Leading Insurance Company: Migrating QUICKJOB to Micro Focus COBOL in Mainframe Modernization

The Customer, a leading U.S. insurer, provides a range of services to millions of individuals and businesses, including personal, life and auto policies. With over $10 billion in assets, they employ nearly 30,000 brokers, agents and associates who sell and service over five million policies nationwide.

The Customer began the project with the goal of migrating their mainframe-based technologies to Micro Focus COBOL to gain cost efficiencies and enhanced, modern functionalities.

The mainframe modernization project, under the auspices of the service provider, was proceeding on schedule and was in the final stages before go-live when a previously unassessed and therefore unaddressed supporting technology brought the project to a halt. The QUICKJOB reporting tool, initially perceived as an ancillary system component, suddenly became a major obstacle that jeopardized the entire initiative.

This also posed a significant financial threat, since the Customer faced the possibility of having to pay millions in licensing fees to continue to support their legacy system in order to avoid business disruption. Meanwhile, the service provider was subject to substantial financial penalties due to the project delays. Consequently, mLogica, with our specialized technologies, was called in to assess and remediate the issue.

We’ve previously discussed “The Last Mile Challenge,” a persistent issue in legacy modernization projects in which technical teams focus exclusively on main system components while failing to identify critical supporting technologies. Exotic technologies like QUICKJOB, Assembler, Easytrieve, Telon, PL/1, IMS and IDMS are often neglected in the initial system assessment, only to emerge as project-halting obstacles in the final phases of a mainframe modernization initiative. Often this issue is overlooked until the final stages of the initiative when the destination system fails to function properly.

At issue was the conversion of ~150 QUICKJOB programs into COBOL within tight timelines. mLogica’s highly automated migration solution, LIBER*TULIP, a module of our LIBER*M Mainframe Modernization Suite, promised to dramatically accelerate this conversion process.

The project scope included:

• Count: 159
• Code: 26,249
• Comments: 6,548
• Line of Code (LOC): 32,797
• Target Type: Micro Focus COBOL

mLogica's team thoroughly analyzed all QUICKJOB programs to determine their functionalities and dependencies. This comprehensive assessment allowed the team to make informed decisions about which of the ~150 QUICKJOB programs were viable candidates for conversion to COBOL, and which were missing, duplicates or obsolete components.

mLogica’s LIBER*TULIP automated tool was originally engineered to refactor a wide variety of supporting technologies such as Easytrieve, PL/I and Assembler to Java, COBOL, C#, C++ and other current languages. Since the project required full and accurate conversion of QUICKJOB programs into functionally equivalent Micro Focus COBOL code, our team moved quickly to customize LIBER*TULIP to accurately refactor QUICKJOB, a niche legacy reporting utility.

Thus enhanced, LIBER*TULIP easily and efficiently automated the conversion of ~150 QUICKJOB programs to Micro Focus COBOL. Initial iterations generated refactoring accuracy rates of 90%, with further customization enabling 95% accuracy, substantially reducing the need for costly manual intervention.

Due to security protocols, the mLogica team had limited access to the Customer's environment. However, we were able to replicate the environment parameters in our own migration lab, ensuring compliance with Customer policies and procedures.

The mLogica team provided comprehensive support for the validation of program compilation and post-delivery testing. Daily calls with the Customer were set up to address reported bugs, which were remediated by our subject matter expert team using an issue resolution protocol that triaged defects by level of criticality. This process effectively resolved all reported issues and ensured the finalized COBOL code was optimized and error-free.

Leveraging the artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-optimized LIBER*TULIP module, the mLogica team was able to accurately convert, test and migrate ~150 QUICKJOB programs to Micro Focus COBOL within tight deadlines, saving the Customer from hefty license renewal costs to maintain business continuity.

The project's timely execution also freed the Customer from outdated programming tools and databases. A more flexible, agile operating environment reduced their dependency on legacy technology and resources, not only cutting maintenance expenses but enabling them to more quickly adopt new technologies in the future. They also enjoy dramatically enhanced functionality and operational efficiency, delivering annual cost savings in the millions.

Businesses frequently overlook supporting exotic technologies like QUICKJOB, Assembler, Easytrieve, Telon, PL/1, IMS and IDMS during the planning phase of a mainframe modernization, which leads to costly delays and even project failure. In this case, critical Customer goals included a timely shedding of legacy mainframe technologies, which would result in greater cost efficiency and greatly increased functionality. However, when the conversion of QUICKJOB became an insurmountable obstacle that halted the project, it created a serious financial threat.

By customizing LIBER*TULIP, a module of mLogica’s flagship automation tool LIBER*M, the mLogica team was able to accurately refactor ~150 QUICKJOB programs into Micro Focus COBOL within tight, non-negotiable deadlines. Utilizing comprehensive assessment tools, automated solutions, proven methodology and in-depth experience, we were able to get the project back on track and help the Customer avert “The Last Mile Challenge.”