A Conversion Case Study on Allgaier Werke GmbH

Automated Conversion Speeds up Migration

Allgaier is a systems supplier in the metal forming sector of the automotive industry, producing pressed parts and ready-for-installation components. In 2004 Allgaier migrated its Mainframe IT into a standard ERP Solution. Some applications were not covered by the standard ERP solution, so Allgaier decided to use I2C from m2o and NetExpress from Micro Focus to transfer them to the Windows platform and away from the mainframe.

Existing system lacked flexibility

The move from traditional Mainframe Systems to Server based solutions is becoming a popular way to achieve cost savings and increase application performance and availability.

Allgaier has run a home-grown online host application since the early 80's, covering all central corporate processes, from material handling through production planning to invoice handling. The solution was based on traditional programming languages such as Assembler, PL1 and COBOL and on the 4GL IDEAL from Computer Associates (CA), but was no longer up to date. The system still fulfilled its original function but wasn't flexible enough for easy adaptation to new tasks.

In 2003 Allgaier decided to move to a solution from Infor Global Solutions. Timo Schütt, IT-Manager at Allgaier said, "We decided to move to Infor because this solution is designed for a midsized company. It helps us to manage complex part lists, which are necessary for the production of the parts for the Maybach Limousine. We wanted to have a single standard on a modern platform and we achieved that with Infor."

"We wanted to have a single standard on a modern platform…"

Benefiting from a relational model

The new ERP solution helped Allgaier to reduce costs dramatically. Expenditure on hardware in particular is now much lower. The migration from an IBM Multiprise 3000 to Windows Servers took 13 months in total.

Some applications had to remain on the mainframe. In the mid of the 90's, Allgaier moved its data from VSAM to CA-Datacom. "This gave us the benefit of emulating old data formats, while using a relational model at the same time," explained Mr. Schütt. "CA-Datacom could act as VSAM to the old programs and give us the benefits of a relational data model at the same time. This would not have been possible with DB2".

Automated conversion reduced the ROI time by two years

In order to make a clean start on the new ERP solution, Allgaier decided to keep some old material and project data on the mainframe for up to two years. This proved to be very expensive, because it was necessary to keep an IBM-T3-Server going and all the software licences running.

As a consequence, Allgaier decided to migrate this project data to Oracle as well. With the help of Saxonia Systems AG and the I2C tool from m2o the data was migrated from CA-Datacom to Oracle and the programs were translated from CA-IDEAL to Micro Focus COBOL in one month.

The environment is familiar to end users

The 'historic' project programs are now running on Windows 2003 servers and the application behaves exactly as it did on the mainframe. The changes have not affected end users at all, and application performance has even improved after the migration. The cost savings of not having to renew a Datacom licence or maintain an IBM-T3-server have been significant.

Moving away from the Mainframe has kept costs down

"A new development of the old application would have been too expensive for this project," says Mr. Schütt. "Sooner or later everything will be covered by the Infor ERP application. Until then this solution saves us a lot of money because the only alternative would have been to keep the mainframe with all its related costs." Because there has been no disruptive change for end-users Allgaier has not incurred any additional costs or delays relating to re-training.
 

Expert Data Management

m2o specialises in transforming legacy systems, and in particular automated conversions from CA-IDEAL to open languages such as COBOL and Java, and automated migrations from CA-DATACOM to open databases such as Oracle, DB2 and SQL Server. Many years of experience in this field mean m2o has a wealth of technical expertise and experience at its disposal, complemented by a comprehensive toolkit. m2o brings a level of automation, platform cover and accuracy to the conversion process that is unmatched by any other product or service available today.