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IT Modernization – The open source Initiative
The IT application assets of most large organizations are acquired based on a careful analysis of the return on Investment and an analysis of the investment required for different options. However, many hidden costs emerge during the maintenance lifecycle of an It application. These costs can be broadly classified into the following heads:
- License costs of operating environments.
- Cost of obsolescence risk.
- Maintenance costs.
- Costs associated with vendor related risks (especially when the source code is not available).
- Costs associated with enhancement.
- Productivity costs in adapting processes and businesses to the models embedded in packaged applications.
- Costs associated with losing functionality developed in custom built applications when a packaged solution is adopted.
- Replacement costs when platform support is discontinued for a legacy application or legacy platform.
- Scalability cost when an application is required to scale up to meet new business environments. An elegant panacea too many of these issues is the Open source initiative.
The open source initiative has the following capabilities for a large organization:
- Ensure that the organization has possession and ownership of the source code and thus mitigate its risk.
- Ensure that vendor risk is minimized by ensuring internal dissemination and knowledge transfer
- Ensure that the organization has control over scalability and functional enhancement of the application.
- Allow the organization to choose between a vast array of potential vendors in terms of maintenance and enhancement of the application.
Two development platforms that are closely associated with Open source are the J2EE framework and the PHP language.
The J2EE framework now includes high performance enterprise class computing tools and platforms that allow the development and deployment of world class solutions while maintaining vendor neutrality and platform independence as well as possession of the source code. PHP on the other hand is suitable only for certain classes of applications principally content driven web applications.
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IT Modernization – A Mann-India perspective
The overriding impetus for Enterprise It Modernization is the need to easily address changing business demands in order to maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Enterprise It Modernization can :
- Significantly reduce costs
- Implementation of more efficient, standardized it systems
- Lower maintenance and human resource expenses.
- Modernized systems also guarantee shorter time-to-market,
- Easier application integration,
- Consolidation of subsystems, and
- The ability to expand functionality while fully preserving corporate business knowledge.
- Increased productivity and
- More efficient decision making processes.
However, it is important to also understand that modernizing mission-critical systems has the potential to become one of the IT department’s most daunting and complex tasks, as most in-house IT teams lack modernization experience. The wide range of modernization paths and tools, each with its own positive and negative business consequences, has led more and more IT executives to recognize the need for an integrated solution approach to IT Modernization.
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Choosing the Right Modernization Solution
ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION solutions have become a major focus in the enterprise IT management world. Large vendors and niche players offer everything from consulting and need analysis, through tools and methodologies, all the way to turnkey modernization solutions. When selecting a vendor or a solution there are a number of factors that should be central to the decision.
First and foremost is the provider’s expertise and track record. Modernization is not equivalent to regular application programming or system integration. Modernization providers should be able to demonstrate considerable successful modernization experience with organizations of all sizes, markets, and locations. The experience brought into the project by the provider will directly affect the project's positive outcome. Ideally, an expert modernization provider will be able to contribute to all stages of planning, understanding, and implementing the modernization project.
It is also important to look for the best tools, technologies, and methodologies. Automated modernization tools should provide true automation—requiring minimal intervention. At the same time, the tools should not be over-automated—leaving room for sensitive processes to be handled manually, as per the organization's preferences and rules.
The best tools available today offer functionality that ensure timely, accurate, and cost-effective completion of the project, with full business logic and data integrity retention, an extensive audit trail and change documentation, minimal downtime, and maximum end-user transparency. Some other key capabilities to look for in a modernization tool include:
• Pure code—leaves no residuals, emulation software, or translation procedures.
• Customization—incorporates specific corporate requirements and business rules.
• Flexibility—works with a wide range of mainframe and distributed environments.
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The Public open source Initiative
The government of Venezuela has embarked on a novel course by passing a decree to ensure that all state owned and run enterprises move out of the vendor dependent, license driven application environment to an open source environment. This decree has wide reaching ramifications for the organizations that are within its ambit.
The implications of the decree can be classified thus:
1. Operating Platform Migration - Many Venezuelan public enterprises currently operate using proprietary platforms and operating environments. These include Microsoft, UNIX, IBM and SUN proprietary operating environments among others. The logical course of action for these enterprises is to migrate to a free. open source environment such as LINUX.
2. Application Migration – Most enterprises have legacy applications that are deployed over proprietary platforms. However, replacing these appears to be difficult and cumbersome owing to the fact that considerable effort and investment has been made in infusing custom functionality into these applications. Also, it is difficult to find open source applications that can replace these legacy platforms. Mann-India has the capability of using its vast toolset to automatically migrate these applications to platform independent Open Source technologies thus preserving the functionality built in and at the same time ensuring a seamless transition to Open Source technologies as envisaged by the decree.
3. Custom Development – In some cases, it might be prudent to rewrite the existing application using open source platforms. Mann-India can also serve as a partner of choice for this as it has engaged in such projects with considerable success over the past decade.
4. Ready Solutions – Some of the applications deployed currently are packaged. They cannot be migrated automatically owing to non availability of the source code and rewriting them is a very long process. In this case, the solution is to find open source applications that can fit the niche occupied currently by the packaged solutions. In this case it is important to illustrate this case with an example. Many Venezuelan organizations have deployed SAP. However a close examination of these deployments reveals that the quantum of SAP functionality employed is small. Some organizations use it as a financial management tool only, while others sue it for inventory management etc. Therefore while replacement of SAP in its entirety is a seemingly impossible task, the nature of deployments suggests that alternatives can and shall be found relatively easily.
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Open Source
The term OPEN SOURCE lends itself to various definitions. However, in the context of this whitepaper, an open source solution can be described as a solution that is distributed along with its source code to the recipient alongwith the rights to use it and disseminate it further in any manner whatsoever including the option to publish the same over the web. Of course, in many instances, it might not be desirable to publish the source code of a mission critical sensitive application dealing with vulnerable business practices such as funds transfer in a bank. In such instances, it would be prudent for the recipient to possess and maintain the source code of the application. Two development platforms that are closely associated with Open source are the J2EE framework and the PHP language. The J2EE framework now includes high performance enterprise class computing tools and platforms that allow the development and deployment of world class solutions while maintaining vendor neutrality and platform independence as well as possession of the source code. PHP on the other hand is suitable only for certain classes of applications principally content driven web applications.
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The Benefits of Automation
In the past, many IT Modernization projects were rejected by senior management due to the financial burden they put on the enterprise, in addition to their inherent high risk of failure. Over time, as substantial automation of ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION has become feasible, modernization is now considered an economically attractive option compared with completely rewriting or replacing legacy applications.
Today’s automated modernization tools cover all aspects of the ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION process, automating labor-intensive and resource-intensive portions of the projects, while leaving key decisions in the hands of the experts. High-performance, flexible, and proven ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION tools were specifically designed for enterprise-level projects, and are implemented using a proven and tested methodology.
A number of variables and factors play a part in considering the feasibility of using automated ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION tools:
Schedules
As with any major IT project, modernization has the potential of turning into a prolonged undertaking. Although beginning the project by thoroughly understanding the legacy systems and planning ahead can give an accurate forecast of expected project duration, there are often external deadlines and business requirements that put pressure on the IT department to shorten the project or even abandon it, if it seems it will take too long. Automation tools substantially lower overall project completion time, while positively affecting the quality of results.
Budgets
By their very nature, modernization efforts require resource-intensive management and implementation expertise. Automation tools enable the optimization of time allocation—getting the experts where they are most needed in planning, initiating, and managing the project.
Available Expert Resources
The specific expertise required for a modernization project may not always be readily available when and where it is most needed. Automation requires fewer legacy system and migration experts to carry out the same tasks that previously required large teams.
Complexity of Legacy Applications
Today’s automated modernization tools also assist project managers in both understanding and simplifying complex modernization projects. Since many legacy systems were built piece by piece over the years, they are often difficult—if not impossible—to navigate and understand manually.
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Modernization Approach
You can consider package acquisition as a way to modernize your IT systems, but that often is not an option. In such cases, there are three types of modernization you need to consider: non-invasive reuse, automated migration, and system reengineering.
Non-invasive reuse doesn’t touch the existing application. Instead, it lays functionality such as Web services on top of it and reuses the existing application “as is.” Since it doesn’t directly affect the application, this approach carries little risk and is the least costly approach. It also only solves a subset of modernization needs.
Automated migration involves changing database management software, hardware platforms, and programming languages in a highly automated fashion. There is more risk with migration solutions and higher costs, but the results are likely to have a greater impact and will provide the foundation for the development of additional system functionality and future enhancements.
Although automated migration is a powerful solution, it is important to note that it cannot solve every problem. If the modernization involves switching to technologies based on radically different architectures and the business objectives dictate that current processes will require significant redesign, then the reengineering, rather than migration, approach should be taken.
System reengineering uses tools that automatically mine the existing systems and then redevelop new components using the mined information. This is the most costly approach and carries with it a much greater risk. However, reengineering is typically the only way you can properly reconstruct a maintainable application using the new system architecture.
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ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION —The Golden Path
ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION represents Accelerated Evolution—the optimal solution between evolution and revolution. With ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION , the value of legacy IT investments is extended through the use of a combination of cost-effective alternatives to overall replacement—migrating systems to new IT environments, transforming them to address new requirements, and extending them to new technologies, while reusing proven business logic and preserving the knowledge of the current IT staff.
Modernization is a comprehensive, cost-effective, and safe way to preserve legacy investments, while simultaneously avoiding the costs of maintaining systems in their current state and the business impact of switching to an entirely new environment. As a rule, modernizing systems to suit ongoing needs costs a fraction of the cost of implementing a new comparable system, with minimal risk of significant business interruptions. Overall, industry analysts concur that ENTERPRISE IT MODERNIZATION can lead to 20-40% percent reduction in costs due to more efficient utilization of modern technology, lower human resource requirements, and lower maintenance costs.