Ford

Ford sought to modernize its critical TWOS application, which handles payroll and employee time management in over 50 manufacturing plants across North America. The existing system, based on HP3000 and MPE, was not Sarbanes-Oxley compliant, leading Ford to migrate this essential infrastructure to Linux while reducing the number of servers from over 50 to fewer than a dozen. This migration aimed to preserve the functionality of the application without introducing any external changes, ensuring that the system operated identically on Linux as it did on MPE.

The TWOS application, composed of over 800 modules, was written in a proprietary 3.5GL language called Transact, which was tightly integrated with MPE components such as VPlus, IMAGE, and KSAM. Sector7 developed a Transact-to-COBOL translator that converted the Transact source code into COBOL, allowing the code to be compiled and executed on both MPE and Linux. This provided Ford with a versatile solution, enabling the company to maintain operational consistency across platforms.

In tandem, the original designer of Transact rewrote the Transact support library from SPL to C code. On MPE, this library interacted natively with MPE’s intrinsic libraries to manage system resources like IMAGE and KSAM. On Linux, the support library utilized a Transport abstraction layer to simulate MPE system calls and interface with Oracle databases, seamlessly replacing the original IMAGE and KSAM functionalities.

As part of the migration, the IMAGE databases were converted to Oracle tables, with Oracle triggers automatically created to maintain data integrity in the same manner as TURBOIMAGE. This allowed the original IMAGE calls to function without requiring modifications to the application code, preserving the application's logic and workflow.

To ensure accuracy, the generated COBOL code was first compiled and tested on MPE, enabling Ford to verify the functionality of the application in its original environment. Any differences between the Linux and MPE versions could then be isolated and resolved, whether they stemmed from the transpiler, the Transact support library, or the Transport abstraction layer. This rigorous testing process ensured a smooth transition and allowed the project to be completed on time and under budget.

• Migrated the TWOS payroll and time management application from HP3000/MPE to Linux.
• Converted over 800 modules of Transact code to COBOL for cross-platform compatibility.
• Rewrote the Transact support library in C to interface with Oracle on Linux.
• Seamless migration of IMAGE databases to Oracle tables with automatic trigger creation to maintain data integrity.
• Rigorous testing on MPE and Linux to ensure consistent functionality across both platforms.

The success of this project was recognized by Ford, who awarded Sector7 a special “Easy Button” award for the seamless implementation and ease of translation, compilation, and linking on Linux. The project not only ensured Sarbanes-Oxley compliance but also significantly improved the efficiency and scalability of Ford's critical manufacturing systems.