Application Transformation

A large number of organisations with legacy applications are now facing real business issues of high maintenance costs and skills shortages, and business critical applications which are running on non- strategic platforms. A move to .NET or Java is an attractive alternative offering web-based applications and service oriented architecture on a strategic platform, but would normally require significant time and cost investment.

The Northdoor solution offers a cost effective and high quality service which transforms legacy applications to a client server, smart client or thin client environment within .NET or Java. Legacy applications can be converted at typically a quarter of the cost of a complete rewrite. Typical transformation projects last months not years.

Application Transformation provides a highly cost-effective and speedy route to modern easily-supported applications which maintain vital business logic.

Northdoor has over 19 years of experience of the mix of skills required for a successful transformation project.

On the legacy side of the process, Northdoor has extensive skills in the principal technologies that organisations are seeking to move away from, for example, RPG, Gupta SQLWindows, PowerBuilder, Visual Basic and Oracle Forms. These skills have been honed in the development of applications for Northdoor customers over many years, and in supporting and maintaining applications which often use older versions of the development technologies.

This experience has given Northdoor a significant advantage in understanding the ways older or ‘classic’ development technologies work alongside newer operating systems and database platforms and enables the company to advise on the best way to prepare these legacy applications for transformation. Northdoor can also provide support for these systems, enabling the client’s staff to retrain in newer technologies, becoming remotivated, often alongside Northdoor developers in a skills-transference process.

On the new transformed side of the process, Northdoor has developed well-respected skills in developing using .NET and Java technologies, which ensure that the resulting application conforms to the latest technical standards. In many cases, Northdoor has assisted in training client personnel to continue the support and development of the new applications. In others, Northdoor has been able to provide highly cost-effective support and maintenance services.

Northdoor also has a long-standing reputation for strong project management, earned in major development and migration projects, and application support.

Benefits such as web services, easy deployment and change management are instantly available with the n-tier options offered in the service. The transformed applications can look and feel almost identical to the original system, are web-ready, have a choice of architectures and will be a native .NET or Java solution which can be easily maintained and enhanced by native .NET or Java developers.

With the Northdoor Transformation service, the ties with the legacy technology are fully broken and the many advantages and benefits of .NET and Java can be enjoyed within the transformed application bringing long term business benefits for many years.