Headline
Project management of the migration of business critical applications and associated data from Mainframe to a Server environment.
Details
Without doubt this was the most technically challenging assignment of my career involving:-
- Conversion of legacy code (Assembler) to a server compatible language.
- Assessment of supplier capabilities for translation of legacy code to C.
- Procurement of suitable hardware and storage.
- Offsite disaster recovery with auto-failover.
- Replacement of mainframe user interfaces with server alternatives.
- Zero tolerance of differences between existing and replacement systems.
- Exposure of myself and team to brand new technologies.
- Data migration from Mainframe DB2 to Server based Oracle 10g.
- Establishing appropriate technical support / error reporting.
- Management of external specialists.
- Overcoming resistance from user community – fear of going from the known to the unknown.
- Maintaining BAU throughout the project.
Lessons Learned
- Plan meticulously and always have a back-out plan.
- Keep your eye on the business case.
- “If you’re going through hell – keep going!”, Winston Churchill.