Legacy to Unix, Linux or Windows

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providing migration solutions in every industry

Since its formation in 1985, Unicon Conversion Technologies, Inc. has specialized in performing migrations to open systems platforms; UNIX, LINUX and WINDOWS. Throughout these twenty years, Unicon has provided migration solutions to companies and organizations of all sizes; in all areas of the private sector, financial, insurance, manufacturing, distribution, and retail; and all areas of the public sector, local, state and federal.

methodologies, utilities and tools proved 100% successful

Unicon’s conversion methodologies, utilities and automated tools were developed specifically and precisely to perform migration projects, and have proven their worth in the performance of hundreds of successful platform migrations.

convert to native open systems, with all the open benefits

The objective of a Unicon migration project is to deliver a converted system that is a sound foundation for the future data processing needs of the conversion customer. The converted system is a true open system with no emulation, proprietary middleware, proprietary adapters, proprietary file handlers or proprietary screen drivers. The converted system is constructed only from the customers chosen components of hardware, operating system, COBOL, database, etc., which are supported by their respective vendors. The converted application code continues to be supported by the customer’s IT staff.

migrated systems operate exactly like original, only faster

Once the customer has chosen the components that will comprise the new platform, Unicon’s task is to convert the application code and data from their use of the components that were on the old platform to using only the customers chosen new component set of the new platform, so that they operate exactly the same on the new platform as they did on the old.

automation makes migrations fast, accurate and low cost

The conversion of the source code (programs, screens, JCL, etc) is performed by Unicon’s automated converters. These converters process the original application source code and generate the converted source code. This process creates conversion logs that document any errors that are encountered. These errors are reviewed, the converters are modified and the source code reconverted. This iterative process modifies the converters to handle the unique coding styles and constructs contained in the customer’s code, thereby producing a highly effective unique tool set specifically tuned to convert this code.

migrate online and backup data to relational database

Often forgotten when considering the tasks involved in a conversion, is the need to convert the data. Data conversion is often put to the side to be resolved later. But it is essential that the conversion of the data must be considered with equal importance to any other aspect of the conversion process. It is absolutely vital that the conversion process provides a fast, efficient and

100% accurate way of automatically converting the data to the new chosen data structure. In the Unicon conversion process, as the automated converters are converting the program source code, the converters are also analyzing the data structures and creating data converters that will automatically convert the data to the new index files or RDBMS tables. Unicon uses these data converters to convert the data provided by the customer to create the test decks that will be used in the initial testing of the converted system. These data converters are also used to create test decks for the acceptance test, parallel runs, systems testing, user testing, and for the final conversion of the data to the new production system.

users can have original screens or new GUI presentations

Ultimately the success or failures of a platform migration is determined by the people who will use the converted system in the performance of their job function. If the user communities do not like the converted system the project is a failure. It is vital to consider the user communities at all stages of the project. The major interface for the user is the screen. 

The conversion process can create several different screens – varying from screens that are identical to the original screens, to screens that are simple GUI with entry boxes, to full GUI screens with pull down menus, push buttons, radio buttons, etc. User’s who enter large volumes of data using the numeric keypad, with great dexterity, accuracy and speed, are not going to take kindly to playing with a mouse and wandering through GUI selection boxes. A GUI screen presentation can significantly adversely effect their job function. But users who require to search data across multiple data sources will find the click and select of the mouse to be very beneficial to getting the job done. 

It’s a matter of choosing the correct screen presentation for each user department. The Unicon migration process can provide whatever screens interface is needed, and can deliver different screen presentations to meet the different needs of the different user communities.

batch jobs use new facilities and utilities

JCL is converted to the customers chosen scripting language. The new batch scripts perform the same steps as the original JCL but using the facilities and utilities available on the new platform.

uniformity to the code to increase maintainability

It is critical that the customer is able to quickly and efficiently retake ownership of the converted source code after conversion. It is the customer who is going to maintain the converted system. Unicon takes great care to ensure that the conversion process specifically makes only those changes to the original source program code that are required to enable the system to run on the new platform. These changes fundamentally involve the screens and the disk IO. 

The conversion process never changes the core program business logic or the system design flow. Because the conversion is performed by automated converters, the changes that are made, have uniformity across the entire system. Learning and understanding the changes made to any one program is often all that is necessary to understand all the program changes in the converted system.

services to respond to individual client support needs

Successful conversion projects require an ongoing commitment to customer support. Unicon is aware of the importance of continued support and we work with each customer to establish a plan that will most benefit their specific needs. Unicon realizes that vendor flexibility is critical to the success of the conversion project. Our policy is to respond to our client needs and to provide the solutions that are necessary to achieve the customer’s required results.

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