Retraining Your Organization's IT Department to Make Faster, Better Decisions about Modernization Projects

"Modernization" is a hot word in the IT world today. Analysts, IT experts and companies are talking or writing about it. What is causing this sudden buzz around legacy system modernization?

• Have the systems that have served companies for years suddenly become obsolete?
• Has technology advanced so much that IT infrastructure is outdated almost as soon as it is put into use?
• Or has the terminology that we use to talk about the life cycle of Information Technology changed?

The answer is all of the above.

In the past, many modernization initiatives originated in the IT department. The IT team would research, analyze and implement the appropriate solutions according to its own needs and time table. Today the business side of the organization is driving many of these initiatives to regain or maintain competitive edge. As a result, these projects often require fast decision making and turnaround time to meet business expectations. For this to occur, IT needs to be able to provide required system information in a much timelier manner.

How does an organization motivate the same people to make system modernization decisions in a more efficient, cost effective and timely manner? How does it teach its old dogs new tricks? The need for companies to understand their IT systems is more important today than ever before.

In the past, IT departments were centralized and systems were much simpler. Personnel advances within organizations tended to be vertical, ensuring availability of a core staff with a solid knowledge base of company systems. With time, knowledge bases have shrunk due to the natural turnover of personnel, systems have become more complex, and the value of knowledge has increased. In addition, many companies have experienced mergers and acquisitions or had outsourcing initiatives implemented.

Consequently, most IT departments have a void of knowledge regarding their larger and older legacy systems. This has made the quest for information an expensive and time-consuming task. A quest for knowledge has suddenly become a hunt in the dark and mistakes and incorrect decisions are often made being due to incomplete or outdated information.

For example, a company may undertake a major modernization project that ends up becoming much larger and more expensive than it initially anticipated. While the original project goal might have been to move the company off an expensive or soon to be obsolete infrastructure, the result might end up reducing the company's throughput, provide second rate service, and require a more powerful computer to provide better service. All of this scrambling to meet unanticipated needs could have been averted, if the decision makers had the correct information about the system and not just the problem and solution before embarking on the modernization project.

If understanding is the key to successful management of IT components, then it is critical for organizations to obtain the most current information about their IT assets.

The simplest, most efficient and effective solution is to create a unified view of all system assets. This is performed by creating a correlation repository that serves as a single central information system. The correlation repository is accessible to all users and therefore accredited by all. This creates one truth and puts an immediate end to the constant need to verify and validate all information presented at various decision levels. If the content is kept current and all stakeholders have access, then an organization can save a tremendous amount of time, manpower, implementation, and maintenance costs by not having to assemble the information each time a request is made.

A central correlation repository allows enterprise users to incorporate their own silos of information into it and increase the repository's value. Each bit of information that is added to the repository elevates the level of understanding for those who need it. For instance:

• A tester can find out where the data that he requires is created without having to wait for a subject matter expert to answer his email.
• A manager can find out real-time production information about the systems he manages.
• A programmer can find out who else at the company uses a component that he needs to change as well the person who is responsible for it.
• System engineers can gain access to information about jobs that use special utilities without having to dig through logs and job libraries.

One click of the mouse can increase productivity by saving numerous e-mails, phone calls and waiting to find the correct person. Over and above all managers can start to get the answers they need on how to save money and reduce waste. A correlation repository provides scope and complexity of projects and real time production values in a condensed time frame. It also provides knowledge of intersystem interdependence without requiring users to convene a committee. By increasing the knowledge contained in the repository, an organization can succeed in turning its raw data into strategic information.

Once an organization has access to this type of information, it is much easier to make strategic decisions. After making decisions, the same information source can be used to manage and monitor projects. Upon completion of projects, the new assets become part of the repository and accessible to all.

After all, today's modernization is tomorrow's maintenance.

David Amoils is the product manager for ITDiscovery at BluePhoenix Solutions. David has a BSc degree in Computer Science and Information Systems and more than 30 years of experience in the computing industry with more than 10 years of experience in IT modernization.