CM evolveIT can speed large modernization projects and scale up to enterprise environments, so you can trust it to handle your most complex challenges.

Government agencies at all levels have several challenges that businesses may not face. Often, their budgets are limited and new requirements are set by statute with fixed deadlines, leading to a ‘patch and plaster’ mentality. Despite all this, their customers—you and me—demand modern services from these agencies.

The Challenge

A huge government agency faced a daunting application modernization challenge with code that was over 40 years old and incredibly complex. The system comprised more than 250 million lines of code and 250 major systems (many of which were on the mainframe). Adding to the challenge was the fact that most of their budget was dedicated to maintaining these systems, not revamping them. Two critical requirements to eliminate technical debt and migrate the databases to DB2. And of course, there was a time crunch. The mandate was for certain applications to be significantly enhanced by a target date, which was set in stone by legislation.

The Solution

The first step in a project of this nature is to analyze what each application does. The best way to do this is to first scan and parse all the code into a metadata repository so you can scope the effort and determine priorities. CM First’s CM evolveIT and the CM MetaAnalytics Bridge for CA Repository software automatically analyzes and inventories software assets, significantly speeding this large first step. Once the code is in the repository, the product enables deep impact analysis, component reuse, code quality analysis and modernization planning to speed large modernization projects. For a gigantic project that spans language domains, requiring accuracy and speed, software is the only way to ensure the results needed.

Not only were they able to meet the mandated deadlines, they also found many opportunities to enhance their customer offerings, leading to a far better customer experience. These early, rapid successes ensured that funding would continue to complete the project.

CM MetaAnalytics parses source code into structured XML to provide an analysis of software quality. You can also understand connectivity between components, where-used information, file I/O usage, SQL access and more. You can also see how to exploit parallel and multi-core processing for speed. And the product’s Bridge interfaces with the CA Repository using Universal XML Exchange, allowing you to use a repository to input this data.

The Results

The government agency knew that this project would take years and many phases. But with a repository, it was far easier for them to organize the project, focusing on the most critical areas first. Not only were they able to meet the mandated deadlines, they also found many opportunities to enhance their customer offerings, leading to a far better customer experience. These early, rapid successes ensured that funding would continue to complete the project.

What could you do if you had a way to truly understand your legacy code? What modernization opportunities (and compelling economics) are possible?

To learn more, click here or get the CM evolveIT white paper.