Dear Reader,
Have you ever wondered how a once cleanly structured application could become a big ball of mud? Clear structures are no longer recognizable, and it feels like everyone is interacting with everyone else, in an undefined manner? And even more importantly: how can you re-understand such an application in order to clean it up, refactor it, and modernize it? Yes. It's possible with AMELIO Logic Discovery. We presented and summarized it at the "Software Reengineering and Evolution" workshop.
The loss of clean design is one of the challenges, when maintaining and developing your solid and proven applications. During our webinar series "Icebergs Ahead," we depicted which other risks can threaten proven applications and how to safely navigate them with the AMELIO family. We have recorded all episodes for you.
The importance of proven applications and the need for automated solutions, to clean up and modernize them, were also highlighted at the IBM Z symposium. Our colleague Manuel Dolle and other participants, explored there the topic of "application modernization" in a panel discussion.
Also in this issue: Our customer RDW has successfully modernized the development process for its Delta ADS applications.
And we have created a new ADS release, Release 6.6.8 is ready for you.
Enjoy reading this issue,
Your Delta Software Technology Team
Lecture on WSRE: Analysing a Big Ball of Mud
The original design of an application is often lost over the decades, resulting in a "big ball of mud." Such applications are difficult to maintain and even harder to modernize. With AMELIO Logic Discovery, you can analyze applications and prepare cleanup and modernization projects.
How? We presented and summarized this for you at the workshop "Software Reengineering and Evolution (WSRE) of the GI Software Reengineering (SRE) specialist group".
More about it here:
Lecture on WSRE: Analysing a Big Ball of Mud
Lecture on WSRE: Analysing a Big Ball of Mud
“Software Reengineering and Evolution” is an evergreen in software development. However, new technologies and possibilities in the area of development lead to ever new challenges in dealing with the existing software.
The expert group Software Reengineering and Evolution (SRE) within the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI) - the German-speaking professional society for computer science - deals with all aspects of software reengineering, software maintenance and software evolution. In principle, this includes all activities whose goal is analysis, visualisation, evaluation, improvement, migration and further development.
Workshop Software Reengineering & Evolution (WSRE)
With the conference series Workshop "Software Reengineering and Evolution" (WSRE), the SRE expert group aims to bring together practice and research and to promote professional exchange with a variety of current topics.
Practitioners and researchers are cordially invited to report on experiences, projects, research results, methods, tools and “war stories” in this field at the WSRE, to present their current work and to discuss it constructively in an open environment.
WSRE 2025 from 09.-11.04.2025
27. WSRE 2025 took place from 09.-11.04.2025 in Bad Honnef!
Delta was there with a presentation on April 9, 2025 at 2 p.m.:
Analysing a Big Ball of Mud
The original design of an application often gets lost over the decades, creating a “big ball of mud” instead. Such applications are difficult to maintain and even more difficult to modernize. With AMELIO Logic Discovery you can analyse applications and prepare for clean-up and modernization projects.
How? We presented and summarized this for you at the Software Reengineering and Evolution (WSRE) workshop of the GI Software Reengineering (SRE) specialist group.
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21106-01
The clean design of an application often gets lost over decades. Applications arise where design specifications are not met. Such applications are difficult to maintain and even more difficult to modernize. AMELIO Logic Discovery helps identify design violations in an iterative process.
Read moreYou would like to present your challenges or solutions and tools on the topic and exchange ideas with other interested parties? Anyone can take part - even if you are not a member of the GI.
Take the opportunity for direct exchange and networking. Participation is open to everyone. All information about the workshop and how to submit contributions can be found here.
WSRE 2024
The 26th Software Reengineering & Evolution Workshop of the GI Software Reengineering (SRE) specialist group took place on 29 and 30 April in Bad Honnef.
How to Quickly (Re-)Gain the Knowledge about Your COBOL Applications
At this year's tool session, Dr. Daniela Schilling, CEO of Delta Software Technology, presented:
‘When the English Dictionary is Not Enough - Understanding COBOL Applications with AMELIO Logic Discovery’
In order to (re)understand large, complex COBOL applications that have grown over decades, it is not enough to be able to read the code. Instead, it is necessary to abstract from technical details and gain knowledge at a glance. Appropriate views of the application are also required for various tasks. We present AMELIO Logic Discovery, a tool for automated knowledge (re)gain.
You couldn’t attend? No problem!
Contact us directly and find out how AMELIO Logic Discovery can help you to re-understand your COBOL applications.
Successfull Webinar Series: 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: Discover - CleanUp - Modernize' completed
The final part of our webinar series, titled "Modernize - Make Applications future-proof!," took place.
In the first part of the series, we introduced you to the basic concept of our best-of-breed solution AMELIO DISCOVER - CLEAN UP - MODERNIZE.
The second part then focused on AMELIO DISCOVER. DISCOVER showed you how to re-understand "old" applications, recover content within them, abstract complex program structures, and much more.
Then, in Webinar #3, the major topic of AMELIO CleanUp came up. We discovered that clean-up is much more than just finding dead code. We provided you with a variety of practical options for cleaning up legacy applications and more in advance of the actual modernization. The keyword here is "washing machine".
And finally, part 4 of the webinar series, the topic of AMELIO MODERNIZE, came up.
If you're interested in the series or individual parts, you can find the recordings and presentation slides here:
Successfull Webinar Series: 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: Discover - CleanUp - Modernize' completed
Successfull Webinar Series: 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: Discover - CleanUp - Modernize' completed
4-part webinar series: "ICEBERGS AHEAD: Discover - CleanUp - Modernize"
The final part of our webinar series, titled "Modernize - Make Applications future-proof!," took place.
In the first part of the series, we introduced you to the basic concept of our best-of-breed solution AMELIO DISCOVER - CLEAN UP - MODERNIZE.
The second part then focused on AMELIO DISCOVER. DISCOVER showed you how to re-understand "old" applications, recover content within them, abstract complex program structures, and much more.
Then, in Webinar #3, the major topic of AMELIO CleanUp came up. We discovered that clean-up is much more than just finding dead code. We provided you with a variety of practical options for cleaning up legacy applications and more in advance of the actual modernization. The keyword here is "washing machine".
And finally, part 4 of the webinar series, the topic of AMELIO MODERNIZE, came up.
If you're interested in the series or individual parts, you can find the recordings of the webinar series here ...
Part 4 from May 13th, 2025
Review: Webinar Party 4 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: Modernize - Make Applications future-proof!'
We would like to thank you very much for your interest in our webinar "ICEBERGS AHEAD: Modernize - Make Applications future-proof!" from May 13th, 2025.
Many people think of mass changes due to specifications when they hear the word "modernize". But replacing a 7 with a 9 is easy. A script is enough. We'll go a little further. For us, concepts like automated, flexible approaches, no footprint, and meta-level testing play a crucial role in modernization projects.
If you're interested in the series or individual parts, you can find the recordings of the webinar series here.
Slides and Recordings of the Webinars
You were not able to attend?
You can now watch all Recordings and download all presentation slides (part 1 to 4) using the following link: Recordings of part 1 to 4.
Part 3 from March 26th, 2025
Review: Webinar Part 3 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: CleanUp - Tidy and clean up applications!'
On March 26, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., the time had come. Part 3 of our webinar series: "ICEBERGS AHEAD: CleanUp - Tidy and clean up applications!" aired and the list of attendees was impressive.
Icebergs are best avoided, as the Titanic taught us over 100 years ago. There are icebergs in application modernization, too. In the third episode of the webinar "Icebergs Ahead," we showed you how you can safely clean up your applications with us.
Anyone who thinks that cleanup is just about finding dead code is thinking too narrowly. We'll go further ahead and provide you with a variety of practical options for cleaning up legacy applications and more in advance of the actual modernization and eliminating technical debt.
Slides and Recording of the Webinar
You were not able to attend?
No Problem: You can request the presentation slides and the Recordings of part 1, part 2 and part 3 here.
Part 2 from January 29th, 2025
Our second webinar 'ICEBERGS AHEAD: DISCOVER – (re)understand applications' took place on January 29th, 2025.
To circumnavigate icebergs, you have to know where they are. The same goes for modernizing applications. For a safe modernization, knowledge about the application is a key factor. You must recognize the following situation: the programmers that originally wrote the COBOL and PL/I applications are not available anymore. The successors, new team or external service providers are responsible for maintenance, modernization or re-implementation. But questions about the legacy applications are often answered with just shrugs.
Icebergs are not depicted on maps and using a pair of binoculars only makes the 10% above the surface visible. Therefor radar and sonar are needed to safely bypass them. To understand application more than just the documentation is needed. In our webinar we have demonstrated, how AMELIO Logic Discovery regains such knowledge from the program sources in an automated process.
Slides and Recording of the Webinar
You couldn't attend?
No Problem: You can request the presentation slides and the recording of part 1 and part 2 here.
Part 1 from November 13th, 2024
Our first webinar 'ICEBERGS Ahead – Software Modernization Made Easily' took place on November 13th, 2024.
Using the story of the Titanic, we showed you how you can deal with today's challenges in application modernization in a relaxed manner and avoid every iceberg.
The first episode of our webinar series on automated software modernization met with great interest. Over 80 interested parties had registered. You couldn't attend? Then you can request the recording here. The second episode in this series will be available at the end of January. The focus will then be on (re-)understanding applications
Slides and Recording of the Webinar
You couldn't attend?
No Problem: You can request the presentation slides and the recording here.
Also read our text series "Iceberg Ahead"
Download Language: Englisch - Version: MT21105.01
In the text series "Iceberg ahead", our colleague Hans Nickessen describes his experiences in dealing with legacy applications.
Read which possibilities there are to realise the added value of a modernisation.
- Part 1: "How you can successfully bring your COBOL or PL/I Applications into the Future without hitting an Iceberg"
- Part 2: "Knowledge Transfer - Securing, Re-understanding, Optimizing and Passing on the Foundation"
- Part 3: "Assessment or how to
IBM Z Symposium 2025 from 14.-15. May 2025 in Stuttgart
This year, we were again actively involved in the IBM Z symposium in Stuttgart at the MHP Arena for two days. It was packed with exciting presentations on AI, CyberVault, z/OS, DevOps, and security. We happily accepted IBM's invitation, to participate in the panel discussion on the topic "application modernization". Moderated by Tobias Leicher (IBM), Heidi Schmidt (PKS), Frank Hammer (Kyndryl), and Manuel Dolle (Delta Software) discussed the current state of affairs. The modernization topic was regarded from an economic, advisory and technical perspective and lots of expertise and knowledge has been shared. The conclusion: It's time to analyze and clean up applications to increase maintenance efficiency, save costs, and make the transition to legacy systems for the next generation much more easier.
Many thanks to IBM for this great event and the opportunity to actively participate.
IBM Z Symposium 2025 from 14.-15. May 2025 in Stuttgart
IBM Z Symposium 2025 from 14.-15. May 2025 in Stuttgart
IBM Z Symposium 2025 from 14.-15. May 2025 in Stuttgart.
This year, we were again actively involved in the IBM Z symposium in Stuttgart at the MHP Arena for two days. It was packed with exciting presentations on AI, CyberVault, z/OS, DevOps, and security.
We happily accepted IBM's invitation, to participate in the panel discussion on the topic „application modernization“. Moderated by Tobias Leicher (IBM), Heidi Schmidt (PKS), Frank Hammer (Kyndryl), and Manuel Dolle (Delta Software) discussed the current state of affairs. The modernization topic was regarded from an economic, advisory and technical perspective and lots of expertise and knowledge has been shared. The conclusion: It's time to analyze and clean up applications to increase maintenance efficiency, save costs, and make the transition to legacy systems for the next generation much more easier.
Many thanks to IBM for this great event and the opportunity to actively participate.
Do you also want to understand and clean-up your applications?
With AMELIO, Delta can offer you fully automated solutions for this task. Just contact us.
Further information and the review can be found at IBM.
RDW modernizes its development pipeline for Delta ADS
Legacy applications not only have old technology, often they also are maintained with legacy development processes.
After successfully migrating their mainframe application portfolio to a windows environment, RDW decided to bring their development process completely under Visual Studio.
Delta Software Technology provided RDW with a plugin for Delta ADS on Visual Studio to support RDW’s hybrid strategy where runtime environment consists of Delta ADS COBOL modules and C# modules. Together they provide the necessary business functionality.
Further Information here:
RDW modernizes its development pipeline for Delta ADS
RDW modernizes its development pipeline for Delta ADS
Legacy applications not only have old technology, often they also are maintained with legacy development processes.
After successfully migrating their mainframe application portfolio to a windows environment, RDW decided to bring their development process completely under Visual Studio.
Delta Software Technology provided RDW with a plugin for Delta IDS (ADS on Visual Studio) to support RDW’s hybrid strategy where runtime environment consists of Delta ADS COBOL modules and C# modules. Together they provide the necessary business functionality.
Having all objects in one development environment has enabled RDW a secure pipeline. With all source code stored in GIT, agile development is supported and nightly builds are performed. The homegrown "Winframe Insights" application provides impact and analysis data on necessary changes regardless of the technology the functionality is implemented in.
"Enabling our Delta ADS development under Visual Studio has been instrumental in bringing down the boundaries between our young developers and our Delta ADS COBOL sources."
Roland Römer (Product owner at RDW)
About RDW (Delta ADS Customer since 1981)
RDW, the Netherlands Vehicle Authority, stands for safety, sustainability and legal certainty in mobility. We keep a close eye on international developments like vehicle data and act in line with the ambitions of the European Commission.3
Download Language: Englisch - Version: mt21107-01
Legacy applications not only have old technology, often they also are maintained with legacy development processes.
After successfully migrating their mainframe application portfolio to a windows environment, RDW decided to bring their development process completely under Visual Studio.
Delta provided RDW with a plugin for Delta ADS on Visual Studio to support RDW’s hybrid strategy.
Read more
Further Success Stories with RDW:
- RDW Removes Technical Debts using Delta’s Automated Solution
- RDW uses AMELIO Logic Discovery for decision-making
- RDW gained future reliability and reduced costs by a full IT modernisation in 3 steps
Optimisation of the development processes and off-loading from mainframe to PC, removing all platform dependencies and modernisation of the application architecture, error-free platform and database Change.
Support Information: New Product Updates available
We have released new versions for the following products: Delta ADS for COBOL (6.6.8) and Delta ADS Targets (6.6.8)
For more information about the new features and improvements, please see the respective release notes and reference books in the support area of our website.
Get information and updates right now:
Support Information: New Product Updates available
Support Information: New Product Updates available
We have released new versions for the following products:
- Delta ADS for COBOL (6.6.8)
- Delta ADS Targets (6.6.8)
For more information about the new features and improvements, please see the respective release notes and reference books in the support area of our website.
Get information and updates right now. You’ll find the list of our current product versions here.
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