1. Meeting Strategic Initiatives with Legacy Applications Donovan Follette Washington State University Copyright Donovan Follette 2003. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

2. WSU Campus Locations Pullman Tri-Cities Vancouver Spokane

3. Disclaimer and Dedication Potpourri of ideas, anecdotes, experiences, and processes employed The IT colleagues at WSU that make it such an exceptional working environment Agenda  The IT context  Theoretical basis  Strategies to leverage the legacy

4. The Context – Strategic Plan Began Fall 2000 Involved entire university community Approved by Board of Regents January, 2002 Four strategic goals  Three of four specifically mention technology  The remaining goal cannot effectively be attained without technological support

5. WSU IT Mission With a commitment to collaboration and innovation, deliver high quality technology and customer services to a diverse WSU community. COLLABORATE! INNOVATE! DELIVER! “A seamless, integrated, intuitive university information environment.” Dr. Mary Doyle, V.P. IS

6. Balancing Opportunities, Expectations, and Resources The IT Dilemma: Expectations...always high, outside of our control. Resources... always low, outside of our control. Opportunities... always “near”, we can either create or take advantage of them.

7. A Theoretical Basis for Balancing... A function of how well we manage/maximize our opportunities. Expectations...Resources... Maximizing Scarce Resources through Applied Marginal Analysis “By evaluating marginal costs and marginal benefits, people are able to use their scarce resources in the way that makes them as well off as possible.” Dr. Michael Parkin Manage/Maximize Opportunities!

8. Revolution vs. Evolution Revolution: A sudden or momentous change in a situation. Evolution: A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. “Change over time.” Dr. Paul Verrell

9. Extending your Software Portfolio “The primary difference between ‘legacy’ systems and the systems replacing them is that the legacy system works and scales.” Bjarne Stroustrup (creator of C++) Myth of “legacy”  Legacy = old … legacy = irrelevant We all have a software portfolio  Must be managed and extended

10. Four Strategies Identify Missing ‘Key’ Technologies Evaluate Available Skills Opportunistically Leverage Your Legacy Prioritize Projects for Success

11. Strategy 1: Identify Missing ‘Key’ Technologies If we only had…  Authentication “Are you who you say you are?”  Authorization “Are you allowed to perform this function?”  RPC access to legacy environment  SQL access to legacy data Enabling technologies came in many ways  Inventorying in-house software  Vendor “fire sales”  Consortium affiliations Cash free may not be possible, but be strategic

12. Strategy 2: Evaluate Available Skills Identify required implementation skills  Data administration  DBA  Application analyst/specialist  O/S, network infrastructure specialist Select key participants  Visionary, capable, team-oriented  Expert user(s)

13. Strategy 3: Opportunistically Leverage Your Legacy Controlled e-volution  Use maintainable/sustainable technologies Language environments, O/S’s, databases  Adhere to production policies and standards Practical examples  One-way data extracts (accessed via.cgi,.asp, etc.) Relational to flat files FTP’ed to Web server VSAM to relational databases

14. Strategy 3: Opportunistically Leverage Your Legacy Practical examples (cont.) Leverage in-house technologies  E-mail services  Unused technologies Electronically distribute decision support data  Supply data for function rich desktop tools  Data warehousing  Re-think age-old report distribution model

15. Strategy 4: Prioritize Projects for Success Applying a bit of objectivity  Time estimate – S(1-3m), M(3-9m), L  Impact – S(? Admin), M(advising community), L(student population)  Cost (hardware, software licenses, etc.) Quick wins – SL or ML

16. Conclusions Are we ahead of the game? And absolutely confident that small incremental steps can produce large sustainable returns. Not in the absolute sense, but poised for opportunity. - Committed to evolutionary change - Seeking, “to be as well off as possible”

17. For Further Information Donovan (Van) Follette follette@wsu.edu Target your strategic initiatives -- even with legacy applications.

19. Overview of WSU Land-grant University (1892) Carnegie Research I University 21,000 Students Four Campuses Multiple Learning Centers Distance Education Program