Displaying items by tag: Automatic Refactoring

The U.S. Air Force's Integrated Logistics System - Supply (ILS-S), has been a cornerstone of military logistics for over five decades. This complex and mission-critical system, which tracks more than 35 million assets valued at $18 billion across 1.7 million warehouse locations, has been a significant part of the Air Force's operations, supporting 18,000 users and over 100,000 consumers of ILS-S information across 250 military installations.

Historically, the Air Force had attempted to modernize and move away from expensive Unisys Mainframes without success. Their earlier endeavors earned the system the nickname "The Beast" and was featured in a 2003 book on legacy system modernization by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon.

However, the outcomes changed dramatically when TSRI, NTT Data, and CGI leveraged TSRI’s model- and rule-based transformation and refactoring solution, JANUS® Studio, to modernize the 1.3 million lines of COBOL to Java and migrate the system to an elastic, secure, cloud-native environment on AWS GovCloud.

Watch Paul Saladna, Lead Architect at NTT Data discuss what made this project so successful!

In the initial phase, TSRI converted the 1.3 million lines of Unisys COBOL to modern, maintainable Java and the teams migrated the system to an on-prem mid-tier environment. In a second phase, the application underwent further automated refactoring by the teams for code quality and performance and then migrated to the AWS GovCloud, gaining the benefits of a cloud-native, scalable multi-tier environment like setting up DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines and providing network interoperability. 

This transformative project marked a significant milestone in automated modernization and cloud-native deployment for the Air Force and has been heralded as a huge success by the USAF, setting a precedent for future modernizations.

“All told, we started at $30 million prior to the modernization and ended at about $3 million post-modernization; a pretty significant cost savings!”

Paul, who started with ILS-S back in 2003, played a pivotal role in transitioning the system from a fragmented, green-screen-based setup to a unified cloud-computing solution. His leadership was instrumental in steering the project from its inception, through its on-prem modernization phase, to its ultimate migration to a cloud-native architecture on AWS.

The modernization's driving forces were multifaceted, focusing on reducing infrastructure costs, mitigating COBOL developer dependency, and enhancing platform stability and capabilities. The Air Force required a fast and seamless transition with no loss in functionality or performance, despite the concurrent challenges posed by active military engagements.

The decision to adopt AWS GovCloud was influenced by the Air Force's existing computational frameworks and the natural fit of AWS for Java/Python-based projects, given its extensive use and the associated economies of scale.

TSRI was chosen for this monumental task through a rigorous selection process, showcasing unparalleled automation capabilities and a thorough understanding of the legacy COBOL code, which set them apart from other vendors.

“TSRI demonstrated the highest degree of conversion capabilities and past performance and represented the lowest risk for us to achieve mission objectives. Really, they stood out.”

The outcomes of this modernization are profound, achieving a 90% reduction in total costs—from $30 million annually to approximately $3 million post-modernization. Additionally, the project facilitated the reassignment of COBOL developers to roles where their deep understanding of the system's logic and business requirements could be leveraged for the modernized ILS-S system.

The modernized ILS-S now boasts a remarkable 99.999% uptime, a testament to the enhanced platform stability and capabilities achieved through this project. This success has prompted the Business and Enterprise Systems Directorate (BES) of the USAF to replicate this modernization model across other critical systems, with TSRI currently working on the modernization of the Air Force's wholesale Stock Control System.

This journey from COBOL to Java, culminating in a truly cloud-native deployment on AWS, not only signifies a technological leap for the Air Force but also exemplifies a model of collaboration, innovation, and strategic foresight in modernizing critical defense systems.

To learn more about the project, read the case study

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Additional Sources:

• https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization/2022/11/lessons-learned-from-air-forces-ils-s-logistics-system-modernization/
• https://www.aflcmc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2888877/system-tracks-every-item-in-the-air-force-inventory/

TSRI adapted its industry-leading modernization capabilities to the unique Pitney Bowes Visual Basic 6 (VB6) code constructs for a successful automatic modernization of over 443,000 lines of VB6 code and over 450,000 lines of XML meta-data to modern C# .NET Core coming in well within budget and completing the transformation earlier than scheduled.

Additionally, TSRI’s partner, Accenture, had the opportunity to manually rewrite the user interfaces for the application, to achieve a modern and user-friendly experience, while TSRI simultaneously completed the automated transformation of the application code and database written in VB6. As a result, the application achieved total functional equivalence while the look and feel of the front end was greatly improved.

Customer: Pitney Bowes Source & Target Language: VB6 to C# .NET Core Lines of Code: 893,000 Duration: 5 Months Services:  Iterative Code Transformation, Defined VB6/.COM and C#/.NET Core component mappings, Automated Refactoring, Transformation Blueprint®

TSRI modernized IDT's Automated Test & ReTest (ATRT) tool from Ada 95 to C++. ATRT is a patented automated testing and analysis toolset that provides development and integration; system and certification; installation; and cybersecurity testing for many vital military planning, weapon and sensor systems.

TSRI, contracted withHawaii Research Group (HRG),  supported the task of finding the subset of code within CHCS and use its innovative JANUS Studio® toolset to automatically transform the legacy code to modern code. 

TSRI came aboard as a member of the Lockheed Martin (LMCO) team that bid on the I-SPAN modernization program. TSRI's role was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of fully automated approaches to re-engineering and transitioning classified modules from the MGPS system into an open, flexible, scalable, and extensible software environment.

TSRI was contracted by General Dynamics (GDAIS) to automatically transform the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Submarine Weapon Control System (WCS). TSRI used its JANUS Studio® automated toolset to transform and refactor WCS Ada code to functionally equivalent C++ code.

TSRI was asked to assist The Boeing Company to modernize the ALCA Integrated Tactical Avionics Program (ITAP). ITAP, originally a real-time embedded J73 JOVIAL program, required transformation to modern C++. The transformed version of ITAP needed to exhibit real-time performance equal to or better than the original system with platform independence. By converting the J73 JOVIAL into C++, Boeing reduced future maintenance costs with the availability of modern software development environments and greater flexibility in its choice of hardware upgrades.

The Defense User Registration System (DURS) of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) consisted of a UNISYS 2200 COBOL application running within the DPS form-based presentation system (DPS 1100). DURS required conversion into a Java/J2SE multi-tiered application to support DTIC modernization requirements.

A highly classified application, consisting of Fortran 77 and Fortran 95, required modernization to JAVA. SANDIA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, contracted with TSRI for the use of its JANUS Studio® to complete the code transformation in a secure facility. 

TriGeo Network Security, Inc. awarded a sole-source contract to TSRI for documentation and Refactoring of TriGeo’s primary product offering. This "Roundtripping" process involves taking in a client's code, applying pattern-based refactorings to change and improve the code without changing the functional equivalency of the application.