Data integration
Data integration and data management - efficient, transparent, future-proof
Data are a business’s memory and the basis for all they do. That means they need to be quick to access and yet safe. Availability of data and means to process them are at the core of any modernisation project. The ability to access databases from different applications, parallel existence on redundant systems, or migrations of entire datasets – these and more are relevant. We have the technologies and the expertise to successfully complete your projects with you. We help you make your data integration and data storage efficient, transparent and fit for the future.
Advantages:
Data integration: the Market Situation
The market wants businesses’ IT to be ever more flexible, agile and dynamic. This directly translates into ambitious strategic goals that businesses have for their IT. The current situation in businesses is often highly varied, not just for applications but also for data storage systems. Many businesses use relational databases produced by different providers but some also have NoSQL databases, indexed and sequential binary files or host based hierarchical data base systems. To achieve any strategic goals, data storage has to be a core component of modernisation projects. In most cases, two aspects dominate in this respect: consolidation efforts so that data storage is limited to a small number of solutions and / or making legacy datasets accessible to modern programming languages and standard software. Executing the required modernisation steps can be extremely complex, costly and relies on specialist know-how.
Many businesses find they cannot deliver data integration projects on their own and need a reliable partner to help them. This is where we come in.
Data integration: the Challenges
Different challenges can emerge in any data storage and data integration modernisation project. The first is to define the strategic goals of the project. Other challenges are often of a technical nature and include:
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- Data migration
- Mass alterations to source codes for changes to access methods
- Development of access modules
- Mapping and converting binary data into virtual or real database fields
- Structure based conversion of binary data into other character sets, for instance from EBCDIC to ASCII
- Extracting and consolidating data structures that are relevant to the modernisation, for instance from COBOL applications
- Data cleaning
- Generating anonymous test data
- Validating migrated data
All of these challenges increase the less know how and resources are available to address them.
Solution and Approach
Any tailored data storage and data integration strategy starts with your business’s specific and unique characteristics. The first step is a careful assessment of your current situation and of the specific goals and expectations you have for your modernisation. In this step, we develop and agree criteria for acceptance against which the realised solution can be compared at the end.
Next, we develop a general solution strategy that defines your future data storage approach and the required technology stack. After this, we usually validate this draft data integration solution through a data integration, storage and migration proof of concept (PoC). The PoC doesn’t just validate the most important acceptance criteria, but also provides additional insights into any difficulties that did not arise in the initial solution strategy. Additionally, the PoC helps to refine the modernisation concept.
Building on the refined modernisation concept we then detail an evidence based estimation of efforts and costs along with an implementation plan for the full data integration solution. Concepts for testing the solution and putting it into practice also form key parts of the concept, in addition to purely technical aspects. Testing is essential and the first test phases usually start during implementation rather than at the end. These early tests usually focus on individual modernisation components, while final phases include the actual integration test. Our quality assurance processes validate key components of the implemented solution: in particular, data integrity, performance and correct functionality of new access methods.
Assuming these tests are passed, the solution can be rolled out. Before the project is completed, we conduct a set of remaining tests through which the new solution is optimised for every day use – and at that point, with client acceptance, your data integration project is completed.
If you wish, we can also offer support for new data integration system for an agreed period of time.
Why EasiRun
Our expertise in software modernisation gives us in-depth knowledge of data storage, data integration and data migration – all of these are part of our core offer. In this area, we have a wide variety of services and skills which are characterised by:
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- Know-how: Almost all of our projects include data storage, data integration and data modernisation components. In many cases, these are the main focus of our work. This gives us extensive subject matter expertise, and our experts have in depth and specialist knowledge. Additionally, we have access to a worldwide network of experts that we draw upon for highly specialised requirements.
- Product portfolio: We offer specialist products for data storage, data integration and data migration. We don’t only use them successfully in our projects but also offer them in license or subscription based models. If required, our experts provide first level support in English or German.
- Approaches, technologies, tools: Our approaches, technologies and tools have been developed, refined and optimised through many projects. This guarantees completion of your projects in a targeted, timely and cost efficient manner.
- Code analysis and transformation: In many cases, data storage specific solutions require extracting information from source codes or to execute extensive syntax and semantics changes in application programmes. Our flexible and time-tested code analysis and transformation technology gives us all the tools we need to complete such tasks efficiently and securely.
Our differentiated project management system ensures that your individual data integration project is transparent and meets the agreed milestones on time and within the agreed costs.
