Observations on automation in cross-platform migration
Ben Wilson, T. Van der Beken, Kontich Belgium · 2003
There are numerous ways for organisations to migrate an operational information system from one deployment platform to another. This paper relates a number of experiences of applying automated techniques to cross-platform migrations of larger (> .5MLOC) information systems in real world projects. The paper examines these experiences, considering factors influencing the organisations' decision for the approach, the project-specific features and limitations of the approach, and the effects of the approach on the organisational context. This paper does not attempt to provide an exhaustive comparison of the advantages and characteristics of the different approaches that may be used, but rather to consider a single approach in more detail, based on the experience of the authors. It is our position that the use of automated methods will increase as the risk-elimination effects of the technique will ensure its rise in popularity, and information systems increasingly outlive the platforms for which they were developed. 1.