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There’s more involved in making money than just the income - you need to be making money cost-effectively. A simple and frequently omitted asset when doing so is performance appraisal software.
Obviously, everyone is aware that getting the best from your business requires a knowledge of in what areas your employees work best, and a knowledge of how to adjust your procedures to match. The difficulty has traditionally been in finding and collating this data.
Simply tracking staff evaluation and identifying advancement in their performance is a huge amount of work. First of all, you set up employee performance appraisal techniques to evaluate and keep track of the work done by each staff member. If you are employing conventional approaches, your next step is the manual analysis of the vast amount of raw data you have obtained just to be able to track future development and set goals. Using performance management software, you can just look at the different metrics and factors to identify the ideal goals and then track the member of staff’s advancement. This eliminates the demands on your time and is likely to be more accurate. There’s the possibility to also examine all of the performance review forms yourself and use the software just to organize and record everything.
And improving the efficiency of your employees is simply one improvement that can be implemented using performance appraisal software. It’s often valuable to study suppliers and clients to be better able to reduce costs by precision buying. Knowing the suppliers that stock the higher grade or best priced products can reduce costs significantly. Turning our attention to clients and affiliates, you can pin down who sells the most of each product if there are payment issues, which client experiences the worst loss percentage, and more. This information is useful in minimizing expenses and boosting profits. Who couldn’t benefit from that? As well as this, the better understanding of your target demographics will allow easier planning of your marketing. Watching both market and sources is easy with performance management software. It renders employee performance management quick, simple, and much more effective when encouraging employees by presenting definable achievements and goals significantly. All things considered, the real benefits of this system are endless and depend exclusively on your ability to use the information provided…
The pendulum around “what’s hot” in job search swings regularly.
In the not to distant past we had the swing of the dot-coms, companies were being started almost every moment of each day. Then came the swing of the pendulum, companies folded, jobs evaporated, and now ten years later many of those buildings remain bare.
Then we entered the 21st century and the hot industries were bio-tech and health-care. The SF Bay Area saw a growth of schools training people in the medical field; even the EDD started training people for the medical field. Unfortunately, after a while, the number of people looking for jobs far outstripped the needs of the industry and today many of these people are now seeking a new hot field.
The new buzzword for jobs in 2009-10…and maybe beyond…is “cleantech”. The government has injected immense amounts of funds for companies in a variety of connected areas - like batteries, smart-grid, photo-voltaic solar, wind. These amounts are allowing these companies to expand and also helping new companies to get a start. According to CNN Money (11/18/2009), the government stimulus money has made 110,185 jobs in California. In discussions with Paul Davis, V.P. of Client Services here at the AA-Careers job hunting center, this year 25% of new customers are seeking career changes, and over 20% of them are taking “Green” jobs. The career positions cover the complete rante from finance to computer software developers to support and marketing.
According to an article done by a major career website, hiring in the 2009 period in “Green” jobs increased nationwide by 13 %, and that will grow again in 2010. Clean Edge.(October 2009) states “President Obama and Chinese President Jintao have both made clean-tech development and deployment a cornerstone of their leadership, targeting the creation of millions of new clean-tech jobs”. “Many believe we are just at the beginning of the clean-tech job creation era.” It could be the deepest growth area since the advent of the computer and the Internet.
The top 5 industry sectors for clean-tech career growth, according to CleanEdge are:
1. solar thermal
2. Bio fuels & Biomaterials
3. Conservation and Recycling
4. Smart Grid, and
5. Wind Power.
Making vocation changes has never been easy. Many people using the old “Tombstone Style” resume have little success and tend to give up, using excuses like “they are only hiring people with prior experience”. Paul Davis and his staff at AA-Careers have been extremely successful for years using specific, targeted resumes which contain more information regarding the job hunter’s ability to make the company money or save them money, based upon past accomplishments. Think about your own accomplishments and how could they apply to the new rapidly growing “green” jobs.
Stay tuned for more hiring trends with AA-Careers’ new job hunting blog!
Numerous companies believe that, when all of their staff have sufficient health and safety education, they now have all the skills they require to cope with an emergency. Realistically though, a basic education in health and safety regulatory affairs just isn’t enough. Equipping employees, selecting good supervision and organising frequent drills are fundamental to the safety at work.
An individual in a supervisory job has a much greater role to play than just supervising the floor. The supervisor you choose needs to realise the importance of health and safety instruction and be able to get everyone else feeling enthusiastic. On top of encouraging compliance with health and safety legislation, the individual supervising must also make sure that every employee performs to the best of their abilty. Naturally it isn’t easy to do all this at once. A competent supervisor is required to have a broad understanding of the business and the product in addition to an in depth comprehension of current legislation with regard to safety, risk appraisal and CPR.
It’s just not adequate to merely send your employees to a health and safety course. To effectively identify a risk to their safety they require practise. They in addition need to develop a good understanding of the required safeguards that they are required to put in place not to mention knowing what to do when the unexpected happens. Not until these processes have developed into a routine are employees totally protected.
safety equipment is every bit as important to the your staff’s well-being as any training. Without the proper equipment or if employees find out that items are broken only after something has occurred, the education your employees have completed will have been in vain. Regularly scheduled maintenance of your apparatus is a necessity. When you have a issue with your gear, be certain to get it mended speedily and put it back in the right location. Appropriate health and safety education is vital to the safety of your workers, but in addition they need the proper gear, frequent practises, and a supervisor who can motivate your staff. And then complying with the various safety regulations be a normal component of life in the workplace not something challenging that staff have to make an effort to remember.
Hale Law Firm is a focused, small firm. We take great pride in our reputation for delivering expert legal solutions and advice quickly and precisely. Our foundation of success is a pricing structure that doesn’t penalize our clients for their inquiries and frequent client communication.
The expertise provided by The Hale Law Firm concerning the areas of estate planning, business law, personal injuyr, probate, retirement, wills, and trusts, allows us to take a comprehensive approach regarding your situation to facilitate the ability for us to avoid some common mistakes made by other professionals.
Waxahachie law firm The Hale Law Firm, P.C. provides services to individuals and businesses with a base of our offices in Waxahachie, Texas, The Hale Law Firm are happy to work with clients throughout Dallas and Ellis County, including but not limited to: Ovilla, Waxahachie, Midlothian, Red Oak, Glenn Heights, Ferris, Ennis, DeSoto, Lancaster, Duncanville, Cedar Hill law firm, Dallas, Grand Prairie, Mansfield.
Converged voice solutions are offered by Mavenir Systems. Mobile Operators can now introduce enhanced voice services for consumer and enterprise customers and provide additional new services which can serve as a wider offering added to existing mobility service offerings to enrich the user experience. Existing users are given the freedom to partake in communications over many various access domains and devices as they decide. Mobile VoIP grants operators to provide MSC-based voice services through new devices and to offer differentiated services. IMS Centralized services will allow providers to connect and deliver the services to any device some of which include 3G, 2G, UMA, and FEMTO cells.
Converged Messaging Solutions are also availabe from Mavenir.The world of messaging is experiencing a shift from the ever popular SMS messaging technologies to multi-device MMS and IP-based Instant Messaging. Mobile providers have a need to seamlessly integrate their messaging core across different service domains as well as devices in order to keep up with these requirements. IP SMSC is a very highly scalable IP SMSC that drastically reduces the cost structure to deliver legacy SMS at a savings of greater than five times that of the competition Instant Presence and Instant Messaging provides a highly integrated Instant Messaging and IMS Presence server which makes way more reasonable the cost of launching,and speeds up enhanced services deployment.
Reverse Craigslist software can produce incredible results. It produces the ability to actually develop thousands and thousands of targeted leads in just a matter of minutes by mining info from advertisements on craigs list. This very simple reverse craigs list software can supply an opportunity to drive you operations to the next level. You can define which niche you are targeting and which specific geographical areas, push a button, wait, and watch the leads come in. You then have the ability to send an e-mail to these leads or save, manage them, export,, and more. There are many companies now developing versions of reverse craigs list software as well as data mining software today.
Efficient people management techniques are crucial in attaining the best in your business success. People management may be improved and studied. Having a intuitive affinity for communicating with people may be an advantage, all the same you can do some things that will simplify the process.
Build relationships: Start by memorizing staff’s names. Speak to people; look co-workers in the eye during a conversation. Show respect, and listen to the other person’s thoughts, even if you do not agree or have another point of view. Listening to everything employees have to say is one of the best people management skills you can have. Be sure to welcome any input from team members. Live up to your word: Do not make promises you can’t keep. If your word is broken, it will ruin trust, and nobody will offer you their best if they do not trust you. Everytime you make a statement or make a promise about something, you are wasting your time and effort unless you keep your promises. You will discover, if you can’t be depended upon, you can be sure they will behave in the same manner. Be open to any feedback: Feedback must be a two way process. Human Resource management skills mean having an open mind to all feedback. If you are able to demonstrate that you are accessible and receptive, you show that you respect other’s ideas, and they should value yours. Bona Fide discourse also promotes new ideas, ways of accomplishing goals, and develops the company dynamic. If your team have a voice, the project and the outcome will become important to every employee.
Communication is the key: Your people management techniques boil down to the same concept - communication. Be accessible, listen intently to other people, be open minded, and encourage all your team to express their opinions. Encourage team members not just to communicate to you, but also to speak to each other. The sharing of thoughts is important in the creative process, if the team communicate efficiently, you can recognize any issues at an early stage, and measures can be applied before matters get out of hand. A little time is necessary, nevertheless the payoffs far outweigh the work. By inspiring a good team dynamic and by taking heed of what your team has to offer, a thriving business can be accomplished.
If you’re planning a business presentation or any sales interview with a large company during the hurricane season you may find yourself being postponed and you may want to cancel and reschedule the appointment for the business presentation until everything is back to normal.
This is because the decision-makers and the Board of Directors of the Corporation in which you are giving your sales presentation or business presentation pitch to, will have on their minds many other things that affect their supply chain, sales teams and business outlets, which may have been destroyed during the hurricane or even injury of workers. With all this all their minds the chances of you pulling off a really good presentation and making the sale are much lessened.
During the 2005 Atlantic tropical hurricane season many professionals and sales teams found themselves in a region, which was not interested in anything they had to say unless in fact they were part of the relief and rescue efforts. It is best to reschedule business presentations whether they are about sales or future negotiations until later date after a major catastrophic mother nature event. This is proper business etiquette and the most professional thing to do as well. So, I hope you will consider all this in 2006.
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One of the primary functions of management and leadership is to solve organizational problems. An organizational problem occurs whenever the work practices and processes of those tasked with producing specific results do not actually produce those results. How can a manager solve such problems in an efficient and effective manner so that your organization remains on track for profitability and success?
The word “problem” literally means “to throw.” A baseball pitcher finds it impossible to hold onto the ball and pitch it at the same time. In other words, to solve a problem you must not hold onto it but rather “throw it” out for discussion to get other perspectives and ideas regarding its causes and consequences. When you do this, you begin to see the “bigger picture” because you can view the problem from a distance. More importantly, you “throw” the problem into your organization’s collective pool of experience and wisdom whose depth will provide the most appropriate solution(s) in a timely manner.
Based on this understanding of “problem,” it becomes clear that a manager’s job is not to solve problems all by him/herself; rather, it is to nurture the process of collective problem solving among the work force making sure that everyone is both a pitcher and a catcher. Everyone is trained and encouraged to throw problems they see into the collective talent pool; at the same time, everyone is equipped with a “glove” to catch the problems thrown by others in the organization.
It must be said that this is not as easy as it sounds. We’ve been trained over many years that talking with others about our problems is in bad taste. Nobody wants to hear about your problems, we’ve been told. Besides, everybody has enough of their own problems to be concerned about yours. And so we keep it to ourselves and think that we must solve it ourselves without bothering anyone else. Author Paul Strauss says: “Collaboration is the least of our skills. We don’t like to share. Society stresses individual competition so working together is unnatural to us.” When everyone in an organization keeps problems to themselves the problems soon take on a life of their own and grow much bigger and have a greater negative impact than they actually should warrant.
Learn how to play “pitch and catch” with problems in your organization and you’ll soon see a big difference in the number of problems you’re faced with. The number will go down and you’ll find that you actually enjoy your work more.
Point #1: A problem shared is a burden divided. This helps the organization move toward the most appropriate solution in the least amount of time.
How do you create an organizational culture in which problems are willingly thrown and caught? The easiest and most cost-effective method for creating such a culture is for management to continually encourage problem sharing and solving behavior. You’ve heard it said that everything in an organization “starts at the top,” or “rolls downhill.” Presuming that leadership is positioned at the top of the organizational chart, this is true. However, in an organization that is defined by a structure the foundation of which is formed by its leadership, everything grows from the “bottom up.” Just as crops are nurtured by proper nutrients in the soil and adequate amounts of sun and moisture, so, too, organizational cultures are nurtured by proper sources of growth from the soil of management leadership. In both cases, if the necessary ingredients for growth are not present in a sustained and sufficient manner, the result will be a meager harvest
— and eventual death.
One of the proper sources for optimal organizational growth is continual management/ownership encouragement of collective problem sharing and solving behaviors throughout the workforce. This is an essential ingredient for success. If you’re having difficulties dealing with problems in your business, ask yourself: “Am I regularly encouraging my employees to play “pitch and catch” with the problems we seem to always be having?” If your answer is “No,” then you’ll know what to do next: at your next meeting with employees, raise the issue of problem solving and tell them you’d like for them to play more at work — play more “pitch and catch” with the problems they see in the organization. But you have to be part of the team, too. Owners and managers are not the referees in this game of problem solving: they are player/coaches. Everybody throws and everybody catches — those are the rules of the game.
Point #2: A problem unshared is a problem unsolved; a problem unsolved is a growing problem. This is not the kind of “growth” you want in your organization. Grow joy instead.
When you find a collective solution, then it’s time to share the joy. To paraphrase the words of Jesus in the New Testament: “There is more joy in the organization at the solving of a single problem than over the multitude of things that go right everyday.” When the employees of an organization know what the problem is because of playing “pitch and catch,” they have a mutual interest in solving it and in celebrating the solution. Don’t forget to celebrate the team victory over the problem and to keep track of the successes the solution produces over a period of time. Keeping the players informed as to on-going successes keeps them emotionally rewarded for having made the best choice and done the “right” thing; it also provides paced motivation for employees to continue to play “pitch and catch:” they can see that this sort of “play” really works.
Point #3: A problem solved is a joy multiplied. Anytime you can foster joy in your organization, you will prosper in terms of both employee and customer loyalty. An excellent way to create and sustain joy is by solving a problem together and tracking the results of the solution.
The organization that plays this game of “pitch and catch” together stays and grows together!
Ken Wallace, M. Div., CSL has been in the organizational development field since 1973. He is a seasoned consultant, speaker and executive coach with extensive business experience in multiple industries who provides practical organizational direction and support for business leaders. A professional member of the National Speakers Association since 1989, he is also a member of the International Federation for Professional Speaking and holds the Certified Seminar Leader (CSL) professional designation awarded by the American Seminar Leaders Association.
Ken is one of only eight certified Business Systems Coaches worldwide for General Motors.
His topics include ethics, leadership, change, communication & his unique Optimal Process Design® program.
Tel:(800)235-5690 Claim your free eBook, “How to Do Better Than Your Best in Anything You Do” by visiting the Better Than Your Best website.
INTRODUCTION
Corporations have over the years, deployed a diverse mix of software and hardware applications to gain competitive advantage. Rapid advancements in IT, combined with evolving business needs, have resulted in contrasting IT environments across enterprises.
At one end of the spectrum are open architecture applications that leverage on the potential of the of Internet, while the other end comprises traditional, close-ended, legacy software. corporate data still resides on legacy Some market research estimates indicate that more than 70% of systems. Hence the successful management and re-deployment of legacy systems to meet tomorrow’s business needs is the major challenge today.
This white paper will help organizations understand the issues involved in effective management of existing legacy systems.
LEGACY APPLICATIONS
DEFINITION
A legacy system typically consists of large applications that access voluminous data stored in legacy database management systems running on mainframes or mid-range platforms.
These systems made economic sense when they were developed. The functionality of these systems was unquestionable at the time of installation. However, as technology and business needs evolved they have become complex and uneconomical to maintain.
As the enterprise has invested a considerable amount of time and money in these systems, these investments cannot simply be written off.
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH LEGACY APPLICATIONS
In their current state, most legacy applications have several challenges associated with their functioning and maintenance. A few of the typical challenges are enumerated below:
. Legacy systems are built for internal, enterprise-wide usage, while today’s business demands that they be exposed to new, external entities. The focus was almost always on internal business logic.
. These applications are inflexible. They are not modular thus segregation of presentation, business and database logic consumes critical resources.
. The lack of documentation and skilled manpower make any modification an ad-hoc process and not a holistic one. This can lead to crashes and breakdowns in unpredictable parts of the system.
Efforts to address these challenges have been piecemeal, and have had limited impact. The combination of new systems and retrofitted older ones have ompounded the problem. Adoption of new technology and languages has often been only for technology’s sake. Finally, the need to deliver application functionality via new channels like mobile devices, with differing transaction approaches add to the problems of successful legacy modernization.
BENEFITS OF LEGACY APPLICATIONS
Organizations continue to use legacy applications on account of various reasons. Some of the benefits perceived by organizations are:
. Legacy systems were developed for, and still run, mission-critical applications.
. A large number of users utilize the system. They are very familiar with the functionalities of the applications, including look and feel. They have also gained a complete understanding of the strengths and limitations of the system.
. The underlying hardware and software of such legacy systems is time-tested and very reliable. The applications themselves have evolved over a few decades and behave very predictably.
These factors contribute to the continued usage of legacy systems. However, effective modernization of these legacy systems will ensure that these benefits can be amplified at minimal expense.
CHANGING BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS AND LEGACY APPLICATIONS
Economic and political conditions over the last few years have resulted in several emerging challenges for technology organizations.
. Time to market is going down. Organizations are moving from 18-month project cycles to 6month project cycles.
. New products and services are being introduced in rapid succession.
. With globalization and deregulation, the need for flexible systems that can synchronize with rapid business shifts has become crucial.
. Organizations are mapping cost controls to appropriate service expectations.
Such dynamic considerations have made it imperative for organizations to assess the financial viability of their IT portfolio, so that they can leverage the advantages of new-age languages and optimize returns on investment on existing applications as well.
Business leaders must consider following strategic issues when evolving beyond legacy systems:
Total Cost of Ownership -
Typically, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of keeping a legacy system running can be very high as compared to the cost of running a more up-to-date system.
The TCO of a system includes components like operations (hardware, system software), production support, and application maintenance. The lines of code, quality of documentation, and the way the application is structured directly influences costs of the system.
Industry experience suggests that maintenance costs drop by as much as a factor of 3 after a legacy system is transformed. This is indeed possible if the newer system is better structured, better documented and has optimized code.
Productivity -
A legacy system typically owes its stability, scalability and reliability to the underlying mainframe platforms on which it is deployed. Any approach to modernizing the legacy system should recognize this and develop a solution accordingly.
Modernizing legacy does not imply migrating away from the mainframe platform in its current manifestation, but optimizing the existing system for enhanced performance.
Flexibility -
The technologies used in a legacy application often do not integrate well with newer technology application components that have been subsequently developed. But the main flexibility loss arises from the fact that the applications are monolithic — unlike the more recent multi-tiered architectures where the presentation and business logic are separated. Multi-tiered architectures allow for greater flexibility and changes can be effected quickly.
Architectural rigidity is one of the primary reasons that several organizations prefer to re-architect the legacy application, even while retaining the underlying platform and language.
A transformed application makes for a multi-tiered, adaptable system, allowing easy integration of newer technology.
Knowledge Availability -
Programmers adept at COBOL, PL/1, Assembler and several other legacy languages are a vanishing tribe. These programming languages are no longer taught in computer science courses at schools and training institutes - hence, without considerable re-training, it is difficult to create these skills in-house.
The same problem holds true for database technologies used. In the past, hierarchical and network databases were very commonly used, whereas recent applications work with relational databases.
Last but not least, documentation in respect of the application’s functionalities is almost always inadequate, and only a few people possess complete knowledge of what the application does.
Extinct Vendors -
In many reported cases, the company that originally developed the application is no longer in business. That leaves their customers in a very precarious position because most often the language used to develop the system is already obsolete and no longer supported. Additionally, the system has usually been heavily customized, and there is no proper documentation maintained. This is also the main bottleneck to implementing enhancement and changes to the application.
Hence, whenever such a system has to be taken over for maintenance, it requires a high learning curve. This period can vary from 2 months to 6 months depending on the complexity of the system. Only after getting familiar with the system can a third-party be able to carry out an effective maintenance job.
Alignment with Business Goals -
Some CIOs certainly do wonder whether it is worthwhile to spend on maintaining and upgrading a legacy system. In reality, such outlay can produce a healthy return on investment should not be considered as mere running costs.
There are three distinct types of maintenance costs: preventive (e.g. Y2K, Euro), adaptive and breakdown. Preventive and breakdown maintenance expenses are necessary to keep the system running, so the costs allocated to these can be said to be running costs.
Adaptive maintenance commonly refers to enhancements or upgrading. This maintenance, though piecemeal, does improve the functionality, accessibility, and provides good business value. Unfortunately, most enhancement requests take a back seat as most budget allocations being consumed by preventive and breakdown maintenance.
Improved returns on investment can be obtained only by undertaking a sizable upgrade, and that too when the business needs it the most.
Proper planning and Return On Investment (ROI) analysis should be done for legacy upgrade to know whether value accrues from increased returns or reduced TCO (maintenance, infrastructure and operational costs).
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
Organizations moving away from legacy systems must adopt a financial viable solution that meets strategic business needs. There are various options available to the CIO when metamorphosing from legacy systems to more contemporary platforms.
Functional Extension -
Functional Extension is useful when the legacy application possesses adequate business logic, but needs additional functionality.
Functional Extension refers to closing the functional gaps in the legacy application by reengineering the existing application or by integrating it with other application.
Technical Extension -
Technical extension is useful when existing legacy applications have high operational costs and there is a strong need to share the business capabilities with partners/suppliers. One of the key drivers for technical extension is a need to web enable the legacy application.
Technical extension covers activities like:
. Code cleansing / optimizing
. Componentization
. Development of wrappers
. Legacy Integration
In both the functional and technical extension, the processes and business rules are preserved while critical components of the application are converted and adapted.
Migration -
Migration becomes an important modernization option when the legacy application has adequate business rules, but requires higher scalability and interoperability.
This option is also useful, when it is difficult to separate logic from persistent data and presentation layers.
. Selection of targeted programming language/platform/database
. Code migration
. Database migration
. Deployment migration
Replacement -
Replacing the existing legacy application with a generic off-the-shelf product or rewriting it under a new programming environment is another option.
Replacement would accrue benefits similar to re-engineering and is vulnerable to similar disadvantages. There is also the danger of overlooking important business rules that constitute the heart of the legacy application.
SELECTING SUITABLE SOLUTION
The selection of any of these four options would be based on an extensive analysis of the application portfolio around various application parameters, some of which include:
. Functional suitability
. Availability of various features
. Scalability
. Interoperability
. Maintainability
. Reliability
. Availability of standard solutions (OTS Products)
. Ease of use
. Level of documentation available
. Accessibility
. Support available from platform/technology vendor
. Applicability of Enterprise Architecture policies and standards
Portfolio analysis around these parameters will help analyze the applications based on functional gaps and technical gaps within the applications. Once the portfolio analysis has identified the functional and technical gaps, each application can be placed in one of the 9 blocks, shown in the following analysis grid. This will help in identifying a suitable modernization strategy for the application.
Portfolio analysis is the most critical aspect of the overall enterprise application modernization exercise and hence there should be a tool-based approach that would remove, to a great degree, subjectivity introduced by a pure manual approach.
LEGACY EXTENSION (FUNCTIONAL AND TECHNICAL)
WHAT IS LEGACY EXTENSION?
Legacy Extension bridges the gap between legacy and strategic architectures. It augments noninvasive integration and other project options. Legacy extension is cost-effective, time-efficient and risk adverse. The extension process consists of understanding and documenting the existing system; decomposing the application into data, presentation and processing logic; creating and extracting reusable components; and if desired, converting the legacy code into Web compatible languages.
ADVANTAGES OF LEGACY EXTENSION
Extending a legacy system offers organizations a number of distinct advantages including:
1. Up to 40% reduction in maintenance costs, with enhanced understanding of the functionality of your applications. Optimized cost of ownership of transformed system and reduced overall costs (inclusive of new resources, training and maintenance).
2. Leveraging current business processes and modern technology.
3. Improved access to the system through re-deployment and re-orientation of existing hardware and software resources. Anytime, anywhere, secured access to users and customers. Easy access to users over the Internet since no additional hardware or software is required to access
the application. User-friendly interface that requires minimal training / re-training.
4. Shifts dependence of maintenance activities from few individuals to transparent processes and tools. Ease of maintenance from a Programming / Maintenance group perspective.
5. Comprehensive documentation of system with complete knowledge of processes.
6. Ease in deployment and enhancement of functionality.
METHODS OF LEGACY EXTENSION
Legacy systems typically consist of billions of lines of code in myriad traditional languages. The extension process involves scanning code, extracting business logic, removing dead code and arranging modules into logical components. Skilled programmers can execute these activities manually. However due to various time, cost and risk implications of manual intervention, tool-based extension is a faster, easier and more cost-effective option.
TOOL-BASED APPROACH TO EXTENSION
The demand for rapid application development, along with significant advances in software development automation, has resulted in the creation of tools that automate and aid in the process of legacy extension. In legacy systems, a single program performs multiple functions, or multiple programs may perform a given function. Understanding all operations executed by a function is a difficult task in terms of magnitude, effort and complexity. Several programs may have to be analyzed to completely understand a single function. This method is time consuming and prone to error.
ADVANTAGES OF USING A TOOL
Tool-based extensions can prove to be advantageous in:
1. Extraction of business logic - A tool can extract the business logic related to the functionality, from all the programs and make the entire functionality available in the form of a business rule repository. With the automation of functional analysis, the developer can spend more time in optimization and componentization of
the code.
2. Extraction at system and functional levels - A tool can extract business logic at a system level as well as functional level. Deploying a tool ensures that the complete business knowledge is extracted from the system, while providing an accurate picture of the application(s) functionality.
3. Pictorial depiction of system flow - A tool can also provide a pictorial representation of the system flow, and highlight various modules in the program. This offers the developer a better understanding of the system. Tools can also be used for data migration efforts, whereby it is possible to model data for the target system. This is very useful in cases like VSAM to RDBMS conversion.
Typically, a tool-based approach to legacy extension involves the following steps:
Baselining the Inventory -
1. Tool captures a module-wise inventory.
2. Missing routines, programs etc are reported. For example, program A invokes another program B, and program B does not figure in the program inventory. Program B can then be imported into the tool inventory.
3. The cycle goes on till the inventory is complete.
4. Redundant programs, i.e. the programs that are not referenced by any other programs are identified and ignored.
Planning and Scheduling -
1. Imported programs are analyzed for their complexity. Different tools use different algorithms for determining the complexity.
2. The complexity analysis helps in effort estimation for extension of the programs and further planning & scheduling of necessary activities.
Generating the Process Flow -
1. The tool generates a process flow for a transaction.
2. It highlights the cross-reference and interdependence between programs, batch jobs, modules, etc.
3. The visual representation provides a better understanding of the system at macro and micro levels.
Data Modeling -
1. The tool generates an “as is” data model of the current system.
2. This model can be further normalized and optimized to suit the client’s requirements.
3. This data model can be exported for direct utilization by standard tools such as Rational Rose, ERWIN, etc, to create the target database.
4. The model can also be used to create a DDL for the target database. This feature adds more value when transforming from VSAM datasets to RDBMS.
5. Dependencies and relationships between the various entities can be modeled using graphical interfaces.
6. In most cases, the back-end can remain unchanged.
Knowledge Mining and Extension -
1. Complex rules are split into independent atomic rules. The extracted rules are reviewed and validated against the code and the current functionality. Redundant code is weeded out.
2. “Use Cases” are designed and appropriate business rules are associated with them, thereby building up the components that get translated into software in the target language. A component can consist of more than one function. The design of the components is dependent on the target architecture and infrastructure.
Deployment -
1. The re-architected application is exposed to internal users for testing its functionality.
2. The software generated is implemented on the target platform.
PATNI APPROACH
VALUE-ADDED MAINTENANCE
Patni believes that the best way to service a customer’s need is to imbibe the processes prevalent at the client’s site and blend them with Patni’ s development tools, processes and methodologies.
This approach enables Patni to provide the “best-fit service processes” that add value to the client’s IT operations.
Patni has a ‘Center of Excellence’ for Legacy Modernization. The focus of this group is to:
1. Provide in-house consulting and set benchmarks for a range of Legacy technologies.
2. Identify ‘value-add’ tools, processes and methodologies, and facilitate their usage at client sites.
3. Provide “proof of concept” and formulate solutions in e-Business, Legacy modernization and Application Management.
4. Provide cost-effective solution transfer services to Delivery Units, using a judicious mix of onsite-and offshore-based highly skilled IT professionals.
The Legacy Modernization Center of Excellence possesses expertise in executing projects on a variety of legacy platforms such as IBM mainframe and AS/400, Vax/VMS, HP 3000/MPE.
NON-INVASIVE
Patni believes that any extension of legacy systems should be as “non-invasive” as possible. As described earlier, Re-facing, Re-engineering and Replacement are the three strategies of migrating from legacy to newer platforms. These range from the “cosmetic” to the “highly invasive” methods used by vendors of specific tools and technologies.
SCOPE CUSTOMIZATION
Based on our extensive consultancy experience, Patni scopes out a cost-benefit classification. On the basis of their study, our analysts categorize applications into one of the four categories:
Upgrade / Replaced -
Application that do deliver strategically significant functionality, but have a high cost of retention, have to be retained. However, they are candidates for cost reduction through technology upgrades or through exploitation of other systems. If exploitation of Quadrant 4 (Export) systems makes it possible to replace these systems, these applications will effectively move into Quadrant 1 ( Retire)
Retired -
Applications that do not deliver any strategically significant functionality, but have a high cost of retention, are poor value for money. system that have been semiretired, or are used for historical data reference only, would be included in this category.
Retain -
Applications that do not deliver any strategically significant functionality, but have a correspondingly low cost of retention, are best retained on an “as is” basis. There’s not much to be gained from retiring them, as they have a low cost of retention — nor is there much to be gained from any further investment of time or effort. If exploitation of Quadrant 4 (Exploit) system makes it possible to replace these systems, these applications will effectively move into Quadrant 1 (retire).
Maximize Utilization -
Applications thet do deliver strategically significant functionality, and also have a low cost retention, appearto offer good “Valu for money ” and should be utilised as extensively as possible. Exploitation could result in making other (Quadrant 2 upgrade/ replace) and Quadrant 3 (Retain) systems redundant, thus effectively moving them to Quadrant 1 (Retire). High Low Strategic value High
LEGACY APPLICATION EXTENSION PROCESS
Steps:
1. Legacy Understanding: Documenting existing system.
2. System Decomposition: Application is broken into data, presentation and processing logic.
3. Componentization: Create and extract reusable components.
4. Extension: Convert legacy code into Web compatible languages.
Any legacy extension will require the right tools and the right approach. Patni has strategic alliances with some of the leading “legacy modernization” and “Web-enabling” tool providers in the industry. Rich experience, customer-orientation, state-of-the-art development tools, processes and methodologies enable Patni to provide the “best-fit service processes” that add value to the client’s IT operations.
CONCLUSION
1. More than 70% of corporate data still resides on legacy systems.
2. Large corporations have invested considerable resources on these systems. This investment cannot be written off.
3. Legacy systems were developed for, and still run mission-critical applications.
4. In their current state, most legacy applications have several challenges associated with their functioning and maintenance.
5. When evolving beyond legacy systems, business leaders must consider strategic issues such as:
. Total Cost of Ownership
. Productivity
. Flexibility
. Knowledge Availability
. Extinct Vendors
. Alignment with Business Goals
6. Various options are available to the CIO when migrating from Legacy systems to more contemporary platforms:
. Functional Extension
. Technical Extension
. Migration
. Replacement
7. Any extension of legacy systems should be “non-invasive.”
8. The extension process consists of understanding and documenting the existing system; decomposing the application into data, presentation and processing logic; creating and extracting reusable components; and if desired, converting the legacy code into Web compatible languages.
Patni Computer Systems Limited (BSE: PATNI COMPUT, NSE: PATNI) is a global IT Services provider servicing Global 2000 clients. Patni caters to its clients through its industry-focused practices, including insurance, manufacturing, financial services, telecommunications, and its technology-focused practices.
With an employee strength of over 10,000 and multiple offshore development facilities across eight cities; Patni has 24 international offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Patni’s service offerings include application development, application maintenance and support, packaged software implementation, infrastructure management services, product engineering services, business process outsourcing and quality assurance services. Patni is an ISO 9001: 2000 certified and SEI-CMMi Level 5 organization, assessed enterprise wide at P-CMM Level 3. For more information on Patni please visit www.patni.com or email at mktg@patni.com.
The secret’s out. It’s in the title that the secret to your success is to be willing. If willingness is the answer to getting what you want then why do so many people get stuck and fail to achieve their goals?
Think of a recent goal you started but then got stuck. Do you know why you got stuck and stopped working on it? If you think real hard you will probably know why. The REAL reason: Not because you were too busy.
You started by writing down your goal and developing a list of things you must do to accomplish it. If your goal was to write a book then you made a list of all the things you needed to do to accomplish it and the deadline to finish it.
Your list begins:
1. Set up a writing work area.
2. Do my research.
3. Reserve one hour per day on my calendar.
4. Identify my topic.
5. Name 10 things I want to write about on this topic: These are my chapters.
So far so good. You are working diligently on these activities and it was easier than you thought. The next list:
6. Begin writing at my scheduled time: one hour per day
You list other goals that are needed to finish your book: interviews, phone calls, workshops, etc.
You write a chapter or two in a couple of weeks and then something happens. You run out of steam. All of the sudden you are too busy. But, wait a minute, you had this time on the schedule”too busy” is not the reason.
You have just been sabotagedby you! You realized that writing a book takes some effort, some time, and you must contact people and interview them, etc. There is something on this list that makes you feel uncomfortable and you aren’t willing to do it. You cannot finish your book. You must be willing to do the items on your list or you will not reach your goal. You might be able to skip one or two of the items and still finish your book. Yet the secret to your success is your willingness to follow through, take action, and do it.
Take a look at your list and promise yourself, “I will do it,” and mean it–then you will reach your goal. If the task you must do feels uncomfortable to youdo it anyway. The agonizing, uncomfortable feeling will pass once you do it.
Every day we have the choice to succeed or fail. Your success begins and ends with you and your desire to succeed. Choose what you want in life and go for it.
Joan Clout-Kruse is the author of “Top 10 Traits of Silicon Valley Dynamos,” and the e-
books “How to Write Your Great Book in 90 Days or less” and “The ABCs of Success.”
These books can help you plan and set tasks to achieve your goals. Contact her through her Web site http://powerhousewriting.com or at 650 759-2042. She can help
you write a “how to” book or booklet to attract clients and get recognized as an expert in
your field. She offers 30 to 90 Day book writing programs through personal coaching, e-mail and teleseminars.
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