"Northrop Grumman / TSRI Performance Review"

MikeJones — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:09:00 GMT

EXPERIENCE WITH TSRI

REMIS PROGRAM – MIGRATION INCREMENT 1

Northrop Grumman IT used TSRI to convert 44 COBOL85 server programs running in a HP Himalaya environment interfacing with Nonstop SQL Database to Object Oriented C++ programs interfacing with an Oracle 9i Database for the REMIS project. The screen presentation layer was re-engineered by Northrop Grumman IT in J2EE JAVA using WAS 4.0.

Northrop Grumman IT provided TSRI unexpanded source code for all of the COBOL programs we were having them convert. This included all called modules, and all copy code. We also provided all of the DDL for the existing database and an export file to load necessary data in all tables for testing purposes. We also provided them with several Himalaya systems type manuals for the operating system, Nonstop SQL, TAL and TACL so they could understand the O/S specific components that our programs interfaced with. From this input TSRI applied part of their toolset to our code to count the lines of code they would be converting. They provided us with the following information on code count in the contract ROM:

Code Type	Code Count	Assess. Price	Trans. Price	Re-Fact. Price
Cobol 85	152,082	.25	.75	1.00
Embedded SQL	25,244	.50	1.50	2.00
Comments	80,461	.25	.25	N/A
DDL	11,315	.50	N/A	N/A
Total	269,102

TSRI priced the contract as firm fixed price. We did negotiate a final code count that would occur by some identified period of time. This was necessary for us, as we knew by the time we went on contract and delivered the final version of code to be converted that some of our code would have changed due to ongoing maintenance tasks. TSRI had the right to adjust the part of the price dependent on the code count based from the final code count. This applied for more code or less code in the final count. The final code count results were as follows resulting in a lower fixed price:

Code Type	Code Amount	Assess. Price	Trans. Price	Re-Fact. Price
COBOL 85	149,395	.25	.75	1.00
Embed. SQL	24,861	.50	1.50	2.00
Comments	85,213	.25	.25	N/A
DDL	11,053	.50	N/A	N/A
Total	270,522

TSRI took our code through 3 phases: Assessment, Transformation, and Refactoring. We performed the system testing at the Transformation & Refactoring stages. The output from Assessment is basically HTML documentation that depicts the code and DDL that was ingested in their tool.

During Assessment, TSRI identifies what level of effort is required to create the system level functionality that is platform dependent and will need re-engineered on the new platform. We employed a C++ architect that worked on our team to direct architecture decisions that TSRI faced as far as preferred approaches for the components that needed re-engineered. The Transformation phase created converted C++ code that was testable working in the windows environment using COTS client software to interpret our original screen presentation layer and interface with the C++ code. The Refactoring phase then identifies reusable components and also includes finalizing differences required for the code to run in the Unix environment.

Northrop Grumman IT created the glue C++ layer that provided for the JAVA front end built by Northrop Grumman IT to interface with the C++ servers created by TSRI. This was engineered by our C++ architect and became a very intricate part of the project. Several times Northrop Grumman IT provided input for the preferred approach for TSRI to implement and TSRI was always willing to accommodate our requests.

After Refactoring was completed, TSRI provided metrics for the before and after SLOC counts as follows:

“These line counts exclude all white space, comments, and curly braces on a line by

themselves (since we changed the pretty printing per your request to have

curly braces on their own lines).

Before Refactoring:

header - 112,687 SLOC

source - 141,003 SLOC

total - 253,690 SLOC

After Refactoring:

header - 38,809 SLOC

source - 117,149 SLOC

total - 155,958 SLOC

As you can see the declaration code was reduced to 34% of its original size.

The total line count was reduced to 61% of its original size.”

We were very satisfied with the work TSRI accomplished. They stayed very close to schedule and were willing to accommodate all requests that we had of them. Several instances occurred where small code changes were required due to problems uncovered when the COBOL code was converted. TSRI was always willing to implement these changes under our direction without raising issues.

We were very pleased with the quality of work delivered by TSRI. The number of defects found during our system testing after Transformation was 7 problem reports across the 44 converted programs. The number of defects found during our system test after Refactoring was 15 problem reports. TSRI provided a web based tool named Bugzilla for us to use to report defects to TSRI as they were found. This tool was effective and helped REMIS to track the status of the fixes. TSRI was always expedient to fix the problems as they were reported.

TSRI was on contract with us from the end of May to the End of January to accomplish the code conversion. Since they have finished the work we have modified several of the C++ programs for ongoing maintenance and found just a couple of issues that we were able to discuss with them and they provided proper fixes for us to implement. Overall we have been very pleased with the TSRI effort on our project and would not hesitate to use them again if the chance arises.

The following is a list of items provided by both teams to make the project successful:

Northrop Grumman Provided the Following Items:

1.) REMIS unexpanded source code and called modules.

2.) Legacy System Documents for O/S, SQL, TACL

3.) Oracle Database DDL and export file of data to be loaded for testing.

4.) Unit Test Plans to be executed by TSRI during Unit Test.

5.) Matterhorn software – COTS tool used to execute C++ servers with existing SCOBOL screen programs.

6.) Oracle 9i License

7.) C++ Coding Style Guide

8.) POC – Project Leader, and technical POC (with strong SQL skills)

9.) Glue layer C++ code for interfacing Java with C++ servers.

TSRI Provided the Following Items:

1.) Access to a server to FTP Large Files.

2.) Project Manager and Technical POC.

3.) Weekly status reports as directed by NGIT.

4.) HTML Documentation after Assessment and Refactoring.

5.) SLOC Statistics after Refactoring.

6.) Bugzilla Tracking tool for tracking and reporting defects.

The following items are recommended to assure a successful project when working with TSRI:

1.) Document roles and responsibilities of both parties.

2.) Assign a single POC for project management and technical issues on both parties.

3.) Hold weekly status meetings to review status report.

4.) Establish connectivity to TSRI server for transferring large files.

5.) Provide Coding Style Guide for target code.

6.) If transforming to C++, eliminate type casting to multiple levels for embedded SQL code.

“Navigant/TSRI Team Expands Major Health Care Modernization Project”

MikeJones — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:12:00 GMT

Kirkland, WA. (June 18, 2008) – The Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois has awarded a second ‘follow-on’ contract to the team of Navigant Consulting and The Software Revolution, Inc. (TSRI) to modernize that organization’s Stop Loss System. Under this contract, TSRI will be providing its full array of documentation, transformation, re-factoring and engineering support services to this next in a series of PowerBuilder and Magna X legacy systems needing modernization.

Randy Doblar, TSRI’s Chief Operating Officer said, “The success of TSRI and its system integration partner (Navigant) on the first HCSC system modernization project has led to our team being awarded the next system that HCSC needs to have modernized. The first contract afforded TSRI the opportunity to show the JANUS^TM toolset’s flexibility and adaptability as we addressed two new legacy languages simultaneously. This ‘follow-on’ effort is a direct result of that success. At the same time, we hope that the IT community now recognizes that TSRI has a fully automated capability to modernize legacy PowerBuilder and Magna X code when the need arises.”

For more information about TSRI, visit our web site or contact:

Randy Doblar
Chief Operating Officer
(425) 284-2770

salesteam@softwarerevolution.com
www.SoftwareRevolution.com

The Software Revolution Inc

"Northrop Grumman / TSRI Performance Review"

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“Navigant/TSRI Team Expands Major Health Care Modernization Project”