technical debt in a secure manner. Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform plays a key role in this endeavour.
Technical Debt hampers Application Maintenance
The Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW) is a long-time user of Delta ADS, Delta Software Technology’s software development product suite. In the past decades, the key applications have grown and also been migrated to different platforms. All these changes over the years have decreased the maintainability of the application portfolio. To improve the maintainability of this application portfolio the decision was made to invest in the removal of technical debts (and 'Clean Code').
The task of discovering and safely removing technical debts is a complex one. To remove or change code from a program that you have written yourself might be an option but if it has been written years ago by a predecessor that is not available to consult is another question. It is not without reason that many programmers do not trust themselves to perform these type of program changes. They have a rightful fear of cascading side effects of a change.
Another obstacle arises because removing the technical debts involves many programs that are depending on each other to work correctly. The fact that all these programs must be changed at the same time leads to freezing them all preventing all other functional maintenance that is needed for the business.
Database Access – an Example of Reducing Technical Debt
RDW had implemented a new architecture for the database access in their applications which co-exists with an older way of accessing the data. This hybrid architecture was more and more considered to be a technical debt. A manual change was started for the less complex situations but in general a large portion remained and with the manual approach the completion would have taken many more years.
The remaining 9,000+ data access calls (of originally 16,000) contained also the most complex ones, some of them not yet made available in the new architecture. RDW decided to make use of Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform to perform an automated replacement of the remaining old data access architecture by the new one.
Transformation Step-by-Step
Knowing that the new data access architecture did not yet support all features of the old architecture, the chosen approach was to use the AMELIO Modernization Platform to create a learning factory to discover and perform all the necessary changes in the application sources. That didn’t have to be perfect for all possibilities in the beginning. No time was lost with specifying everything in all detail, the specification for the already performed manual transformation was used as a starting point. As a first step, the simpler data access types were analysed and transformed with the goal to make the programs productive even when they still contained other or more complex data access types using the old architecture. The next step was to remove the next type of data access, where the result from the previous step could be input as well as programs that were not handled by the factory before. This iterative process continued until at the end also the most complex data accesses were transformed.
"In the end our decision paid off. Using an automated approach also means almost no freeze and the possibility to change implementations at a very late stage. It enabled us to improve on the end result without any problem. With a manual approach, we would have passed the moment to do something in a different way long before."
Roland Römer - Product Owner RDW
Continuously Moving Forward
After the migration to the new Data Access architecture the AMELIO Modernization Platform will now be used as an environment to perform other mass changes in the application sources that will reduce the technical debt.
"We now see Delta’s AMELIO Modernization Platform as a kind of washing machine. As long as we chose the right program it will remove a ‘stain’ (technical debt) from our applications. It’s a great solution for when we have mass changes that need to be carried out on our application portfolio."
Gert-Jan Theuwissen - Division Manager RDW ICT
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. RDW repeatedly has been awarded as the best and most innovative government organization, for best management and best annual results.
Convince Yourself
Interested in reducing the technical debt in your applications? Contact us and let us prepare a demo with some of your sources.
Download Language: Englisch - Version: MT21102-02
Software also accumulates dust over the years. Because of the effort and risk, a removal of the dust is often avoided. On the other hand, the maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult. If the proven code should be used continuously, either in maintenance or as a basis for rewriting, it is worth cleaning up the applications. To save the time-consuming manual work and to minimize the risks, we have developed a washing machine for software for this task.
Read moreDownload Language: Englisch - Version: mt21093.02
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.
Read moreDownload Language: Englisch - Version: MT21100.01
RDW has been developing and maintaining its core business applications for over 30 years. The applications work reliably, but over time technical debts have accumulated that make maintenance and further development difficult. The daily business as well as the size and criticality of the application do not allow a manual clean-up of the software. The solu tion for the problem: a washing machine that performs an automated cleaning of the soft ware from its technical debts.
Read more
Review: Our Highlights 2020
Home office and social distancing dominated a large part of this year and required organizational changes. Nevertheless, we managed to implement business-critical projects on time and on budget together with our customers and partners. Once again it has been shown how much can be achieved by using automated solutions.
Here you will find our Highlights:
- Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
- LzLabs teams up with Delta Software to ensure seamless application maintenance & development
- Insurance company assesses unified Micro Focus development environment with Delta Software
Download Newsletter
Download Language: Englisch - Version: nl21021.01
Content
- 3 Important Steps for the Sustainable Software Modernisation
- msg Relies on AMELIO Logic Discovery for Modernizing Applications
- RDW Removes Technical Debts using Delta’s Automated Solution
- Review: Our Highlights 2020
Dear Reader,
Home office and social distancing dominated a large part of this year and required organizational changes. Nevertheless, we managed to implement business-critical projects on time and on budget together with our customers and partners. Once again it has been shown how much can be achieved by using automated solutions. We are proud to help our customers and partners to modernize their core applications and their development environments and processes during these difficult times and we say “Thank you” for the flexible and very pleasant cooperation.
A tip for the end of the year: Plan your product updates and training dates now!
We wish you happy and relaxing Holidays, as well as a healthy and happy New Year.
Your Delta Software Technology Team
Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
Moving away from IMS/DB to DB2, that is the goal of Gothaer Systems.
Together with Delta, Gothaer Systems started this major project that affects many of their core applications.
First parts of the applications have already been freed from IMS/DB by using AMELIO, the automated transformation solution from Delta, and run problem-free with IBM DB2 in production.
Find out more about the cooperation between Gothaer Systems and Delta Software Technology ...
Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
The project has successfully completed. You can find the project report here:
IMS Replacement at Gothaer: In Time – In Budget – In Scope
Together with Delta Software Technology GmbH, Gothaer Systems is consolidating its IMS databases into IBM Db2.
Gothaer Systems (GoSys) aims to migrate all its data stored in IMS/DB to new Db2 structures. IMS/DB data access calls in the existing COBOL programs (both native and generated with Delta ADS) should be replaced automatically, with the aim of completely replacing the IMS databases. Delta Software Technology (Delta) offers know-how and the right tools for this task. By building a tailor-made factory with AMELIO Modernization Platform (AMELIO), all necessary steps for the migration can be performed automatically.
Proof of Concept
In the first step, Delta presented the procedure and the basic functionality for the automated transformations with AMELIO. After a successful proof of concept, in which the concepts and techniques of the fully automatic transformation were verified, GoSys decided to go this path together with Delta.
Project started
We are currently in the middle of the project: In close coordination between GoSys and Delta, the AMELIO-Factory has been successfully configured and is constantly being expanded. Regular maintenance and further development continues during the setup phase. The resulting new versions of source modules are included in the ongoing AMELIO work. After the successful transformation of the applications, they are transferred to GoSys in order to check and approve these modules using meta-level testing.
The first packages with IMS databases and all of their data and applications have now been successfully transformed to use Db2 and are in productive use.
Get to know AMELIO and Delta as well
Due to the high degree of automation, transformations can be repeated, understood and reproduced at any time. Freeze periods are reduced to a few days. The migration can be divided into packages and the result is applications that can still be used and maintained without a footprint or vendor lock-in.
- Would you like to find out more about such migration projects or are you planning a modernization or refactoring?
- Do you want to migrate an application package to a new platform?
- Are you interested in mass change automation?
We would be happy to show you which options the AMELIO Modernization Platform offers you. We are looking forward to your contact.
About Gothaer Systems
„Gothaer Systems is the central IT service provider for the Gothaer Group. We ensure that Gothaer is always up to date with the latest information technology: through innovations and continuous further development of technology and organization. We also provide the infrastructure for the access to data and business processes. This is how we ensure a high level of IT quality within the group - and thus support Gothaer's business.“
Further Information
Here you can find more articles on the topic:
- IMS Replacement at Gothaer: In Time – In Budget – In Scope
- 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
Download Language: Englisch - Version: MT21097.01
Gothaer Systems migrates its IBM IMS databases to IBM Db2 together with Delta Software Technology
Read moreDownload Language: Englisch - Version: MT21092.01
Together with Delta Software Technology GmbH, Gothaer Systems is consolidating its IMS databases into IBM DB2.
Read moreDownload Language: Englisch - Version: MT21082.01
Safe Replacement of IMS Databases: How to Succeed!
Read more
LzLabs teams up with Delta Software to ensure seamless application maintenance & development on open systems
Customers using Delta ADS to generate COBOL or PL/I can continue to run and maintain applications on LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe®
Learn more about the cooperation between LzLabs and Delta Software Technology ...
LzLabs teams up with Delta Software to ensure seamless application maintenance & development on open systems
LzLabs teams up with Delta Software to ensure seamless application maintenance & development on open systems
Insurance company assesses unified Micro Focus development environment with Delta Software
A modern development environment is the goal for the software developers of a large insurer.
Together with Micro Focus and Delta Software Technology, the insurance company examined the connection of Delta ADS to Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for Z.
Follow the path too and simplify the maintenance and development of your applications ...
Insurance company assesses unified Micro Focus development environment with Delta Software
Insurance company assesses unified Micro Focus development environment with Delta Software
A modern development environment is the goal for the software developers of a large insurer. Together with Micro Focus and Delta Software Technology, the insurance company examined the connection of Delta ADS to Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for Z.
The insurance company based in Germany successfully uses the Delta ADS for COBOL generator from Delta Software Technology (Delta) for decades. The ADS programs are developed on the host, maintained and then generated in COBOL tailor-made to the customer’s requirements.
In order to provide the developers with a modern development environment, several approaches from various manufacturers were assessed. The long-term goal is to offer Java developers as well as COBOL and Delta ADS developers a uniform platform. The decision was made to perform a more in-depth analysis of Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for Z (Micro Focus EDz) and Delta ADS on Eclipse. The use of Delta ADS on Eclipse has the advantage that it can be integrated directly into all Eclipse-based environments.
Added value created
With the help of Delta ADS on Eclipse (respectively ADS on Micro Focus EDz), the development and maintenance of the Delta programs is greatly simplified and modernized. By using analysis and coverage functions as well as the use of the post-generation debugger, the maintenance is accelerated because the application heirs have easier access to the ADS programs. It is also possible to offload the generation process of the ADS programs to the PC. This saves, among other things, valuable CPU time on the mainframe.
Delta ADS on Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for Z
Thanks to the good partnership between Micro Focus GmbH and Delta, nothing stood in the way of expanding the Delta ADS connection to Micro Focus EDz. The development and generation processes of Delta ADS programs were seamlessly integrated into Micro Focus EDz. This made it possible to provide the insurance company with a uniform solution.
The insurance company has now successfully put this joint solution through its paces and found it to be good. Nothing stands in the way of a long-term use.
Go the same way
Would you also like to provide your developers with a modern and integrated development environment? Get in touch with us, ADS on Eclipse is also available for other Eclipse-based development environments and Microsoft Visual Studio. In addition, active Delta customers receive the upgrade to the latest Delta ADS version free of charge.
Go the same way and simplify the maintenance and development of your Delta ADS applications - the application heirs will thank you.
„For us it is and has always been of crucial importance that the Delta tools are supported in the long term. This also means that they are constantly being developed to meet new requirements, always on the cutting edge of technology. An excellent example of this is the extensive integration into the open standard Eclipse. That fits perfectly into our strategy of a modern and future-proof development landscape.“
Peter Bauch,Management Board, B+S Banksysteme
More about ADS on Eclipse
Would you like to know how you can easily perform your application development with ADS under Eclipse? Please contact us.
Support Information: New Product Versions available
We have released new versions of the following products:
- ADS for COBOL & PL/I
- ADS on Eclipse
- ADS on Micro Focus EDz
- Generator Engine (all platforms)
- Delta SCOUT² & Delta SourceAssistant
- License Management
You can find more information about new features and fixes in the release notes at the support area of our website ...
Support Information: New Product Versions available
Support Information: New Product Versions available
Today we have released new versions of the following products:
- ADS for COBOL (6.4.3) - for all platforms
- ADS for COBOL (5.1 C)
- Generator Engine for IBM z/OS (6.4.13)
Please also note the following information:
- New: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
Delta ADS 6's new capabilities to more efficiently develop, maintain, and test the ADB-generated COBOL and PL / I applications and the application frameworks created with ADS MACRO ...
You can find more information about new features and fixes in the release notes at the support area of our website.
Get information and updates right now. You’ll find the list of our current product versions here.
New Delta Training Courses: Register Now
Our training courses and workshops help you to use Delta tools efficiently and to optimise the development of your applications: Practice-oriented and taking into account your main areas of interest.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the training courses will only be offered online in the first half of 2021.
Here you will find the new dates ...
New Delta Training Courses: Register Now
New Delta Training Courses: Register Now
Anyone using tools to automate software development needs in-depth knowledge of the methods, modes of operation, and capabilities of the tools. And not just "in principle", but in relation to the concrete environment and task.
Our training courses and workshops help you to use Delta tools efficiently and to optimise the development of your applications: Practice-oriented and taking into account your main areas of interest.
ADS Basics - ADS for Administrators - ADS Refresher - ADS on Eclipse - ADS What's new
Here you will find the new dates:
- 05.03.-07.03.2025 and 17.09.-19.09.2025 - ADS Basics
- 12.03.-14.03.2025 and 25.09.-26.09.2025 - ADS for Administrators
- 20.03.-21.03.2025 and 09.10.-10.10.2025 - ADS Refresher
- 03.04.-04.04.2025 and 29.10.-30.10.2025 - ADS on Eclipse
- 08.04.2025 and 06.11.2025 - ADS What’s new
- 29.04.2025 and 13.11.2025 - Delta DETAB
Learn more about our trainings and workshops ...
Contact us to discuss your requirements for a customised training.
Download Newsletter
Download Language: Englisch - Version: NL21020.01
Content
- Gothaer Systems starts migrating its IBM IMS Databases
- LzLabs teams up with Delta Software to ensure seamless application maintenance & development on open systems
- Insurance company assesses unified Micro Focus development environment with Delta Software
- Support Information: New Product Versions available
- New Delta Training Courses: Register Now
Some time ago, we released Delta ADS 6 on PC as a new version of our proven generative development system for the application development on PC platforms. With this new Delta ADS, we offer many new functions that significantly improve the understanding of the applications and facilitate the development and maintenance of the extensive and complex COBOL and PL/I applications.
Many of our customers see the mainframe and the generative development of their important core applications with Delta ADS as a strategic part of their IT environment. This is why we are now making Delta ADS 6 available for mainframe environments as well.
The new Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe can be used stand-alone on the mainframe or together with Delta ADS 6 on PC.
Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
With its new functions, Delta ADS 6 helps to develop, maintain and test the COBOL and PL/I applications generated with ADS and the application frameworks created with ADS MACRO even more efficiently:
- ADS 6 improves the understanding of applications developed with ADS.
- Language extensions for ADS MACRO simplify the development and maintenance of the application frameworks.
- The Macro Optimizer makes existing macros easier to read and maintain. With its help, the new language extensions can be automatically applied to existing macros.
- Various restrictions for variables, parameters and statements have been loosened or removed.
- Support for new data types such as BLOB, CLOB, XML, etc.
- And more ...
All these functions help to better understand the applications and to train and familiarise new colleagues faster.
The Best of Both Worlds: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe combined with Delta ADS 6 on PC
Delta ADS 6 for the development on PC offers a number of additional functions that benefit in particular from the possibilities available on modern Microsoft Windows platforms. We offer Delta ADS 6 for the development under Eclipse, Micro Focus EDz, IBM IDz and Microsoft Visual Studio. The combined usage of Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe and Delta ADS 6 on PC offers you many advantages:
- Load reduction for the mainframe environment with regard to development, generation and testing through cross-generation
- The development process can be flexibly adapted while using the existing infrastructure and integrating the source management systems.
- Development, code generation and testing can be executed on PC as well as on mainframe.
- The modules are identical and therefore arbitrarily interchangeable between the environments.
- The Post-generation Debugger simplifies the understanding and testing of the generation process.
- Discovery and application mining for ADS applications help to (re-)document the applications and provide reliable information for the evaluation of the applications.
- And more ...
Now that Delta ADS 6 is available in both worlds, development, generation and testing can be transferred to the PC on demand without any loss of functionality and security.
Release
Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe is currently undergoing pre-release testing at customer sites.
At the end of 2019, Delta ADS 6 for COBOL will be released for IBM z/OS. This will be followed by versions for the other systems.
The response from our customers has been very positive. We are convinced that the new functions of Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe offer you many advantages.
The new ADS 6 enables us to improve the efficiency and quality of our software development and maintenance once again. For example, the new functions for the detailed documentation and description of the generation process help us to make changes and enhancements to our extensive, complex applications safely and quickly.
(Oswald Klackl, Head of Architecture & Quality Management, B+S Banksysteme, Austria)
Automatically optimized macros with new syntax, identifiers, indentation
Develop More Efficiently and Better Understand Your Applications
Request more information now to update your ADS development system.
Dear Reader,
The importance of mainframes for IT landscapes in large companies has changed: Whereas they were previously regarded as a necessary evil and condemned to extinction like dinosaurs, today they are increasingly seen as a strategically important element for the future.
Discuss with experts and users at the Mainframe Technology Workshop.
We also have news for you on generative development with Delta ADS, so that you can make your development even more efficient - on mainframes and PCs.
We wish you informative reading and look forward to your feedback.
Your Delta Software Technology Team
1. New: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
Some time ago, we released Delta ADS 6 on PC as a new version of our proven generative development system for the application development on PC platforms. With this new Delta ADS, we offer many new functions that significantly improve the understanding of the applications and facilitate the development and maintenance of the extensive and complex COBOL and PL/I applications.
Many of our customers see the mainframe and the generative development of their important core applications with Delta ADS as a strategic part of their IT environment. This is why we are now making Delta ADS 6 available for mainframe environments as well.
Further information can be found here:
New: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
New: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
Some time ago, we released Delta ADS 6 on PC as a new version of our proven generative development system for the application development on PC platforms. With this new Delta ADS, we offer many new functions that significantly improve the understanding of the applications and facilitate the development and maintenance of the extensive and complex COBOL and PL/I applications.
Many of our customers see the mainframe and the generative development of their important core applications with Delta ADS as a strategic part of their IT environment. This is why we are now making Delta ADS 6 available for mainframe environments as well.
The new Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe can be used stand-alone on the mainframe or together with Delta ADS 6 on PC.
Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
With its new functions, Delta ADS 6 helps to develop, maintain and test the COBOL and PL/I applications generated with ADS and the application frameworks created with ADS MACRO even more efficiently:
- ADS 6 improves the understanding of applications developed with ADS.
- Language extensions for ADS MACRO simplify the development and maintenance of the application frameworks.
- The Macro Optimizer makes existing macros easier to read and maintain. With its help, the new language extensions can be automatically applied to existing macros.
- Various restrictions for variables, parameters and statements have been loosened or removed.
- Support for new data types such as BLOB, CLOB, XML, etc.
- And more ...
All these functions help to better understand the applications and to train and familiarise new colleagues faster.
The Best of Both Worlds: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe combined with Delta ADS 6 on PC
Delta ADS 6 for the development on PC offers a number of additional functions that benefit in particular from the possibilities available on modern Microsoft Windows platforms. We offer Delta ADS 6 for the development under Eclipse, Micro Focus EDz, IBM IDz and Microsoft Visual Studio. The combined usage of Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe and Delta ADS 6 on PC offers you many advantages:
- Load reduction for the mainframe environment with regard to development, generation and testing through cross-generation
- The development process can be flexibly adapted while using the existing infrastructure and integrating the source management systems.
- Development, code generation and testing can be executed on PC as well as on mainframe.
- The modules are identical and therefore arbitrarily interchangeable between the environments.
- The Post-generation Debugger simplifies the understanding and testing of the generation process.
- Discovery and application mining for ADS applications help to (re-)document the applications and provide reliable information for the evaluation of the applications.
- And more ...
Now that Delta ADS 6 is available in both worlds, development, generation and testing can be transferred to the PC on demand without any loss of functionality and security.
Release
Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe is currently undergoing pre-release testing at customer sites.
At the end of 2019, Delta ADS 6 for COBOL will be released for IBM z/OS. This will be followed by versions for the other systems.
The response from our customers has been very positive. We are convinced that the new functions of Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe offer you many advantages.
The new ADS 6 enables us to improve the efficiency and quality of our software development and maintenance once again. For example, the new functions for the detailed documentation and description of the generation process help us to make changes and enhancements to our extensive, complex applications safely and quickly.
(Oswald Klackl, Head of Architecture & Quality Management, B+S Banksysteme, Austria)
Automatically optimized macros with new syntax, identifiers, indentation
Develop More Efficiently and Better Understand Your Applications
Request more information now to update your ADS development system.
2. Mainframe Technology Workshop of T-Systems
"The mainframe is an important component of a modern, holistic cloud strategy. At the Mainframe Technology Workshop 2019, the community will discuss real use cases and important milestones with specialists and customers." (T-Systems)
On November 12, 2019, T-Systems will host a Mainframe Technology Workshop in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Customers, partners, experts and industry analysts will discuss top issues of mainframe users and present solutions.
As a partner of T-Systems, Delta Software Technology reports on "Application Modernisation in Parallel to Ongoing Operation - That's How It's Safe," explains the key points and pitfalls in modernisation projects and highlights solutions.
Please find further information and the registration here ...
Mainframe Technology Workshop of T-Systems
Mainframe Technology Workshop of T-Systems
"The mainframe is an important component of a modern, holistic cloud strategy. At the Mainframe Technology Workshop 2019, the community will discuss real use cases and important milestones with specialists and customers." (T-Systems)
T-Systems organises a Mainframe Technology Workshop in Ludwigsburg, Germany, on November 12, 2019. At this one-day event, T-Systems brings together customers, partners, experts and industry analysts to discuss top issues of mainframe users and to present solutions. (Conference language is German)
16. Mainframe Technology Workshop
12th November 2019, Ludwigsburg, Germany
In the breakout session "Application Modernisation in Parallel to Ongoing Operation - That's How It’s Safe", Delta Software Technology, as a partner of T-Systems, will report on the sticking points and pitfalls of these projects and demonstrate solutions using the example of a customer project in the mainframe area.
Breakout Session
"Application Modernisation in Parallel to Ongoing Operation - That's How It’s Safe"
Contents
The foundation of business-critical applications has often evolved over decades. During this time, the applications were changed and further developed. New technologies were introduced, partly without completely removing the old technologies.
Modernisations such as clean-up, refactoring, technology exchange and standardisation as well as platform migration are necessary to meet new requirements, improve performance and maintainability, and increase the sustainability of the backend applications.
The documentation of the applications and the knowledge about what was implemented and why it was implemented that way has been lost over time.
So, how do you determine which parts of your application are relevant to the task? What do you do with the dependencies? What about the risks? How do you find all the sticking points? How do you organise change processes? What needs to be tested? What about parallel changes and further development?…
The solution lies in the precisely targeted analysis prior to a modernisation project, the complete automation of the changes and the flexible organisation of the project processes.
Referencing a customer project in the mainframe area, we show you how you can safely and reliably carry out a complex modernisation of your applications in parallel to ongoing operation.
View Lecture on Slideshare
Our Speaker
Dr. Daniela Schilling
Dr. Daniela Schilling is Managing Director of Delta Software Technology.
Further Information
Agenda
Please find further information and the registration here ...
You cannot attend? Then contact us, we would be happy to schedule another appointment.
3. New Delta ADS Release Supports New Data Types
Digitisation requires not only new forms of processing, but also new data types. The now released Delta ADS for COBOL offers you additional functions for creating Data Access Servers for IBM DB2 and Oracle and supports the usage of new SQL data types such as BLOB, CLOB, XML, etc.
These data types are defined differently in the different database systems. As always, Delta ADS compensates these differences automatically, following the principle "Single Source - Multiple Target".
In addition, the new Delta ADS also includes new features that improve performance. Please refer to our Release Notes for further information.
Contact us and order your update for your Delta ADS now.
New Delta ADS Release Supports New Data Types
New Delta ADS Release Supports New Data Types
Digitisation requires not only new forms of processing, but also new data types. Examples of this are new data types such as
- BLOB - Binary Large Object
- CLOB - Character Large Object
- XML, etc.
These data types enable the storage of large unstructured binary data objects such as image, audio or multimedia files as part of the corresponding data records directly in the respective database or, in the case of CLOB, to process data in international Unicode format.
Delta ADS 6.4.0
The now released Delta ADS for COBOL 6.4.0 offers you additional functions for creating Data Access Servers for IBM DB2 and Oracle and supports the usage of new SQL data types such as BLOB, CLOB, XML, etc.
These data types are defined differently in the different database systems. As always, Delta ADS compensates these differences automatically, following the principle "Single Source - Multiple Target".
In addition, the new Delta ADS 6.4.0 also includes new features that improve performance. Please refer to our Release Notes for further information.
Contact us and order your update for your Delta ADS now.
4. Delta ADS Plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 available
With ADS on Visual Studio you can now standardize your working environments for the application development. ADS on Visual Studio smoothly integrates all ADS tools into your development environment.
This plugin is now also available for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019.
In addition to Visual Studio, plug-ins for Eclipse-based development environments are also available such as Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for z.
Further information can be found here:
Delta ADS Plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 available
Delta ADS Plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 available
With ADS on Visual Studio you can now standardize your working environments for the application development. ADS on Visual Studio smoothly integrates all ADS tools into your development environment.
This plugin is now also available for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019.
In addition to Visual Studio, plug-ins for Eclipse-based development environments are also available such as Micro Focus Enterprise Developer for z.
Further information can be found here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6306
Bedag: Same Development Environment for Different Programming Languages
A uniform process control and development environment for the different programming languages is the goal of many enterprises. The Bedag Informatik AG modernizes its development environment and combines the (Viacar) development in C# and Delta ADS in a .NET framework under Microsoft Visual Studio.
Read more here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6291
Download Newsletter
Download Language: Englisch - Version: NL21019.02
Content
- New: Delta ADS 6 on Mainframe
- Mainframe Technology Workshop of T-Systems
- New Delta ADS Release Supports New Data Types
- Delta ADS Plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 available
