1. Track Record and Experience
Since 1994, IMR has been actively involved in Year 2000 compliance projects for a number of Fortune 200 organizations in the Insurance, Retail, Manufacturing, Utilities and Transportation sectors. In Europe, we are currently helping a number of Financial Times Top 500 companies with their millennium update projects. We currently have more than 20 large scale Year 2000 compliance projects under way.
2. Mature, Integrated Approach
IMR's methodology (CC-PAC®- Century Change Planning, Analysis and Conversion) addresses every facet of the century date change. The flexibility of its methodology and the versatility of its tools allows IMR to enter a millennium update project at several points. The full life cycle approach is described here.IMR starts with a comprehensive on-site assessment of the client's infrastructure, including current maintenance processes, tools used, application stability and failure horizons, and the current test environment.
A detailed analysis is performed on all system objects (programs, files, databases, job streams) using Transform2000®, a proprietary, integrated toolset developed by IMR specifically for full life cycle Year 2000 conversions. Portfolio statistics are stored in a repository and are accessed by IMR's estimation models, providing accurate conversion resource and cost estimates. Confidence in our estimation processes allows IMR to fix price full life cycle millennium update projects.
3. Enterprise-wide Millennium Update Planning
Impact estimates alone are not enough for a successful millennium update. The effort and the dollars involved require a comprehensive, enterprise-wide strategy and a multi-year conversion plan. Together with the client, IMR provides a detailed strategy to prioritize the conversion sequence and define the conversion approach. It is at this stage that essential support strategies involving testing, bridging, change management and coordination of vendor package conversions are determined.
4. Automated Conversion
IMR uses Conversion Input Packages (CIPs) to break down the total conversion effort into manageable components. Taking a process view and using our repository, date-dependent business activities are isolated into job streams, encompassing the date-related data, logic, programs, databases, JCL etc. required to accomplish a given task.
All related CIPs are converted systematically, using Transform2000® and the IMR repository. All converted programs are validated for Year 2000 compliance using Year 2000 date simulators and other testing tools.In coordination with the client, the entire process is seamlessly executed on-site and from IMR's dedicated offshore facilities, using high-speed satellite communications links and, in many cases, videoconferencing. Leveraging the productivity gains from automation and the cost and time advantages of working in an offshore software factory environment, IMR is able to deliver full life cycle millennium update projects at substantial cost savings - savings of up to 50%, compared to in-house costs.
5. Comprehensive Testing
Prior to implementation, each CIP is thoroughly unit and system tested, verifying the execution of converted applications using current data. Modified JCL is simultaneously tested and verified. Errors in data content, program logic and output/display are identified and corrected. Tests are rerun as necessary.Year 2000 compliance testing is completed by manipulating input dates to check that all date-dependent operations execute correctly in the current, as well as the 21st Century. All possible date processing statements are included. Errors in data content, program logic and output/display are identified and corrected.
In Year 2000 simulation testing, the baseline test date (or current system date) is compared to the target test date and the year value is incremented by the appropriate number of years. The application is parallel tested and errors in data content, program logic and output/display are identified and corrected. Tests are rerun as necessary.
Parallel testing ensures that interfaces between programs across job streams or transactions function correctly and that all programs are consistent in the way they interpret and execute the same data and operating parameters. Converted programs are executed according to the baseline system flow and output is compared. Errors in data content, program logic and output/display are identified and corrected. Tests are re-run as necessary.
6. Maintenance Synchronization
During the correction process, ongoing system enhancements and modifications continue to the production version. These interim changes are rigorously tested for Year 2000 compliance. The newly corrected CIP is retrofit with these changes and is re-tested completely prior to implementation. The use of Transform2000® minimizes retrofit requirements, by minimizing the time required to successfully convert and test CIPs prior to synchronization.
7. Advanced Tools and Technology
Transform2000® represents a huge investment in IMR's Advanced Technology Group, committed to the development of proprietary tools and technologies for our Year 2000 and migration/re-engineering services. IMR's technology and tools not only highly automate analysis and conversion, but also support our bridging strategies by automatically generating file conversion routines for impacted files. Bridging allows a phased approach to the millennium update, while rigorous change management and configuration management processes ensure minimal impact on ongoing maintenance and enhancement activity.Every project is a unique experience. Using a versatile, robust methodology and modular, repeatable processes, IMR is able to bring the same advantages to new industries and application environments. IMR continuously improves its methodology to support new tool standards, industry-specific century date change characteristics, conversion work effort estimates and project plans.Transform2000® is repository-based and stores all impacted data items and their relationships across applications. The direct interface with our estimation models provides a high degree of accuracy in determining conversion estimates. IMR's Year 2000 toolset is also fully integrated with our other re-engineering and migration tools, providing value-added capabilities such as language conversions or database migrations at minimal additional cost. For some clients, we are completing the millennium update as part of a multi-year maintenance outsourcing engagement.
The project manager of a nationwide chain of department stores puts it best:
"By bundling the century date conversion with other key system enhancements, IMR was able to modify our mission-critical systems for the twenty-first century, adding tremendous value to our organization. The project was an unqualified success."
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