Earlier modernization research

Few papers in the literature discuss the decision-making in modernizations. Wallace et al. (1996) present the outlines of a decision framework for modernization. Both Koskinen et. al papers (2005a, 2005b) and a paper of Ahonen et al. (2006) present the results of the ELTIS (Extending the LifeTime of Information Systems) project, which studied the life cycle and the modernization of information systems. In Koskinen et. al (2005a), the preliminary results of the ELTIS interviews on decision-making are described. Furthermore, Koskinen et al.

(2005b) present decision criteria concerning software modernization. Ahonen et al. (2006) outline a process for software system modernization decisions. Each of these papers is discussed in more detail in Section 2.4.

Modernization has been studied mostly from a technical viewpoint. However, these technical papers could offer valuable information for decision-makers. The papers give information as to what kind of modernization techniques, approaches, tools, frameworks, models, processes, methods and methodologies exists and as well as what kind of modernization cases they are implemented. Certain of the following papers present comparisons and assessments that can be used for selecting an appropriate way of modernization.

Modernization techniques and approaches have been presented in the work of several researchers (Comella-Dorda et al. 2000, Everaars et al. 2001, Rahgozar & Oroumchian 2003, Chiang & Bayrak 2006, Mazón & Trujillo 2007, Putrycz & Kark 2007, Canfora et al. 2008, Ilk et al. 2008, Ilk et al. 2011) . Comella-Dorda et al. (2000) present a survey of six different modernization techniques: screen scraping, database gateway, XML integration, CGI integration, object-oriented wrapping and componentization of legacy systems. Their survey is aimed at the engineers, who are selecting the suitable modernization techniques. In other words, their paper supports the decision-making in information system modernization. Everaars et al.

(2001) discuss a coarse-grain restructuring approach to modernization. In their approach, they first identify components

from legacy code and then use the MANIFOLD coordination language to combine the components. Rahgozar and Oroumchian (2003) classify approaches to modernization and then offer their suggestion for an optimal modernization approach. Thus, the paper supports the decision-making in modernization. Chiang and Bayrak (2006) present a semi-automatic program-slicing technique whereby business rules are extracted from legacy code and reusable code is converted into components. Mazón and Trujillo (2007) describe a model-driven modernization approach where multidimensional data models are automatically derived in data warehouses. Putrycz and Kark (2007) present an approach for extracting business rules from source code. Canfora et al. (2008) describe a wrapping solution for the migration of a legacy system’s interactive functionalities into services. Lastly, Ilk et al. (2008, 2011) discuss how to discover semantic relationships between high-level business functionalities and low-level source code. They use an approach where services and source code is bridged via the similarity of data definitions.

In addition, modernization tools (Menkhaus & Frei 2004, Canovas & Molina 2010) and frameworks (Favre 2008, Rodríguez et al. 2009, Pérez-Castillo 2012) have been presented in the literature. Menkhaus and Frei (2004) present a semi-automatic grammar-based transformation system that allows for the direct integration of applications and systems at the data level. Canovas and Molina (2010) describe a tool for calculating metrics from legacy Oracle Forms applications. Their tool was built by using OMG’s Architecture-Driven Modernization standards. Favre (2008) presents a Model Driven Architecture -based framework for reengineering. The framework integrates compiler techniques, metamodelling techniques and formal specification. Rodríguez et al. (2009) discuss a definition for a framework that can be used to obtain information about the business processes from the legacy systems. Lastly, PérezCastillo (2012) describes ArchitectureDriven Modernization -based framework, MARBLE, which can be used to extract the business processes from a legacy system.

Moreover, modernization models (Kajko-Mattsson et al. 2007, Meacham et al. 2009), processes (Jha & Maheshwari 2005, Rodriguez-Echeverria et al. 2012), methods (Li et al. 2009, Pérez-Castillo et al. 2011a) and methodologies (Cho et al. 2006, Chung et al. 2007, Fuentes-Fernández et al. 2012) have been described in the literature. Kajko-Mattsson et al. (2007) introduce RaMoLeS, a process model for modernizing a legacy system.

Their model was used to evaluate the present state of modernization practices in four Swedish organizations.

Meacham et al. (2009) present an algebraic model to capture the relationships between original and modified software and standards. Jha and Maheshwari (2005) propose a process for the modernization of legacy systems. Their process includes four stages and it can be used to convert FORTRAN code into an object-oriented implementation. Rodríguez-Echeverría et al.

(2012) present a Model Driven reverse engineering process that can be used as in an initial step of a legacy web application modernization process. Li et al. (2009) describe a modernization method based on the tollgate method, which is a wrapping technique that can be used in Service Oriented Architechture modernization. Pérez-Castillo et al. (2011a) propose a business process archaeology method that uses their MARBLE-framework. Their method is semi-automatic and it can be used to rebuild the hidden business processes from a legacy system.

Cho et al. (2006) present MARMI-RE methodology that can be used to transform a legacy system into a component-based system. Also, on this methodology the main focus is to recover the business logic from a legacy system. Chung et al. (2007) propose a SoSR methodology for service-oriented software re-engineering. They describe their methodology as architecture-centric, service-oriented, role-specific and model-driven. Lastly, Fuentes-Fernández et al. (2012) introduce XIRUP modernization methodology. XIRUP methodology describes a model-driven modernization process for component-based systems.

Aside from these works, certain papers present assessments of modernization techniques or models (Pérez-Castillo et al.

2011b, Fernández-Ropero et al. 2012, Normantas et al. 2012).

Pérez-Castillo et al. (2011b) compare static and dynamic business process mining approaches. They suggest that the static approach provides better performance, but that the dynamic approach discovers more accurate business processes.

Fernández-Ropero et al. (2012) present model transformation between Mining XML and Knowledge Discovery Meta-Model and assess the transformation by simulation. Lastly, Normantas et al. (2012) assess the Knowledge Discovery Meta-Model.

Recently, the main focus of modernization research has been on OMG’s Architecture-Driven Modernization (ADM) and Knowledge Discovery Meta-Model (KDM) (Mazón & Trujillo 2007, Canovas & Molina 2010, Fernández-Ropero et al. 2012, Normantas et al. 2012). Moreover, in certain recent papers (Cánovas Izquierdo & García Molina 2014, Bergmayr et al. 2013, Bagheri & Sullivan 2013), model-driven modernization has been introduced. Lastly, the need for courses on modernization in computer science education has been discussed (McAllister 2011).