Filter
Top Products
•
At project start
•
Before the start of online application tests
•
Before the start of batch application tests
•
Before switchover
During those sessions, the Project Manager and perhaps, hired conversion
specialists, provide the conversion team with instructions and guidelines for
planning, organization, and implementation of the activities to come.
32.4.2 Phase 1: Application Inventory
Before you start any work on a migration you need an inventory. Start the
inventory process as soon as you have made the decision to pursue migration.
The work that results in a clean inventory is about determining what is in
production and what is not in production on your system.
Taking inventory of your applications is a basic migration task. It does not
require tremendous skill but can prove to be very laborious to complete. It is a
necessary prerequisite for estimating the costs of the conversion tasks.
The objective of this repetitive task is to identify and collect the conversion
inventory, transfer it to the OS/390 system, and verify that it is complete and
consistent. The conversion inventory includes:
•
Source code: programs, subprograms, macros, copy or include books, and
so on
•
JCL: VSE and POWER JCL streams, standard labels, SLI and other JCL
include books
•
Additional information such as job scheduling, CICS tables, VSE catalogs and
VTOC listings
As a first step for the VSE to OS/390 conversion, the application inventory must
be collected and verified for completeness and consistency. This allows the
conversion process to begin with clean libraries, resulting in a smooth and
efficient project. An iterative process, this validation is completed in two to three
months. Up to four iterations of the following application inventory tasks are
typically required:
•
Developing/refining an inventory transfer procedure
•
Loading the conversion inventory into the conversion libraries
•
Executing the inventory validation software
•
Identifying any missing or unreferenced elements in the conversion inventory
•
Resolving the missing and unreferenced elements in the conversion
inventory
It is recommended that job schedulers be taken advantage of as they can be
very helpful in keeping track of what is current on the system. From the
scheduler, lists of production jobs can be extracted. They can provide a good
starting place from which to begin inventory validation. In CICS for example it is
common to have CICS tables that are full of obsolete material.
The Application Inventory phase is complete when the application inventory
contains only a small percentage of missing or unreferenced elements.
Chapter 32. Conversion Process 495