Cobol - offload mainframe development

Author

offload mainframe development

Frank Swarbrick

2005-04-19, 3:55 pm

Is there anyone out there who uses Microfocus Mainframe Express or CA-Realia
II Workbench to "offload" mainframe COBOL development? I think Fujitsu may
have a product also, but I don't know its name.

Specifically, we're wondering about...

CICS emulation
VSAM emulation
DL/I database emulation (IMS?)
VSE batch JCL emulation

Is it worthwhile looking at doing this?
Frank

---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO USA

Don Leahy

2005-04-20, 3:55 am

"Frank Swarbrick" wrote in message
> Is there anyone out there who uses Microfocus Mainframe Express or
> CA-Realia
> II Workbench to "offload" mainframe COBOL development? I think Fujitsu
> may
> have a product also, but I don't know its name.
>
> Specifically, we're wondering about...
>
> CICS emulation
> VSAM emulation
> DL/I database emulation (IMS?)
> VSE batch JCL emulation
>
> Is it worthwhile looking at doing this?
> Frank

In my opinion, no. The cost of maintaining test environments on other
platforms outweigh the benefits of offloading from the mainframe.

Been there, done that. We are now in the middle of moving our test
environments *back* to the mainframe in order to save money. Go figure.

Michael Wojcik

2005-04-20, 3:55 pm

In article <3ckodoF6n7u9kU1@individual.net>, "Frank Swarbrick" <Frank.Swarbrick@efirstbank.com> writes:
> Is there anyone out there who uses Microfocus Mainframe Express or CA-Realia
> II Workbench to "offload" mainframe COBOL development? I think Fujitsu may
> have a product also, but I don't know its name.

There are offloading customer stories on our website. Of course we
only include the success stories (or perhaps all of our customers are
successful...), but they may be useful to you.

I don't see anything on your list that I know MFE doesn't support,
but it's not my area of expertise (I work mainly on the server
products). CICS and VSAM emulation are definitely there, as is IMS
emulation (but I don't know if there are any limitations regarding
what we support in the way of DL/I database emulation per se). The
JCL support has recently been enhanced, but I don't know if there are
VSE-specific features you need which might not be available yet.

--
Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com

Ten or ten thousand, does it much signify, Helen, how we
date fantasmal events, London or Troy? -- Basil Bunting

Frank Swarbrick

2005-04-20, 3:55 pm

One of our current programmers mentioned that the same thing happened at his
old shop. Not too encouraging!
Thanks,
Frank

"Frank Swarbrick" wrote in message[color=darkred]
> Is there anyone out there who uses Microfocus Mainframe Express or
> CA-Realia
> II Workbench to "offload" mainframe COBOL development? I think Fujitsu
> may
> have a product also, but I don't know its name.
>
> Specifically, we're wondering about...
>
> CICS emulation
> VSAM emulation
> DL/I database emulation (IMS?)
> VSE batch JCL emulation
>
> Is it worthwhile looking at doing this?
> Frank

In my opinion, no. The cost of maintaining test environments on other
platforms outweigh the benefits of offloading from the mainframe.

Been there, done that. We are now in the middle of moving our test
environments *back* to the mainframe in order to save money. Go figure.

jce

2005-04-20, 8:55 pm

We did this a long time ago. It worked briefly. What ended up happening
was *NOT* a fault of the tool or the product support but of the
organization.

Developers do not anticipate the effort involved in maintaining environments
(that's right - those sy

m people that you think sit in their rooms
hacking all day, and then they complain when you have a problem).

We had developers maintain the environment. This turned into one
developer - the most sy

m looking one ;-) maintaining the environment, and
this in turn become one person being support and not developing. This was
not considered part if his role "why aren't you developing" was the
management question to which he had no "right" answer.

Once the support started developing again, the support went away, the
problems were "it doesn't quite work" . Everyone returned to terminals,
logging on and working as per the old method....the software got dusty, the
licence renewal came around and it lapsed without anyone noticing..

Until that point I think people thought it went fairly well. So my
summation is, sounds like a good idea, get an understanding of what's
involved before you move ahead. Preparation is nearly everything.
Rationality is the rest : why are you planning this? Not enough mainframe
resource?

I actually have lobbied to get IBM Websphere Enterprise because I think it
would be an environment enhancement (plus an opportunity for people to see
other IDEs and methodologies). But then when I'm realistic I don't think it
really would serve that well - though having an enterprise wide debugger and
a hook into CVS/Cloud9 would be nice.

JCE

"Frank Swarbrick" <Frank.Swarbrick@efirstbank.com> wrote in message
news:3cnailF6nqulmU1@individual.net...
> One of our current programmers mentioned that the same thing happened at
> his
> old shop. Not too encouraging!
> Thanks,
> Frank
>
>
> "Frank Swarbrick" wrote in message
>
> In my opinion, no. The cost of maintaining test environments on other
> platforms outweigh the benefits of offloading from the mainframe.
>
> Been there, done that. We are now in the middle of moving our test
> environments *back* to the mainframe in order to save money. Go figure.
>
>
>
>

Don Leahy

2005-04-20, 8:55 pm

Comments interspersed.
"jce" <defaultuser@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pwz9e.9994$5f.7981@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
> We did this a long time ago. It worked briefly. What ended up happening
> was *NOT* a fault of the tool or the product support but of the
> organization.

Absolutely right. The technology works just fine, but.....

> Developers do not anticipate the effort involved in maintaining
> environments (that's right - those sy

m people that you think sit in
> their rooms hacking all day, and then they complain when you have a
> problem).
>
> We had developers maintain the environment. This turned into one
> developer - the most sy

m looking one ;-) maintaining the environment,
> and this in turn become one person being support and not developing. This
> was not considered part if his role "why aren't you developing" was the
> management question to which he had no "right" answer.

The problem is that *most* developers are not technically inclined (any more
than the minimum required to do the job) and have no interest at all in
maintaining test environments.

> Once the support started developing again, the support went away, the
> problems were "it doesn't quite work" . Everyone returned to terminals,
> logging on and working as per the old method....the software got dusty,
> the licence renewal came around and it lapsed without anyone noticing..

Ditto. We haven't upgraded our toolset since about 1997.

>
> Until that point I think people thought it went fairly well. So my
> summation is, sounds like a good idea, get an understanding of what's
> involved before you move ahead. Preparation is nearly everything.
> Rationality is the rest : why are you planning this? Not enough mainframe
> resource?
>
> I actually have lobbied to get IBM Websphere Enterprise because I think it
> would be an environment enhancement (plus an opportunity for people to see
> other IDEs and methodologies). But then when I'm realistic I don't think
> it really would serve that well - though having an enterprise wide
> debugger and a hook into CVS/Cloud9 would be nice.

That is the road we are on now. We are evaluating IBM's Debug Tool, a
source code debugger that runs on the host. Once it is in place, the last
justification for using the Microfocus toolset (namely the ability to
animate code) will be gone.

>
> JCE
>
>
> "Frank Swarbrick" <Frank.Swarbrick@efirstbank.com> wrote in message
> news:3cnailF6nqulmU1@individual.net...
>
>

William M. Klein

2005-04-20, 8:55 pm

"Don Leahy" <leahydon@nospamplease.netscape.net> wrote in message
news:ebA9e.11098$Jg5.757478@news20.bellglobal.com...
> Comments interspersed.
> "jce" <defaultuser@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:pwz9e.9994$5f.7981@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
<snip>
>
> That is the road we are on now. We are evaluating IBM's Debug Tool, a source
> code debugger that runs on the host. Once it is in place, the last
> justification for using the Microfocus toolset (namely the ability to animate
> code) will be gone.
>

Don,
As someone who has been an IBM systems programmer and application programmer
AND who has worked for ADS (when they sold Xpediter) and for Micro Focus
(working on "mainframe compatibility") and who has handled both SHARE and
formerly GUIDE requirements on WSED and Debug Tool,

Can you tell me what you think is "new" with Debug Tool that WASN'T available
previously
- from IBM (with COBTEST and earlier Debug Tool releases)
and
- Xpediter (from ADS or Compuware)
and
- SmarTest (sp?) (formerly Viasoft and now ???)
and
- Intertest (for CICS)

***

I do understand (especially with older versions of the IBM, Micro Focus,
CA-Realia, and Fujitsu products) that there were issues about each programmer
being required to be a "systems programmer".

But I don't understand thinking that Debug Tool would (NOW) provide a reason for
dropping Micro Focus.

--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com

Don Leahy

2005-04-21, 3:55 am

"William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:e8B9e.530054$za2.81906@news.easynews.com...
<snip>
>
> Don,
> As someone who has been an IBM systems programmer and application
> programmer AND who has worked for ADS (when they sold Xpediter) and for
> Micro Focus (working on "mainframe compatibility") and who has handled
> both SHARE and formerly GUIDE requirements on WSED and Debug Tool,
>
> Can you tell me what you think is "new" with Debug Tool that WASN'T
> available previously
> - from IBM (with COBTEST and earlier Debug Tool releases)
> and
> - Xpediter (from ADS or Compuware)
> and
> - SmarTest (sp?) (formerly Viasoft and now ???)
> and
> - Intertest (for CICS)
>
> ***
>
> I do understand (especially with older versions of the IBM, Micro Focus,
> CA-Realia, and Fujitsu products) that there were issues about each
> programmer being required to be a "systems programmer".
>
> But I don't understand thinking that Debug Tool would (NOW) provide a
> reason for dropping Micro Focus.
>
>
> --
> Bill Klein
> wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
>
>
The main reason we are looking at Debug Tool rather than its competitors is
cost. A secondary (but possibly strategic) consideration is its integration
with the Websphere family of products. So, to answer your question, there
is nothing new with Debug Tool that is driving this process.

We went down a similar road about a year ago when we dropped Abendaid in
favour of IBM's Fault Analyzer. Fault Analyzer isn't as easy to use as
Abendaid, but the price is many times lower.

Cost is also one of the factors that is driving us away from Microfocus. We
are several years behind, and would have to spend a lot of money to upgrade
and configure all of the software. Our LAN people are unwilling to do it
(doesn't fit with the 'standard image'), so we would be on our own.

Ideally, I would like us to upgrade our desktop toolkit *and* acquire a host
debugging tool. There are sufficient differences between the platforms that
you will always need (IMO) a robust set of tools on each of them.

Brian Crane

2005-04-22, 8:55 am

Hi all,

I've read this thread with interest, and I'd like to make some comments
based on my own experiences which I hope will contribute to the discussion.

A few years ago I worked at a major bank in the UK, with my roots in
mainframe PL/I, Assembler and COBOL programming. I was responsible for a
rollout of Micro Focus tools across 250 mainframe developers.

What started this was we were looking at ways to speed up development (and
maintenance) without increasing the development mainframe capacity. The
application in question was the largest DB2 implementation in Europe at that
time, and we were pushing the boundaries of what DB2 was capable of. The
system was extremely complex too (COBOL, IMS TM/DB, DB2, lots of Assembler,
and lots of interdependencies).

We chose to use Micro Focus as they stood apart from the rest as having the
most experience in helping move mainframe development down to the PC.

The projected benefits for us were clear. Even taking into account that we
had to plan the project, buy new PCs for everyone (since this was before the
486 and Pentium were commonplace), buy the software, overcome technical
hurdles, transfer the development/test environment from the mainframe, train
everyone and then sustain the dev/test environment, we thought that the cost
savings on development turnaround alone would justify the investment. The
main justification (bottom line) was really to avoid mainframe upgrade costs
(which would have been severe due to the high number of mainframe software
products installed). This we achieved very well. What we did not realise at
the time was just how much this would change the way we worked (for the
better!).

Why did it work so well for us? I think management really wanted this to
happen. As a result, we were careful to understood what was involved. Back
in the 90's the PC environment was lacking quite a few things that we take
for granted today so we knew we would have to build new processes and tools
around the base Micro Focus tools. For a start, there was no LAN back then,
and we needed to ensure everyone had an up to date version of the source
code and load modules to develop and test against. We found a way. There
were elements of our mainframe environment that were not directly supported
in the Micro Focus environment at the time, so we had to find solutions for
these. We needed to communicate with our mainframe source control system,
and bring whole DB2/IMS test packs down to people's PCs - we built automated
processes to do this. There were no PC backup or PC software distribution
procedures, so we built our own (in COBOL you'll be glad to hear!). When the
automation was in place, we were able to support the environment with very
few resources. Admittedly a lot of this effort was down to us but we had
management support and resources to do this; as it turns out today a lot of
these issues we solved are now solved by the improvements in LANs, PC's and
the (Micro Focus) software products.

Of course there were some programmers who simply didn't want a new way of
working - they were happy doing things the old way using the 3270 interface
and traditional mainframe debugging tools. After a short time the
programmers that learned how to use the Micro Focus tools really started
enjoying their work more - it was much more like the rapid response enjoyed
by those that had moved onto C++ or VB programming, with no mainframe
response-time, job queue or file contention frustrations. In the end, even
the greatest critics asked to be equipped with the Micro Focus tools since
they could sense they were falling behind with their work and their
knowledge. This was a good result.

The Workbench toolset we used back in the 90's was superseded in 1999. The
latest product, Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition, now comes complete
with many of the automated tools required to keep source code and test data
up to date - these used to be a great concern. The accuracy of the mainframe
support has had several years of continuous improvement, and lots of missing
elements had been missing which are now in place (LE support, JCL, Rexx,
mainframe pointer management to name but a few). The Micro Focus development
environment now includes analysis tools, test reporting tools, open
connectivity (for cross-platform testing) and the ability to integrate CICS
and IMS transactions with MQ and WebSphere, which are important for many
mainframe shops today. If we had to do the project all over again, it would
be so much simpler today with what Micro Focus now provides. I happen to
know this because after the project was complete I took a job at Micro Focus
and I now work there on the mainframe tools side.

I appreciate this won't be for everyone but any large mainframe shop looking
to improve its development and reduce its outgoings ought to look at this
approach. Even if you've looked before, you should look again - so much has
changed for the better. Think of it this way: is ISPF the best home for
keeping mainframe development alive? Is the mainframe itself best used as a
development platform or a production platform?

Feel free to send me an email if you have any specific questions about how
we implemented this at the bank (overcoming technical obstacles, measuring
success, continued justification to management etc.).

Brian Crane

"Don Leahy" <leahydon@nospamplease.netscape.net> wrote in message
news:zfC9e.11195$Jg5.784612@news20.bellglobal.com...
>
> "William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> wrote in message
> news:e8B9e.530054$za2.81906@news.easynews.com...
> <snip>
> The main reason we are looking at Debug Tool rather than its competitors
> is cost. A secondary (but possibly strategic) consideration is its
> integration with the Websphere family of products. So, to answer your
> question, there is nothing new with Debug Tool that is driving this
> process.
>
> We went down a similar road about a year ago when we dropped Abendaid in
> favour of IBM's Fault Analyzer. Fault Analyzer isn't as easy to use as
> Abendaid, but the price is many times lower.
>
> Cost is also one of the factors that is driving us away from Microfocus.
> We are several years behind, and would have to spend a lot of money to
> upgrade and configure all of the software. Our LAN people are unwilling
> to do it (doesn't fit with the 'standard image'), so we would be on our
> own.
>
> Ideally, I would like us to upgrade our desktop toolkit *and* acquire a
> host debugging tool. There are sufficient differences between the
> platforms that you will always need (IMO) a robust set of tools on each of
> them.
>
>
>
>
>
>

Michael Wojcik

2005-04-22, 3:55 pm

Brian Crane

2005-04-24, 8:55 am

Brian Crane

2005-04-27, 8:55 pm

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