The Economic Realities of Software Migration Ben Wilson Anubex

04/19/23

The Economic Realities of Software Migration

Ben WilsonAnubex

04/19/23

Who is ANUBEX?Software Migration since 1993

• Belgian Software Company;

• Specialists in Cross-Platform IS Migration;

• Early adopter of automated software transformation and migration methodologies and tools;

• Customers in Benelux and throughout Europe.

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Who is ANUBEX?Typical Clients

• Develop software internally or outsource to third-parties;

• Software is 10 to 15 years old;

• 1 to 4 people involved in development on permanent basis;

• Technology used is reaching “retirement age.”

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Assessing legacyTypical considerations

• Placing “value” on existing systems;

• Developing cost-effective plan of action.

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How Valuableis Old Software

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Assessing legacyTypical issues

• Conflicting valuation criteria of the economic impact of adaptive software maintenance;

• Common myths.

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Assessing legacyCommon Myths

• Value of legacy systems is low;

• Investing personnel and money to keep the systems going is a mistake per se;

• Old software is non-strategic to the business.

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Developing a Cost-EffectivePlan of Action

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Manual migrationWhat does it cost to rewrite software? (Averages)

• 1997 study (Measuring Software Reuse, J Poulin):

100$/LOC

• 2000 study

(Computer Week,W Ulrich):

25$/LOC

• 1995 study (US Military, EAI):

8-20$/LOC

(LOC = Lines Of Code)

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Manual migrationWhat does it cost to rewrite software? (Averages)

An application with one million lines of code costs between 8 and 100 million dollars to redevelop

• 1997 study (Measuring Software Reuse, J Poulin):

100$/LOC

• 2000 study

(Computer Week,W Ulrich):

25$/LOC

• 1995 study (US Military, EAI):

8-20$/LOC

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Manual migrationLOC Project costing formula

• Making a generic formula to apply to all situations is impossible.

• Generic formula is:

Sources: University of Calgary, University of Southern California, softwaremetrics.com, Addison-Wesley

E = (a)(KLOCb)

(E = number of man-months, KLOC = 1000 Lines Of Code)

04/19/23Sources: CWI, CaseConsult, Addison-Wesley, softwaremetrics.com, SEI

Manual migrationFP Project costing formula

04/19/23Sources: University of Calgary, University of Southern California, softwaremetrics.com, Addison-Wesley

The cost of migrationThe value of automation

04/19/23Sources: University of Calgary, University of Southern California, softwaremetrics.com, Addison-Wesley, Anubex

The cost of migrationThe value of automation

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• Code on target platform is generated consistently:

• Incompatibilities between the two platforms are easier to troubleshoot;

• Future maintenance is easier; the code still “belongs” to the developers;

• Developers adjust to the new platform more easily:

• Developers are free to learn the new platform during the project itself;

• Developers can compare the code “before and after”;

• Libraries are pre-deployed and language is pre-configured.

Automated migration Further benefits

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Thank You

For more info, visit www.anubex.com