Convertools can be used as part of a migration strategy to provide the following services :
An inventory or audit is performed to understand the scale, complexity and completeness of the clients existing source applications either for audit purposes or prior to a migration or conversion exercise. The existing source applications are scanned and analysed using a powerful set of language dependant scanners/analyzers where relevant features of the source applications are stored in the genINV database – a repository database for storing , managing and monitoring all aspects of an organisations source applications.
genINV is enabled to produce reports detailing inter-relationships in terms of files passed, sub-programs, copy members, macros, screen maps, specific facilities used , JCL members, TP monitor calls, etc. ( a sample report can be found in appendix ?).
Source code conversion is achieved using genSRC. The information stored on genINV is referenced by genSRC to convert/transform the source applications into the prescribed target language or language variant. Program source can be converted to a new dialect of language to run on a new platform eg. IBM Cobol to Unix Cobol or to transform them into a completely different language eg. RPG to Cobol.
To facilitate this, Convertoolsä uses GENIUS, which is a macro language intended for the generation of sources which may be JCL, COBOL, Oracle, etc.
Data migration is a specialist area where data specific to one platform or environment is migrated to a different platform or environment or simply re-formatted. Traditional migration process management consists of a number of steps, where the source data is mapped, cleansed (where data which conflicts with its defined attributes is identified and repaired) and converted to its target format.
Convertoolsä utilises FILCON, a generic File Conversion tool designed to map, clean and convert data from source to target formats utilising flat file structures. Database records may be migrated by first unloading the data to a flat file format. FILCON operates utilising Cobol like copy definitions to map source to target, the source and target ‘copies’ being parameters to the conversion process. FILCON was specially designed to handle large amounts of mainframe based data and will operate on any platform supporting Cobol.
genDB is a database migration tool, specifically targeted at migrating from IDS (Bull) and IDMS (including IBM and ICL variants) to DB2 or Oracle. This is achieved by a totally automated process, which facilitates the migration of the database records and structures to target tables automatically generated by the toolset. The target database is serviced by emulation software also generated by the toolset. Only minor source code changes are required to replace the native IDS/IDMS statements with parameterised calls to the emulator.
The toolset provides automated facilities to migrate the source tables (data and structure), generate the target database and emulation software and to transform the source program database verbs into the emulator calls. This mechanism supports the migration of IDSII to Oracle, IDSII to DB2, IDMS to Oracle and IDMS to DB2.
FILCON complements this process, where the migration involves a change to the collating sequence (eg. ASCII to EBCDIC), by an additional step in the migration process.
Migration of batch programs to different environments also requires the migration or rather generation of the specific batch control process commonly known as Job Control Language or JCL.
Convertools generates target JCL by reference to the components and attributes held within the genINV database. The inventory is a pre-requisite to this step since it supplies the generator genJCL with the attributes necessary to generate JCL specific to the target platform.
genJCL is capable of generating JCL (MVS), GCL (Bull), SCL (ICL) and unix scripts using GENIUS macros. Generation is normally tailored to suit client specific requirements.
1. genINV - Cross Reference and Inventory Tool
2. genCONV – Source Scanners / Analyzers
3. GENIUS – Macro Language Generator
5. METERS – Test Coverage Tool
6. FILCON – File Conversion Tool
7. FCOMPARE - File Compare Utility
8. genDB - Database Migration Tools
9. Bull TP Testing Tools