Secrets to Successful Modernization

Secrets to
Successful Modernization
White Paper – Secrets to Successful Modernization
Contents
Getting started - the modernization big picture ........................................................................................ 5
What's the business driver? ..................................................................................................................... 8
Access your applications ....................................................................................................................... 9
What's the technology strategy? ........................................................................................................... 10
Front end projects - Don't underestimate the UX ................................................................................... 11
Can you reuse the business logic? ........................................................................................................ 12
Can you reuse your data layer? ............................................................................................................. 12
Evaluate your options ............................................................................................................................ 12
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White Paper – Secrets to Successful Modernization
looksoftware is a registered trademark of looksoftware Pty Ltd and looksoftware Inc. Other company,
product and service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks or service marks of their respective
owners.
The information contained in this document represents the current view of looksoftware on the issues
discussed as at the date of publication. Because looksoftware must respond to changing market
conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of looksoftware, and looksoftware
cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.
This white paper is for informational purposes only. looksoftware makes no warranties, express or implied
in this document.
Abstract
As new technologies and devices continue to unfold in our everyday lives and transform the way we
conduct business, there is an increasing demand for leveraging our IBM i applications to harness them.
There is no doubt the IBM i continues to be a world-class application server with it’s proven robustness,
scalability, reliability, security and low cost of ownership. However, the 5250-based ‘green screen’
applications that are still in wide production today are struggling to respond to the increasing demands of
the organizations they support.
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The ultimate application platform
The need to modernize and transform these 5250 applications is greater than ever. Not just improving the
way these applications look, but the way they work.
“59% of IT leaders place modernization as the top software issue”
Forrester Consulting, Application Modernization and Migration Trends in 2009/2010.
Today’s modernization strategy is one of the top 3 items on the CIO’s agenda, because every company
needs to ensure its applications continue to deliver value for reasonable cost and risk. This increasingly
requires effective strategic planning in the face of a steady stream of emerging potentially disruptive
technologies.
If you do your homework properly, modernizing your IBM i applications can deliver rapid ROI and longterm success. Getting it wrong, however, can cost you - big time! A failed modernization project can be
the last straw for some companies that seem to have forgotten the business value the IBM i has been
delivering for years. A successful project, on the other hand, can be the first step to guaranteeing a bright
future for IBM i applications.
Today’s modern solution delivery toolsets deliver reuse by service-enabling existing applications to
leverage emerging technologies. These include multi-touch, voice related technologies, RIA clients,
mobile devices and Web Services – and integration with each of these is possible without forcing you to
change your code, let alone redevelop it.
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We’ve also seen modernization suites mature to include integrated development support. This is crucial
when new functionality needs to be rapidly delivered, and seamlessly connected with existing applications.
Modern solution delivery is about reusing where sensible and generating new code where required, within
a services architecture, so that you can plug in to tomorrow’s new technologies.
Getting started - the modernization big picture
Application Modernization means different things to different people. Improving the value of legacy
application assets is one, simple definition. But rather than using the term legacy, we’ll call these core
applications, because they typically support the core business processes.
Regardless of the many definitions of modernization floating around, the one characteristic that we should
be striving for is to ensure our applications do an outstanding job of supporting the users and the
business in the most effective and efficient manner possible. In short, we want our applications to be
amazing!
Amazing applications
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Characteristics of Amazing Applications Include:
-
Extending 5250-based applications to extend application reach through mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets
-
Integrating with the Windows desktop to improve information worker productivity and decision
making
-
Web-enabling applications to improve customer service and cut costs
-
Extending application functionality to meet new and changed requirements
-
Integrating back-end applications with desktop applications
-
Connecting back-end applications with new technologies to streamline workflows, reduce costs
and improve service levels
-
Multi-platform integration, inside and outside your company, to streamline supply chains
-
Service-enabling existing applications to allow flexible reuse of key functions
-
Restructuring your code to be more agile and service oriented
At looksoftware, we believe that there are 3 fundamentals that make an application amazing:
1. Modern
2. Connected
3. Open
A modern application isn’t just an application that is graphical and looks more modern, it needs to work
better. For example, extending the reach of the application to support external users via the web and
mobile devices, and also improving the workflow and integration so that users can work more efficiently.
A connected application is one that takes advantage of the users Windows desktop. For example,
integration with Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook and other popular desktop productivity tools today, which
are typically utilized completely independently to their corresponding 5250 counterparts. Reaching further,
being connected means integrating to the enterprise through back-end services, so that other
applications on different platforms can be seamlessly integrated with the IBM i applications, both within
the organization, and by working more seamlessly with 3rd party vendors and partners. Web services
provide a foundation for connectedness beyond the enterprise.
Thirdly, an open application is one that is architected to leverage both the investment in existing
applications, as well as supporting new development. The requirement to learn a number of new skills in
order to significantly enhance applications has proved to be a barrier to progress for many IBM i
organizations. Technologies such as RPG OA address this issue through enabling development teams to
create modern applications in RPG, therefore using their existing skill set.
Application Modernization traditionally referred to improving what you’ve already got. Reuse-based
modernization has been popular in the IBM community because applications are often robust, have been
refined with years of use and enhancement, and continue to deliver significant business value. However
when the business requirements have substantially changed or the technical health of the application has
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declined (making a reuse-based approach inappropriate), redevelopment or replacement with a standard
package may be the best modernization path forward.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Modernization no longer simply refers to tactical improvements made to existing applications. Today’s
modernization strategy is one of the top 3 items on the CIO’s agenda because every company needs to
ensure its applications continue to deliver value for reasonable cost and risk. This increasingly requires
effective strategic planning in the face of a steady stream of emerging potentially disruptive technologies.
There are a few different ways to approach modernization, including:
-
Front-end modernization, which includes modern GUIs like rich, thin and mobile clients, as well
as integrating with popular UI’s (like MS Outlook and Google) and desktop applications, to deliver
streamlined business processes.
-
Back-end modernization, which starts with a service oriented approach, to deliver SOA compliant
reusable components services from your existing applications, which can then be connected
easily to modern UIs and other applications.
-
Re-development, where reuse-based modernization is not possible or practical.
Replacement with a package, where a 3rd party provided application meets your key functionality
requirements.
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Connect with the Enterprise
This paper provides some guidelines and tips to help you assess the state of your existing application
portfolio, so that you can determine the best path forward for each of your applications. It does not aim to
argue the merits of the alternative approaches, but rather to describe the typical situations where each
approach is best suited. For typical IBM i customers that have multiple applications that include some
customized codes, a combination of front-end modernization, back-end modernization, redevelopment
and package replacements may be appropriate.
What's the business driver?
To identify the appropriate business drivers, you should start with understanding the company’s business
strategy. From there, you can identify how IT can support that strategy by solving known business issues.
Business Drivers for Application Modernization
-
Reduce costs and improve solution delivery by service-enabling
-
Improve business user productivity, effectiveness and satisfaction through:
-
o
Modern UX
o
Desktop integration
Streamline and automate business processes
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-
Reduce training costs
-
Improve access to applications:
o
Anytime, anywhere access
o
Extend access to customers and partners
-
Improve business performance by making application integration easy
-
Company mandates:
o
move all applications to pure web architectures
o
move to a new platform
-
Improve the user experience
-
Reduce costs and complexity
-
Reduce maintenance costs
-
Improve agility and delivery times
-
Consolidate IT infrastructure and reduce costs
-
Encourage reuse of IT assets
Whatever the identified reason(s), make sure you have a clear, documented understanding of the
business needs and the expected benefits, particularly the return on investment (ROI).
Assessing your applications
You need to clearly define exactly what business benefits your modernization efforts should deliver, as
well as an understanding of which potential projects will deliver the most benefit.
If you don’t already know what aspects of modernizing are relevant for your company – work it out! You
can start by doing a simple inventory analysis of your apps – rate their health, volatility and value to your
business. Talk to your customers – the business users – and ask how well they think each application
supports the business.
You’re probably running multiple applications on multiple platforms – some packages, some custom
applications and extensions. You need to assess the technical value and business value of each
application and consider the associated costs and risks to determine the appropriate modernization
strategy for each. You won’t know what the potential savings are if you don’t have a detailed
understanding of your existing costs.
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Application
Name
Package
Custom
Strategic
importance
Technical
Health
IT Health
Business
Value
Strategy
Payroll
Package
None
Poor
Medium
Decommission, evaluate Cloud
SaaS delivery
Orders
Custom
Medium
OK
Medium
Web-enable for customer and
partner portal access
Service enable for supply chain
automation
Financials
CRM
Custom
P/C
Medium
OK
Low
Replace with a package
High
OK
Medium
Service-enable key functions
Offline support for mobile staff
Develop differentiating key
customer service module.
Sample Application Assessment Summary
What’s the technology strategy?
After you’ve done your application inventory, you may conclude that it’s time to replace or outsource all or
part of it. What’s your sourcing strategy? What about architecture requirements, such as a mandating
that all initiatives must be service-oriented. Most likely you’ll find a mix of modernization approaches is
required for your application portfolio.
Start simple
A simple, practical next step may be to leverage mobile technology to extend application reach. Perhaps
a small project to service-enable key functions could improve ease of integration and streamline supply
chain.
Pick a small project – your chances of success drop as your project size increases. The project should
address a well-known business issue that can quickly deliver visible and clear business benefits. It could
be reuse-based – like integrating a front-end application with a back-end application. Or it could be
delivering new functionality – perhaps to extend a core application. The modern solution delivery
environment will support methods and tools that provide integrated support for reuse and development.
It will also be completely services compliant, to ensure easy integration with other applications.
Reuse-based projects are generally less risky. A project that impacts user experience can win business
users’ support, particularly if it looks and works as well as other new applications. Extending a new UI
channel from an existing application to improve service to partners or customers could be a good
candidate.
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If you’re ready to start with Web services, consuming a Web service from an existing application could
deliver real value. An example could be hooking in a Web service for address validation in your customer
maintenance function. This typically doesn’t require significant changes to your application, whilst
eliminating invalid address data can immediately save money and improve efficiency.
The goal is to ensure the first project delivers real value. Architecting and building a repository of services
can wait until you’ve got some runs on the board!
Don’t be too aggressive and remember to involve the business – up and down the chain of command.
Front-end projects - don’t underestimate the User Experience
The depth of application functionality has been the long time strength of IBM i applications. Unless the
User Experience (UX) is acceptable however, functionality may be irrelevant!
Remember, it is a multi-channel world – there are multiple audiences for your applications, and there is
not one UI style or device that is the answer. One size does not fit all!
The more services-oriented your back-end applications are, the more easily they’ll cope with delivering a
multi-channel user experience.
Make sure mobility figures in your plans - mobile access to applications has finally taken off and is rapidly
becoming the preferred means of Web and application access. Also, consider what front-end application
experiences your audiences currently use – if many use Outlook, Notes or SharePoint, why wouldn’t you
consider delivering your IBM back-end applications through this UX?
Designing modern graphical skins is not for the typical IBM i developer. It’s so easy to get it wrong.
Getting it right won't guarantee your success, but it will eliminate another potential reason for failure. So
get help if you need it - a graphic designer with the right tools can deliver a customized skin in less than a
day.
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Can you reuse the business logic?
Most IBM i users already have most of the business rules. Increased reuse is a fundamental goal of
modern solution delivery and makes projects smaller, simpler and more likely to succeed. REUSE
wherever possible for greater efficiency and productivity! Develop new service-oriented code where you
have to, and avoid duplicating code - particularly business logic.
Initiatives to improve the service orientation of your applications will improve your reuse potential, which
will drive down costs and complexity.
Can you reuse your data layer?
Poor technical or business health of the application may dictate a redevelopment or replacement.
Perhaps the business requirements have changed over time, and some or all of the business rules need
to be redeveloped. Even when you need to redevelop business logic, consider data layer reuse. While
business needs and marketplaces can change quickly, data structures are less volatile. Always make sure
you rebuild only what you need to. When you do rebuild business logic, look for modern frameworkbased methods that provide support for rapid applications development and ensure you implement a
services oriented architecture.
Evaluate your options
Get hands on
The best way to ensure you’re making the right choice of tools is to test vendors’ claims. You can do this
by trying out their technologies yourself - by attempting to utilize them with your own applications. We've
seen many customers waste tremendous amounts of time (and therefore money) by not satisfying
themselves fully that the tools will meet their needs. If a vendor won’t give you a hands-on free trial, what
does that tell you about the potential complexity of their solution?
An application modernization survey conducted by Aberdeen Group (The Legacy Application
Modernization Benchmark Report) found 76% of companies surveyed reported problems with the tools,
including performance and stability. So, make sure you road test the tools for yourself. Getting hands-on
is the only way to determine if the tools will work for you, your applications and your business users.
Are you ready to change?
Sure, it’s true you can accomplish a lot by sticking to your RPG. RPG will rightly outlive some of us.
There’s absolutely no reason why your RPG-based business rules can’t become services in an SOA
world - as long as you’re prepared to think openly and be ready to use other technologies when they
make more sense. You really do need to get trained and start thinking modern! Yes, that does mean GUI
and yes, that does mean services! But more important than both of these is thinking at the business level.
So, commit to training - not learning low-level, complex new technologies, but thinking about business
processes and how your RPG code can better support more flexible business processes.
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Final tips
The above-mentioned Aberdeen survey:
-
Recommends the use of automated tools, particularly those that can help you move toward the
services-based world without manual coding effort.
-
Suggests a focus on making integration easier, which results in lower maintenance costs and
improves delivery times.
-
Recommends prioritizing the work to be done, based on value delivered.
We also recommend that you find an internal champion who will be enthused about the opportunities
offered by modernization, and who can be developed into your tools expert. If your team is a traditional
IBM I RPG team, work with them to get them thinking more about business processes.
Can you picture success?
If you think modernization is just about making your applications look pretty, you’ll fail in the long term.
Success is about delivering business value to your customers. Here are a few examples of the successes
achieved by others – success which you could have too!
“The enhanced dealer applications have improved the dealers' service levels and have extended the life of
our applications by at least 5 years.” Tjeu Bollen
“This is fantastic! I fully support this project for all our IBM i users. I see significant productivity
improvements that will make our IBM i applications welcomed by our users. Our iSeries applications
which might have looked obsolete 3 years ago, will now be enhanced to include a delivery order system
and support for a distribution business. Egyptian based users will never see a green screen!” David
Taglialatela
“We’ve measured a 40% reduction in average call time, which means a positive return on investment
within 4 months. I expect to see further productivity improvements as operators become accustomed to
the new system.”
“This project highlights the rapid ROI and low risk offered by composite applications. We’re reusing preexisting functionality in a smart way, integrating the applications and driving the workflow through a
modern user interface.” Phil Reid
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“This modernization project has improved the business process and reduced
the complexity of the iSeries application on the web.”
Chumnan Aungkanawarangkana
“Our customer K C Dat, benefited from the savings available from lookdirect which allows their 5250
logistics application to utilize the batch CPW capabilities of the IBM i Power 5+. The resulting savings of
35% on new hardware made the decision to stay with the IBM i easy.” Joshua Saw
"Capgemini chose looksoftware to modernize our banking solution because it was clear we could get a
superior solution to market faster than the alternatives. After 2 or 3 online sessions we could see how the
on-the-fly dynamic architecture could transform our Combank solution to meet our aggressive 3-month
rollout plan.” Sunitha Valtati
“The return on investment analysis found the modernization project costs, including software licensing
and project resources, were recovered by reduced communications costs within 2 months.” Francisco Di
Gioia Ferreira
“After seeing how quickly and easily lookdirect can modernize my applications and eliminate the
requirement for 5250 OLTP, I recommend all IBM i customers with classic 5250 applications test the
looksoftware claim of 'getting you up and running in minutes'.” Carl Novit
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“Choosing newlook and centric has been an excellent business investment. Since the launch of
'NewVision' we have received approximately 500 orders for enhanced applications with more to follow!”
Mike Bauer
“The smartclient drives the workflow ensuring all operators follow the same call centre business process.”
Michael Brennan
“This project will set us apart from our competitors. We have been very impressed with the timely and
helpful assistance we have received since joining looksoftware’s partner program.” Michael G Galligan
“Just making your application look better isn't enough. Customers need to justify software purchases and
upgrades, so new functionality that clearly improves productivity and reduces costs is essential.
looksoftware’s ability to directly access most databases including DB 2, SQL Server and other data,
provides multi-platform application integration that goes way beyond refacing. ” Robin Wilson
“looksoftware has allowed us to save hundreds of hours of development time and more importantly,
thousands of dollars of expensive consulting effort to port existing, time-tested iSeries functionality over to
the Microsoft Dynamics AX platform. With soarchitect, we can leave this already-working business logic
intact on our System i and simply use web services to exchange data as needed with our new Dynamics
AX system…”
George Hamin
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“We selected looksoftware to modernize our core ERP, JDE World from Oracle. We will be using
looksoftware’s web services support to connect JDE World to our .NET SQL based applications. In
addition, we will use the snap solutions to integrate JDE World into our Outlook and SharePoint
environments.” Kurt Cuff
“soarchitect’s ability to rapidly expose reusable services from our BPCS back-end ERP means we can
define workflows that integrate our disparate applications”.
Jeffrey Tan, Abbott Laboratories
“Our customised backend system 21 ERP did a good job of supporting our business processes but
could not leverage the new technologies required to deliver the productivity gains our business users
needed. Our new system reuses our IBM i ERP back end but delivers a completely new User Experience
and integrates with other key applications like Office. The resulting business benefits from the renewed
application over the last 12 months include:
•
•
•
•
•
Improved servicing & billing cycle productivity by 35%+
Reduced costs and errors by reducing re-keying by 98% and hard copy paper use by 90%.
Reduced costs and improved process consistency by automating business processes
Increased Service & Customer satisfaction by extending ERP functionality
Increased productivity and performance by delivering new functionality
We had previously evaluated (and even purchased) other modernization solutions – looksoftware’s renew
is very different to anything else available. We’re long time IBM i customers and thanks to renew, we’re
now IBM i customers with a services oriented architecture in place, and we have a future. We can see a
path forward”. Albert M Johnson
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