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.

In this and our next two newsletters, we will show you 3 steps that will help you to modernise your applications securely and sustainably.

Best Practices for the Application Modernisation

There are many reasons for an application modernisation, e.g. adding new functions, replacing old technologies, consolidating applications, etc. The goal is always to reduce the risks of old applications, save costs and increase organisational agility.

In this and our next two newsletters, we will show you 3 steps that will help you to modernise your applications securely and sustainably.

1. Complete assessment for good decisions
2. Clean-up so that your resources are used properly
3. Fully automated transformation for absolute security and flexibility

Legacy Applications = Garbage or Treasure?

A word about the term “monolith”: Back-end applications that were developed in COBOL or PL/I are often referred to as monoliths - or should I say “insulted”. From our experience with very large projects, we can say that the opposite is usually the case, because software design, architecture and engineering have not just been around today. Most applications are “only” very large and complex, use different architectures and often the necessary knowledge about the applications is lacking. The existing documentation is not suitable for the modernisation.

The problems with estimating the risks and efforts for the modernisation and the decision for the right path lie in the fact that these applications have grown over decades: the expected problems are often not the real ones at all. A precise understanding of the applications is lacking, that is why functions have only ever been added in places with the least effort and risk. As a result, the originally good design was lost. So, how do you come to good decisions and strategies as well as to reliable cost and resource planning for a sustainable modernisation?

Step 1

Complete Assessment - Why?

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:

1. Badly defined requirements
2. Poorly defined or unrealistic planning
3. 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:

1. The exact definition of the requirements
2. Reliable planning
3. 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”.

Every 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.

Outlook

In the next newsletter, you will receive more information and we will explain criteria for sustainability in software modernisation.

We can help you to make better use of your resources by using clean-ups or the concept of the “washing machine” and to ensure absolute security and flexibility in your modernisation projects through the fully automated transformation of your applications.

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