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COBOL Replacement

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lowered operations and maintenance costs by modernizing its import processing system to a Java-based platform.

Introduction:

Many Federal agencies depend on mature COBOL-based systems for their mission-critical processes. Often decades old, these systems are the backbone of an agency’s daily operations. They execute business rules that have evolved with every regulatory and legislative change over the years. These systems are so vital to agency operations that the public expects nothing short of uninterrupted 24×7 availability and performance.

Challenges:

During fifteen years of maintaining the Nation’s import processing system, Computech has transformed a 1980s-vintage COBOL system to a Java-based platform that prepares US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the global demands of the 21st century.

Solution:

While at CBP, Computech developed a strategic approach that balances the agency’s desire to modernize its core technology with the business requirement of uninterrupted service. The result is a carefully planned transition with the following steps:

• Source code analysis and decomposition – Computech has pioneered the development of automated tools for inventorying, organizing, and documenting over 7 million lines of COBOL logic. These business rules become the technical requirements of the replacement Java-based system.

• Technology upgrade – While the replacement system is being built, Computech is upgrading and maintaining database software and has built a browser-based user interface that gave the COBOL-based system greater capacity and a new “face” to its thousands of users.

• Phased transition – Computech developed a transition strategy that allows CBP to test the replacement system alongside the legacy system until the agency is confident that it can retire the COBOL-based system.

Notable Results:

Computech’s strategic approach for modernizing COBOL-based systems is evolutionary. Computech has enabled CBP to handle a two-fold increase in world trade workload volume while migrating from a 20-year-old system to a modern Java-based system without the loss of business knowledge or the disruption of service for this vital national system.