Modernization Category: Automated Migration
Company Name: Forecross Corporation

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Forecross Corporation is a high-technology company dedicated to the design and development of innovative software to re-deploy and sustain legacy applications on the Internet.  Forecross Corporation is a leading authority on the development and use of automated re-deployment technologies and associated methodologies, and is now focusing these technologies and methodologies on helping clients to make their legacy applications "e-Ready".

At Forecross, we understand that the business functions buried in legacy applications are worth their weight in gold. We understand that it's almost impossible to justify the cost of re-developing this functionality from scratch just to take advantage of newer platforms and technologies. We also understand that even if an organization could afford to re-build its business rules in a new environment, failing to get the job done correctly, on time and within budget is far too risky a proposition for most IT managers today.

Forecross has developed proprietary technology for automating the transformation of legacy applications to new environments. Its expertise is focused around re-hosting mainframe-based applications, especially those using pre-relational databases such as IDMS-DB, IMS-DB, Datacom, Adabas, or VSAM to relational databases such as Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server; as well as conversion from 3rd and 4th generation languages such as CSP, ADS/O, COBOL, PL/I, or Natural to C# .NET, VB .NET, IBM EGL (Java), or .NET COBOL

Solution

Legacy Modernization of mainframe-based business applications to Oracle/Solaris. Expertise in all facets of legacy modernizations, challenges, methodologies and tools.   Up to 100% automation for legacy modernizations of CA-IDMS and IBM CSP.   4G ‘engine’ for language parsing, transformation rules application and visually well-formatted code generation allow Forecross to provide custom legacy modernization solutions for languages and DBMSs at clients’ request.

Solutions Overview

A key to success is having the right tool for each task and Forecross Corporation has the right tools for the numerous tasks involved in modernizing and standardizing legacy applications.

At the heart of the Forecross suite is the FALCON environment. FALCON  (Forecross Automated Legacy CONversion) is the breakthrough technology that gives Forecross the ability to migrate large applications in a “lights out”, fully automated manner while simultaneously providing clients with complete “lights on” status reporting and tracking.

Operating within the FALCON environment is the suite of Forecross conversion tools: Convert/IDMS-DB™, Convert/IDMS-DC™, Convert/ADSO™, Convert/VSAM™, Convert/CSP™, I/O Navigator, Data Analyzer, and PCI (Project Customization Input). These tools are used to automatically translate all of the programs, database definitions and data from the old languages and environments to the targets.

• Convert/IDMS-DB™ - converts IDMS/DB programs, data and databases into ready-to-test applications supporting any ANSI standard SQL environments including Oracle, DB2, Informix, or Sybase. The converted applications are functionally identical to their IDMS counterparts.
• Convert/IDMS-DC™ - converts IDMS/DC programs into ready-to-test CICS command level programs that are in all other respects functionally identical to their IDMS/DC counterparts.
• Convert/ADSO™ - converts ADSO dialogs into ready-to-test COBOL programs that are in all other respects functionally identical to their ADSO counterparts.
• Convert/VSAM™ - converts VSAM programs, data and files into ready-to-test applications supporting any ANSI standard SQL environments including Oracle, DB2, Informix or Sybase. The converted applications are functionally identical to their VSAM counterparts.
• Convert/CSP™ - converts your existing CSP applications into ready-to-test CICS command level COBOL programs that are in all other respects functionally identical to their CSP counterparts..
• I/O Navigator - completely tests all database access before and after conversion. It verifies that all client data can be accessed correctly and navigated properly. 
• Data Analyzer - allows Forecross to perform automated data analysis early in the migration process, long before the data conversion phase begins. This unique process identifies any data that the target DBMS would consider invalid - giving clients a head-start in cleaning up their data.
• Product Customization Input - a sophisticated PC-based application that is used by clients to choose conversion options, indicate the sequence in which they would like their programs to be converted by grouping them into "packets", and specify any component renaming they want done. PCI helps to ensure that the migrated applications confirm to the greatest extent possible to the best programming standards and development methodologies in use by the client.

Case Studies

Case Study - University of British Columbia (UBC)

Forecross Corporation partnered with Sierra Systems Consultants, a Canadian IT consulting firm, to migrate the University of British Columbia (UBC) Student Information System from CA-IDMS to Oracle in a UNIX client/server environment.

The University recognized that its dependence on CA-IDMS placed it at increasing risk from an IT perspective. It was becoming more difficult to find and retain knowledgeable programmers and DBAs; the technology itself was proprietary; and it was unclear whether CA was committed to maintaining and enhancing the products, with an average of one major release every five years. As a result of this project, UBC not only extended the life of their application, but they were able to streamline their IT environment and move all their mission critical mainframe-based systems onto the platform that is at the heart of their long-term strategy.

Forecross provided all of the automated conversion services for the schema, data and programs, along with appropriate planning, education, on-site liaison, testing and production implementation support.

System Metrics

The Student Information System consisted of 304 ADS/O dialogs, 95 IDMS-DC programs, 586 COBOL batch programs, and 153 IDMS record types. Handling all Student-related functionality, including registration, class scheduling, grades and financial aid, this application included both telephone and web-based interfaces that drove the Forecross-converted programs without modification.

Case Study – Client of Accenture Belgium

Forecross Corporation partnered with Accenture Belgium to migrate the CA-IDMS applications portion of  this very large modernization project for a well-known financial services firm. The main objective of the project is to completely eliminate the mainframe computer and associated software licensing fees and expand the organization’s use of Oracle and Solaris.

In addition to reduced hardware costs, the client will realize numerous benefits from consolidating DBMSs, eliminating proprietary languages and creating an IT environment that will attract relevant talent and move the organization forward.

Accenture selected Forecross to perform the IDMS-DB to Oracle migration because of its expertise and history as demonstrated by many excellent references, and because its end-to-end automation allows it to offer very competitive fixed-prices.

System Metrics

The scope of this project includes 1,048 ADSO dialogs, 34 IDMS-DC programs, 315 IDMS-DB batch programs, and 72 IDMS-DB record types.

Even more than with the UBC project, this project with Accenture Belgium demonstrates the expertise Forecross has gained in handling the many issues that arise in mainframe to unix migrations, including EBCDIC to ASCII conversions and evaluation differences, and code page differences that effect both parsing of the source code as well as translation to the target.