IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL

IBM Cognos Axiant Migration Planning Guide

The IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL Migration Planner

The IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL Migration Planner is intended to move you quickly through the learning curve. The deliverable is an experienced and knowledgeable team rather than a completed, migrated application. We strongly recommend that you go through this exercise before committing to migration deliverables.

For the first project, you should follow each of the 12 steps in this section. The time spent on any step varies by application and environment. You can skip steps as your knowledge and confidence of the environment grows.

When you are planning a migration from IBM Cognos PowerHouse to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, it's very important to make adequate provision for education and training. Otherwise, it's extremely difficult to make reliable estimates of the amount of work and length of time to complete any step.

For each step, you should also schedule adequate review and testing time, both in isolation and in combination with previous steps.

Data used in testing should be a copy of real business data. User load testing and system performance monitoring should reflect real production use and configuration, not just a simulation.

If the migration involves a substantial part of an application, choose a suitable "module" or subset of the application for a "proof-of-concept" exercise. Going through the complete cycle allows you to identify relevant issues and provides first-hand experience of the process. Proper testing helps you plan more accurately and confidently for the migration of the entire application.

You should avoid selecting a large mission-critical application as your first migration, especially if you have an inflexible schedule. Your first effort should concentrate on learning the potential of IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, client/server, GUIs, and relational databases, as well as the differences between your current and planned environments.

• Step 1

• Step 2

• Step 3

• Step 4

• Step 5

• Step 6

• Step 7

• Step 8

• Step 9

• Step 10

• Step 11

• Step 12

Step 1
Define the Intended Application
Before you start migrating an application, consider the following questions:

• Where do you want to go and why?

• What does the final application involve?

• Are you implementing new technology, such as relational databases and client/server?

• What architectures do you have to create to support the new environment?

• How will you measure success in terms of user acceptance and business productivity?

Based on the answers to these questions, list your hardware, training, skills, and software requirements.

Remember that existing applications can be moved to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL without being converted to client/server.

Note: Conversions may not result in identical applications, since characteristics of the old applications may not be available or recommended in the new environment.

Step 2
Learn IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL
Before you create your detailed migration plan, you must understand IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL functionality and how it supports client/server development and deployment. You'll achieve maximum productivity when you migrate your application to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL if you build the application with a solid understanding of how objects, repositories, and tools work.

The documentation that accompanies the IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL product includes A Guided Tour of IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, which teaches you the basics of creating an application in IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, as well as the IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL User Guide, which contains reference material and a roadmap to the online help.

Cognos also offers a number of relevant courses. In particular, the Building Applications with IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL course is designed to teach you how to develop applications in IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL.

Step 3
Take Inventory of What You Have
Existing application development environments may already include many of the skills, hardware, software, and procedures required for a successful migration. You should take inventory of these assets and compare them to the requirements laid out in Step 1. For the inventory of programs and data used, IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL's Migration Profile will help you assemble the information in a graphical fashion.

You need the proper pool of skills and knowledge in the various design and planning stages. A technology plan that complements existing skills through training or external consulting is very important for a first migration.

You should identify a team that includes specialists in the following key technologies:

• Networks

• Relational databases

• User interfaces

• Cooperating processes (client/server technology)

• Operating systems

All team members should be familiar with the key architectural features of the various technologies. This helps to eliminate potential problems early in the process.

The following table contains a sample inventory of skills and technology that may exist in a current environment.

Application Developed Using Available Skills and Technology
IBM Cognos PowerHouse Client	Networks and associated management skills. Experience with Microsoft Windows graphical user interface (GUI). NOTE: A thin-client application will require fewer PC resources than the equivalent fat-client application. The existing PC infrastructure may need upgrading for adequate responsiveness.
PowerHouse and relational databases	Knowledge of the relational database and its associated management tools. Understanding of the IBM Cognos PowerHouse relational interface. Experience with SQL (more likely for developers using IBM Cognos PowerHouse and relational databases). Possible experience with designing fat-client applications.
IBM Cognos Impromptu and IBM Cognos PowerPlay	Experience with packaging information in a Microsoft Windows environment. Knowledge of Microsoft Windows. Networks and associated management skills. Knowledge of PC APIs and/or ODBC access to various data sources on the PC or remote servers. Knowledge of the business data.

The following table contains a possible inventory of skills required for client/server environments.

IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL Feature	New Skills That May Be Required
Visual development	Experience with a graphical user interface (GUI).
Team development	Understanding of networks to manage shared disks via LANs or NFS.
PC client development	Understanding of DISAM, SQL Anywhere, Microsoft SQL Server or other LAN data sources. Understanding of the Microsoft Windows environment. Understanding of testing tools for visual interfaces.
Fat-client deployment	Understanding of ODBC, supported native PC APIs, networking, Windows, and possibly SQL.
Server-based processing	Understanding of networks.
Thin-client deployment	Understanding of networks for IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL clients and remote compilation.
Relational database support	SupportKnowledge of the relational database and its associated management tools. Understanding of the IBM Cognos PowerHouse 4GL relational interface. Experience with SQL. Experience with designing fat-client applications.

Step 4
Identify What Will Be Migrated to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL
Client/server and GUI applications provide new methods for solving business problems and allowing end users to access corporate data.

You may need to reengineer existing applications or data designs in order to successfully deploy client/server or GUI applications. Each application or collection of specifications targeted for migration to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL should be reviewed to determine what:

• Moves without changes

• Moves with changes

• Needs replacing

• Needs creating

What Moves Without Changes?
Information in corporate databases on the server is often reused without changes in a client/server environment. IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL can import PDL and/or SQL specifications that describe these data structures.

What Moves With Changes?

The amount of reengineering required during the migration to client/server varies. Before beginning the migration, you must determine exactly which parts of your programs and development environment will change. Some of the parts you should consider are:

• Code

• Testing environments

• Data access

• Client autonomy

• Data structures

• File systems

Code
With IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, you can import your existing IBM Cognos PowerHouse code. Some of this code may require changes on import. For example, many of your production reports and batch processes that run on the server can be imported with only a few changes. However, if the planned migration includes a move to a GUI interface, consider that a well-designed terminal screen doesn't equate to a well-designed GUI form. You must ensure that online components meet new GUI standards.

IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL will convert terminal forms to GUI on import if desired.

Testing Environments
Testing environments designed for character terminals should be changed to adequately test the GUI and help facilities (for example, Microsoft Windows Help).

Data Access
Server-based applications run on operating systems with powerful multiprocessing and memory management environments. Processing occurs local to the data. End users accessing remote servers will expect a consistent and effective user interface and fast access to services. In most cases, a remote server must provide access to data. SQL, stored procedures, and other RDBMS features can significantly reduce the amount of data and messaging that moves between the client and the server. This improves application performance when large volumes are processed.

IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL can convert some IBM Cognos PowerHouse statements to SQL on import. The Migration Profile in IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL will tell you which conversions it will make for you.

Client Autonomy
Consider how autonomous a client should be from a server. In the event that a server is not currently available:

• Should the client continue to execute?

• How current must local data be?

Once the connection between the client and server is reestablished, some synchronization of transactions and data will probably be required.

Data Structures
Review existing data structures (datatypes, names, indexes) when moving from non-relational to relational or from server to PC-based data sources.

IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL provides a base normalization to start this process and indicates where changes are required.

File Systems
Applications created to support multiple platforms or new file systems in the original environment may require changes in order to support requirements or features of the target file systems.

What Needs To Be Replaced?

Review application specifications to see what must be replaced to meet deployment, information access, or user interface requirements.

Using QUIZ to provide users with online access to data may no longer be acceptable in a Windows environment. Instead, consider the Cognos BI tools to provide this functionality. If you do decide to replace online QUIZ reports rather than migrate them, your migration will be simpler.

What Needs To Be Created?
If you plan to use Cognos BI reporting tools such as IBM Cognos PowerPlay, you'll have to move the data to the IBM Cognos PowerPlay environment.

Step 5
Develop a Plan
Now that you know what you want to migrate, it's time to meet with your Cognos representative to develop a plan. This plan should outline your training and software requirements. It should also include a schedule for completing the migration. If you are moving to a new database, the database vendor should be included as well.

The success of your migration depends on knowing where you want your application to be and assessing where it is now.

Through consulting programs and services, Cognos and other vendors can provide skilled resources, either directly or through a partner, to help fill temporary personnel or expertise needs. Cognos also provides a Course designed to assist you with your migration to client/server and to IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL.

Step 6
Move What Was Identified in Step 4
Using IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL, you'll start to work with the components of your existing application that you identified in Step 4 as "move without changes" or "move with changes." Move your data definitions first. The migrated components of your original application may not be a full application since you're likely to be replacing some components, but they will provide a starting point. Then you will be able to build a test application using existing business models and data.

Step 7
Develop a Pilot Application on the Client
Use the results of Step 6 as the basis of your pilot application. Create any necessary program stubs or prototype modules to produce a working model. Test your working model to ensure that it covers all the critical components of your intended final application yet is small enough to provide effective and manageable feedback. Although the pilot application is designed to be tested by the development team, this is a good time to get end-user input.

Step 8
Assess the Results of Steps 2 Through 7
At this point, answer the following questions:

• Is your final application definition appropriate?

• Is your current skills inventory complete?

• Are you comfortable with IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL?

• Did the components move as expected?

• Is your plan complete?

• Have you identified additional training and external consulting requirements?

• Have you identified areas where reengineering must be performed?

You may have to repeat some or all of steps 2 through 7 before you can answer positively to all of these questions and successfully complete the initial pilot application.

As you assess the earlier steps to address the list of questions, make sure to document your findings. This will facilitate future migrations and application development.

Step 9
Develop a Pilot Application for User Evaluation
You should develop the pilot application to the point where end users can evaluate it to see how well it meets their expectations for functionality, consistency, and integration. Before allowing end users to test the pilot application, you should inform them of development standards and fixed characteristics of the environment.

Immediately after testing, ask your users the following questions:

• Were you adequately prepared to test the application?

• Does the application work (representative, complete enough to test)?

• Do the pieces fit together (logically grouped functions)?

• Can you find what you need (navigation aids, online help)?

• Does the interface function as expected (appearance, consistency of operation)?

If possible, testing should be done on the PC to take full advantage of the IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL development environment without having to deploy the application to the server.

Step 10
Assess the Results of Steps 2 Through 9
Step 9 probably uncovered issues about user requirements in the new environment. You may need to repeat Step 9 to ensure that the required standards are fully defined and can be implemented.

If this is your company's first implementation of a GUI, you can expect standards to change as new applications are added to the client/server environment.

In assessing the results of steps 2 through 9, you should answer these questions:

• Are the end users' expectations realistic?

• Are the end users' expectations being met?

• Are the GUI standards correct?

• Do the end users need training?

End-user testing may also have uncovered design or performance issues that may require repetition and reassessment of steps 2 through 9.

Many aspects of applications targeted to server-based topologies can be tested using a mobile PC environment. However, the following must be tested in the target deployment topology to provide adequate results:

• Performance and network traffic

• Multi-user concurrency control

• Security

If performance is a concern, testing should be conducted using a controlled environment that contains realistic data volumes and values.

Step 11
Consider Deployment
Deployment is the step where you determine the final details of the target environment and integrate the application into that environment. An IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL application consists of:

• Data

• A repository

• Compiled programs

• A client/server connection (for thin clients)

• An entry point that connects these components

Except for creating local indexed files such as DISAM, database management is outside the scope of IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL. Use the DBA tools on the client or server to create databases and manage distributed databases.

In several of the earlier steps, you considered how to deploy your application. At this stage, you may want to check your pilot application to see whether you've balanced processing properly between clients and servers.

You should also verify how autonomous a client is from a server in the event that a server becomes inaccessible. If a connection between the client and server must be reestablished, some synchronization of transactions and data may be required.

Review applications that are designed to be flexible or table-driven when the tables (resource files) are stored remotely. It may be more appropriate to place these tables on the individual desktop or a local shared disk to reduce the number of remote data accesses on static or infrequently changing data. You should define policies that ensure these tables are regularly synchronized.

Bear in mind that reports and QTP runs do not have a thin-client deployment. If you need to see the results of these programs when running on a screen, you must either deploy as fat client or create a separate terminal session on the PC and run the programs through it.

Step 12
Schedule the Full Project
Only upon successfully reaching this point should you make firm schedules and commitments. The previous steps have accelerated your learning curve for IBM Cognos Axiant 4GL and migration. Having completed steps 1 through 11, you now have the information and experience you need to confidently schedule the complete project.

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