Improving Java Migration Outcomes with Rapid...

Improving Java Migration Outcomes with Rapid Assessment

Nagarro White Paper 0

Improving Java Migration Outcomes

with Rapid Assessment

By G Venkat, Rajneesh Kumar, Sheenam Maheshwari

Proven Strategies for Making Java 8 or JDK 8 Migrations Timely,

Cost-Effective, and Predictable



Executive Summary

Many enterprises are migrating from older versions of Java to Java 8 / JDK 8. Java 8 is the most significant

release in nearly 20 years and it continues to evolve rapidly. While most enterprises use Java to run

business-critical processes, those applications have to be updated to remain competitive. While

stakeholders hope that their Java migration efforts will succeed, they also fear that some part of the

initiative will go awry. While migrations provide opportunities for innovation, Java course corrections,

feature improvements, scalability enhancements, more robust security, and compliance, there are

nevertheless uncertainties about the post-migration stability, implementation timelines, cost of migration,

and business impact.

Successful Java 8 migration initiatives require a sound plan; however, planning is one of the most

challenging tasks. To accurately plan and prepare for a successful Java migration, organizations must start

with an accurate assessment of the task at hand, including the risks as well as the cost, effort, and time

required. An accurate assessment requires a comprehensive understanding of the current applications, the

environment in which they run, and knowledge of the target post-migration scenario.

Any mistakes made during the assessment phase may result in cost and effort overruns. In fact, faulty

assessments may prove catastrophic to the organization’s growth and credibility.

This whitepaper proposes strategies for accelerating Java migration assessment and ensuring more

accurate assessments.

The Importance of Java Migration Rapid Assessment

Assessments are a necessary precursor to planning; however,

the time it takes to do them can serve as a barrier to timely

JDK 8 migration. As a result of time to market pressures, some

organizations sacrifice the accuracy of their assessments. With

Java Migration Rapid Assessment, enterprises can accelerate

their assessments and improve their accuracy to define the

most appropriate transformation and modernization strategy.

Java Migration Rapid Assessment streamlines large-scale

migrations by supplementing manual analysis with

automated tools.



Migration Drivers and Complexity Vary

Enterprises migrate or modernize their Java applications

for different reasons. The graphic on the right shows some

of the drivers such as mergers and acquisitions, feature

upgrades, scaling up, standardizing platforms across the

enterprise, etc.

Depending on the driver, the Java migration effort may

involve more complexity than anticipated. For example,

mergers and acquisitions often bring together dissimilar

application landscapes, disparate software versions, and

an array of third-party libraries and frameworks that have

to be modernized. Java Migration Rapid Assessment

contemplates the migration drivers as well as business objectives, architectural considerations, and

technology considerations to facilitate a realistic understanding of the current situation, to enable more

effective planning of the migration effort, and to accurately estimate the time and cost involved.

Simplifying Assessment Complexity

In most cases, an assessment involves more than the

average enterprise anticipates due to complex

integrations, a lack of documentation, and the manual

effort involved. An accurate assessment necessarily

contemplates the various aspects of a Java application

including code, configuration, integrations,

dependencies, and business as usual changes currently

under development, automation tests, and business

impact. An assessment can become a daunting task

when the target versions of the software are not well

understood due to a lack of technical expertise. Java 8

includes many significant changes and enhancements that affect application development, security, user

experience, and performance. Automated Java migration assessment tools can help overcome such

challenges when coupled with code analysis and configuration by experts who understand the nuances of

Java 8/ JDK 8.

Elements of Effective Application Portfolio Assessment

Java application portfolios must be assessed on several levels ensure a successful migration at business,

architectural, and technical levels. Following which, it is also advisable to do Tolerate, Invest, Migrate,



Eliminate (TIME) Mapping of the application portfolio to ensure that technology investment and business

strategy align.

The Scope Trinity: Business-Technology-Architecture Assessment

Migrating to Java 8 or any new version of Java requires a

comprehensive understanding of the current status of a

Java application and its surrounding ecosystem. How long

the assessment and migration take depends on a number

of factors including the complexity of the existing

application, business as usual changes, and the difficulty of

upgrading to the target version. Understanding the static

and dynamic nature of the changes is not easy, especially

in medium to complex application environments. Using the

Scope Trinity, which combines business, technology, and

architecture assessments, stakeholders can better

comprehend the current state of their environment and the

impact of changes.

Business, technology, and architecture assessments should be conducted in-depth as noted below to

avoid important issues that are often overlooked. Together, they provide businesses with a more realistic

view of the scope of the migration effort. When those assessments are followed by Tolerate, Invest,

Migrate, Eliminate (TIME) Mapping of applications, businesses can ensure that their application

investments mirror the strategic requirements of the business.

Business Assessment

Assessing the business function and value of Java

applications is a critical aspect of application portfolio

assessment. While applications are designed to support

business requirements, business requirements change

over time while the applications may remain static. This

creates a gap in functionality or redundant capabilities

between applications supporting different business units.

When doing a business assessment of Java applications,

consider their business importance and criticality, their

alignment with the strategic roadmap, and functional

mapping that includes foreseeable future needs. If the

application does not align well with the business goals, then it is a probably a candidate for the TIME

mapping, which is described on the next page.



Technology Assessment

Enterprises should assess the technology stacks of their Java applications for the following aspects:

Static

o Software updates

o End-of-life/vendor support

o Compliance needs

Dynamic

o Scalability

o Performance

o Security

o Stability

Architecture Assessment

Application lifecycles and the Java 8 migration roadmap need to align with the enterprise’s architecture

goals and vision. All Java applications should be assessed for the following:

Where is the application in its perceived lifecycle?

Does the application align with the business

objectives and the technology architecture?

What is the remaining lifetime of the application?

Would the application complicate the

modernization effort? How?

When was the last software/hardware upgrade?

Collectively, these exercises enable organizations to better

understand the scope of their Java modernization effort

and they help identify the priority of migration tasks.

TIME (Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate) Mapping

In addition to doing business, technology, and architecture assessments, organizations should review their

Java application portfolio from time to time to align their business objectives with their technology

investments. The graphic below shows the TIME quadrants against which individual applications need to

be mapped to assess the application portfolio management and its roadmap.



To take advantage of TIME Mapping:

1. Create an inventory of all Java applications used in the enterprise.

2. Identify the business value and costs of each application by doing the business, technical and

architecture assessment of your application portfolio (as defined in the section above).

3. Map the applications in a TIME chart.

4. Reduce redundant applications.

5. Optimize resources against applications.

TIME Mapping can save unnecessary migration costs. In Capgemini’s 2014 Application Landscape Report,

70 percent of survey respondents said that at least 20 percent of their applications are redundant. Forty-

two percent said that up to 50 percent of their application portfolio needs to be retired; seventy-five

percent said at least ten percent of their application portfolio needs to be retired. Given the popularity of

Java applications, the benefit of TIME mapping is obvious.

“Assessing an application against the dimensions of business value and risk enables you to classify

applications by strategy. Planning around high-level categories like tolerate, invest, migrate and eliminate

(TIME) is a key step in the assessment process, and ensures a manageable and cost-effective Program.”

- Gartner Vice President Jim Duggan in Application Portfolio Triage: TIME for APM



How to Conduct a Rapid Assessment for Java Migration

Java Migration Rapid Assessments require a combination of people, processes, accelerators and tools to

ensure their speed and accuracy.

People: Involve All Stakeholders

Some organizations only involve a subset of the necessary stakeholders in a migration effort, especially in

the assessment and planning stages, which can cause project delays, scope creep, unforeseen costs, and

organizational friction. Involving all stakeholders reduces risks and it helps ensure timely Java

modernization. The stakeholders in a successful Java migration effort typically include representatives from

different teams including corporate management, enterprise architecture, business units, IT infrastructure,

engineering and development, subject matter experts, integrating parties, vendors and end users. It is also

important to ensure that third party vendor support is available for third party tools and libraries.

Processes: Use Best Practices and Enable Repeatable Processes

The processes for a successful Java 8 migration effort should be based on best practices that combine a

proven methodology and tools to enable more accurate assessments and planning. The key to Rapid

Assessment for Java 8 Migration is to utilize the right mix of automated and manual assessment methods

to discover what exists as well as to validate the hypothesis and project ideas. The graphic below depicts

the recommended process for any modernization assessment activity.



A well-defined end-to-end Java 8 migration process ensures that all automated migration assessments are

well documented, commented, verified and reconciled before the switch occurs. Automation is often

aided by a customized implementation approach that addresses large scale migration assessments

involving hundreds of applications.

The success of a Rapid Java Migration Assessment is affected by the

quality of the planning done for it. To avoid unnecessary

organizational and technical friction, when you plan for Rapid Java

Migration Assessment, give as much priority to the migration

initiative as to business as usual improvements. Mitigating risks is

possible through early planning, risk identification, robust verification

procedures, and freezing any business as usual changes apart from

critical fixes.

It is easier to avoid time and cost overruns in migration projects by

considering important details that are often overlooked. Before you

begin a migration effort, make sure you have processes in place to:

Identify the issues and vulnerabilities in the target application

landscape

Ensure that no major functional changes are planned during

the migration phase

Ensure that no major infrastructure changes or upgrades are

planned

Augment the Java rapid migration assessment with

documentation and regression testing automation

Considering such details may enable your organization to avoid weeks

or months of unforeseen delays.

An even greater return-on-investment (ROI) can be achieved using an iterative migration approach that

overcomes the challenges of scale and interdependencies among Java and other applications in the

application portfolio. An iterative migration approach also allows enterprises to establish repeatable

processes that enable continuous improvement and result in more predictable outcomes.

While having more efficient

processes in place helps, it is

also necessary to have the

resources in place to carry

them out. One of the largest

challenges enterprises face

when migrating to Java 8/

JDK 8 is a lack of resources

necessary to support each

phase of the migration. To

address this challenge,

Nagarro devised the Elastic

Sourcing Model which

combines people, processes,

and automated tools and

accelerators so enterprises

can plan and execute Java 8 /

JDK 8 migrations more

reliably while controlling

costs.



Accelerators and Tools: Expedite Assessments

Tools and accelerators speed Java migration

assessments, often by automating tasks. They may

include Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), custom, or

customized open-source tools such as:

Reverse engineering tools

Log analysis tools

Migration points finder

Integration points finder

Automatic conversion

o Code

o Configuration

o Data store

Automatic code merging tools

Static code analysis tools

Automated verification tools

To ensure the Java 8/ JDK 8 migration predictability, it is necessary to have a modernization tool suite that

defines and effectively executes the iterations using the following metrics and components:

Migration points

o Deprecated APIs with suggested improvements

o Removed APIs with suggested replacements

o Possible optimizations

Code size

o KLOC

o # of classes/methods

o Duplicate code/libraries

Complexity

o Tangle index

o Dependencies

o Class complexity

o Cyclomatic complexity

o Unit test coverage

Best practices and potential bugs through automated static code analysis

Manual and automatic modernization estimation effort tool(s)

Process assets and template(s)

Automated testing tool(s)

Application server upgrade tool(s)



Conclusion

Java is evolving rapidly. To stay competitive, businesses cannot afford to delay Java modernization efforts

and application upgrades. While companies have already invested heavily in Java, they nevertheless need

to continue to update their software to meet customer expectations. However, costs and resource

constraints often get in the way.

Java Migration Rapid Assessment enables enterprises to time, plan, and execute Java 8 / JDK 8 migrations

in a way that reduces risks and costs. Using automation tools, organizations can accelerate the

identification of the migration points. Once identified, many of these migration points can be

automatically migrated to the target software. When tools and expert analysis are supplemented with best

practices and a proven methodology, enterprises can ensure the repeatability and predictability of their

Java 8 migration efforts.



Nagarro builds complex, business-critical software and IT projects for leading companies across multiple

industries. Headquartered in Silicon Valley and a member of the Allgeier Group in Germany, Nagarro is

recognized worldwide for its technical expertise, agile deployment, and bedrock commitment to customer

service.

Successful companies around the globe leverage Nagarro’s Java expertise to meet their strategic objectives

with confidence and ensure proven best practices. Nagarro's Java transformation and modernization

(TransMod) services include: Java Rapid Assessment, solution strategy and roadmap consulting, system

architecture and user experience design, application development, migration, enterprise integration,

maintenance, and support.

Nagarro has also been named to the Global Outsourcing 100® List by the IAOP® (International Association

of Outsourcing Professionals®), earning the highest possible scores in three categories – Customer

References, Employee Management and Executive Leadership. Identifying Nagarro among the 25 “Rising

Stars”, this ranking reinforces Nagarro’s reputation as a top global provider of business-critical outsourced IT

services.

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WHITEPAPER

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

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