The process of manual programming has never been a perfect or exact science, and the resulting defects that occur along the way have long plagued the software development lifecycle and are therefore perpetuated in legacy systems. To combat this issue, testing phases and quality processes have to be deployed at every step in the process to ensure a defect-free output. One solution to resolve this process in less time and with less effort is to use a set of transparent closed-loop tools to eliminate defects and uncertainty, resulting in less manual effort and higher accuracy.
Logical System Repositories Enhance Effectiveness of Controls
The key element to a transparent closed-loop system is the creation of a logical systems repository (LSR). The repository represents a holistic and logically complete view of a complex computer system as data that are available for modeling and analysis. Because the data are stored in machine readable formats, they are also useful in other software development lifecycle approaches. The LSR makes complex systems easily analyzable, essentially reducing the complexity, which drives higher success in IT projects. It can aid in providing clear decision points to business leaders so that they understand the impact of their decisions ahead of time, such as while combining different business processes during a merger or implementing a new service product.
By using data from the LSR, it is also possible to implement automation that can then be used to drive application development and enable migrations from legacy systems. Manual efforts on large and complex IT migration projects are costly and often not successful. A key benefit to the automated approach is that these methods can handle large and complex projects with more accuracy and success than the traditional manual approach.
Based on this approach, a software delivery factory can be implemented that supports automated, repeatable and controls-driven processes resulting in precisely designed and delivered systems. For example, the pharmacy benefits industry has seen key adjudication systems (figure 1) with tens of millions of lines of code consolidated and modernized with a complete elimination of member and patient impact using this approach.
Figure 1—Automation Approach Using an LSR
This automated approach using an LSR has become more relevant than ever. Many large organizations have decades of technical debt that has been acquired through the normal processes of age, expansion and acquisition. The resulting complexity from these processes negatively impacts IT productivity and efficiency and can severely reduce effectiveness. The larger the amount of technical debt, the more time, energy and effort is needed to maintain those systems, resulting in higher costs and slower speed of delivery.
There are many benefits to implementing this automated approach in managing and migrating legacy systems and technical debt. The LSR provides the data in logical groupings for a full assessment and identification of the complex computer system, allowing for complete traceability to account for all business rules and rationalization of the future system and data stores. This automated system also boosts the productivity and effectiveness of subject matter experts while accurately forecasting effort and time in addition to resource requirements. The accurate data create complete test coverage for a high degree of accuracy. The future state system is optimized for improved controls and lower total cost of ownership.
Regaining Control
With these new automation methodologies, it is possible for organizations to migrate away from legacy systems and reduce their amount of technical debt with a significantly lower risk and cost. Cycle times are significantly shortened, manual effort is replaced with automated tools and control of the system development lifecycle is regained. In addition, there is incremental value in describing a complex computer system in an LSR. A deep analysis of the information in the LSR can lead to the discovery and remedy of issues in underlying systems. This automated approach effectively combats the effects of increased complexity and legacy technical debt and provides actual and reliable predictability to plan for the future.
Editor’s note: For further insights on this topic, read Sandipan Gangopadhyay and Stuart Mcguigan’s recent Journal article, “Working Toward a White Box Approach: Transforming Complex Legacy Enterprise Applications,” ISACA Journal, volume 1, 2022.
ISACA Journal turns 50 this year! Celebrate with us—and do not forget you can still receive the print copy by visiting your preference center and opting in!
