ICL COBOL Migration

ICL dialect of COBOL is fairly close to ANSI COBOL 74/85 Standards.
The main differences is the extensions to COBOL language, Screens definitions, use of IDMS (Codasyl roots) Database and API.

IDMS Database Migration

ICL COBOL programs typically utilise IDMS database system and API. IDMS has roots from CODASYL designs, which support Master-Child type relationships.
SoftwareMining Translation Toolkit can use the exported IDMS schemas to regenerate the database as a Relational Database. The Master-Child relationships are translated to "foreign-key" relationships. The system will also generate Object-Relational data access classes for each of the tables. These classes will continue to represent the Master-Child relationships as associations in Object-Oriented classes.

The following diagram outlines the artifacts genrated from translation of IDMS tables

Click here for further information on IDMS database design.

ICL Screens Definition

ICL Screens definitions are typically defined in external files. ICL COBOL screens tend to be used within Conversational programs, designed for a "client-server" type deployment. SoftwareMining converts such Conversational applications to a Application-Server architecture. The screen definitions are tranlated to XML/XSLT architecture which works with an Web-Server, to produce HTML screens at run-time. Although in HTML, The translated screens would still have a "green-screen" look and feel. As a part of an application modernization project, many sites redesign the screens to benefit from a new look and feel.

UNISYS COBOL MCP CLEARPATH DMS COBOL Migration, Modernization and Rehosting Project Phases

The translation of to Java or C# applications involve

Asset Management: Identify all the artifacts required for translation .
(Optional) Business Rule Extraction.
Translate to target language
Database and Data Migratation
Migrate JCL / WFL / CL
Creation and Population of Test Database
System acceptance testing
System acceptance testing
User Acceptance Testing
(Client): Interation 2 Improvements: Screen Redesign, SOA Integration, Cloud Deployments, Coding Improvements and cleanup