COBOL systems migration to SOA: Assessing antipatterns and complexity

SOA and Web Services allow users to easily expose business functions to build larger distributed systems. However, legacy systems - mostly in COBOL - are left aside unless applying a migration approach. The main approaches are direct and indirect migration. The former implies wrapping COBOL programs with a thin layer of a Web Service oriented language/platform. The latter needs reengineering COBOL functions to a modern language/ platform. In our previous work, we presented an intermediate approach based on direct migration where developed Web Services are later refactored to improve the quality of their interfaces. Refactorings mainly capture good practices inherent to indirect migration. For this, antipatterns for WSDL documents (common bad practices) are detected to prevent issues related to WSDLs understanding and discoverability. In this paper, we assess antipatterns of Web Services’ WSDL documents generated upon the three migration approaches. In addition, generated Web Services’ interfaces are measured in complexity to attend both comprehension and interoperability. We apply a metric suite (by Baski & Misra) to measure complexity on services interfaces - i.e., WSDL documents. Migrations of two real COBOL systems upon the three approaches were assessed on antipatterns evidences and the complexity level of the generated SOA frontiers - a total of 431 WSDL documents.Fil: Mateos Diaz, Cristian Maximiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software; ArgentinaFil: Zunino Suarez, Alejandro Octavio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior de Ingeniería del Software; ArgentinaFil: Flores, Andrés Pablo. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Informática. Departamento Ingeniería de Sistemas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Misra, Sanjay. Atilim University; Turquía. Covenant University; Nigeri

Technology Trajectory Mapping Using Data Envelopment Analysis: The Ex-ante use of Disruptive Innovation Theory on Flat Panel Technologies

In this paper, we propose a technology trajectory mapping approach using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that scrutinizes technology progress patterns from multidimensional perspectives. Literature reviews on technology trajectory mappings have revealed that it is imperative to identify key performance measures that can represent different value propositions and then apply them to the investigation of technology systems in order to capture indications of the future disruption. The proposed approach provides a flexibility not only to take multiple characteristics of technology systems into account but also to deal with various tradeoffs among technology attributes by imposing weight restrictions in the DEA model. The application of this approach to the flat panel technologies is provided to give a strategic insight for the players involved

Competitive Pricing Using Data Envelopment Analysis — Pricing for Oscilloscopes

The research in this paper proposes a new technique for pricing products in competitive markets taking into account the features and prices of competing product offerings. This technique is based on a methodology known as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and is referred to as competitive pricing using data envelopment analysis (CPDEA). With the development of technology accelerating and new products coming to the market at an ever faster pace, prices of current products are often adjusted based on the state-of-the-art (SOA) technology in the market in order to remain competitive. CPDEA measures the product features that are most important to customers and calculates the performance efficiency values using the DEA method. CPDEA regards price as a performance feature, using this approach the manufacturer can adjust the price in order for a product to reach the SOA frontier and maintain competitive pricing. This research demonstrates the proposed method applied to a popular product category in the test and measurement industry: oscilloscopes. The authors investigated the features of oscilloscopes that are most important to users, then a feature dataset from different oscilloscope models was collected, and the performance efficiency values of the different models were calculated. The product prices are then adjusted in order for efficiency to be as close to 1 as possible which means that the products are considered SOA in the market. In this way, we obtain a more competitive price for the older products, while also setting the prices for the advanced products in a way that captures the value of their additional features

Competitive Pricing Using Data Envelopment Analysis -- Pricing for Oscilloscopes

The research in this paper proposes a new technique for pricing products in competitive markets taking into account the features and prices of competing product offerings. This technique is based on a methodology known as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and is referred to as competitive pricing using data envelopment analysis (CPDEA). With the development of technology accelerating and new products coming to the market at an ever faster pace, prices of current products are often adjusted based on the state-of-the-art (SOA) technology in the market in order to remain competitive. CPDEA measures the product features that are most important to customers and calculates the performance efficiency values using the DEA method. CPDEA regards price as a performance feature, using this approach the manufacturer can adjust the price in order for a product to reach the SOA frontier and maintain competitive pricing. This research demonstrates the proposed method applied to a popular product category in the test and measurement industry: oscilloscopes. The authors investigated the features of oscilloscopes that are most important to users, then a feature dataset from different oscilloscope models was collected, and the performance efficiency values of the different models were calculated. The product prices are then adjusted in order for efficiency to be as close to 1 as possible which means that the products are considered SOA in the market. In this way, we obtain a more competitive price for the older products, while also setting the prices for the advanced products in a way that captures the value of their additional features