Premera Blue Cross

Automated Document Assembly System (ADAS)

WANG COBOL to C++

History: Premera Blue Cross required the assessment, transformation and re-factoring of its existing Automated Document Assembly System (ADAS). This system was written in WANG COBOL and self generated WANG COBOL programs tailoring health care booklets for specific customer needs. WANG platform obsolescence and escalating operating costs became major drivers for the modernization of this document generation system. A manual rewrite of ADAS was considered but rejected because of the high cost associated with such a rewrite. Cost estimates were particularly high because the new system required additional modifications to self generate C++. TSRI was selected to assess, transform, and re-factor the WANG COBOL code, migrating the system into a C++ Windows NT equivalent.

Challenge: The project was conducted in three phases. In phase-1 the ADAS system's WANG COBOL was transformed into C++ with 100% automation. Minor enhancements were required to support ADAS features not previously encountered by TSRI. The modernized C++ version of the system was installed at the customer site for testing. No errors were discovered in the nearly 50,000-line ADAS system during customer acceptance testing. During phase-2, fully automated refactoring of the new C++ ADAS system consolidated redundant code. Phase-3 addressed the need for ADAS replacement logic to self generate C++ programs. Extensive hand re-factoring was required during this phase because this project predated the JANUS™ toolset's capability for semi-automated refactoring.

Results: Upon completion, the re-factored and upgraded version of ADAS was delivered to Premera Blue Cross and successfully deployed. Subsequent testing and implementation confirmed the accuracy of TSRI's transformation including the capability of the new system to self generate C++. The architecture of the C++ version proved much better for code generation than the original COBOL generator. TSRI's automated approach to legacy system modernization proved highly effective. The C++ version of ADAS is used today to generate the health care booklets for many major corporations.