| UNICEF |
The Situation:
For 55 years now, the German Committee for UNICEF has been helping children throughout the world. Around 8,000 voluntary staff and many celebrities support UNICEF. Every year 500,000 donors and 400,000 buyers of the popular UNICEF greeting cards make it possible for UNICEF to help children in need in nearly 160 countries around the globe.
Apart from the volunteers in over 100 local task forces, 80 salaried employees of the German
Committee for UNICEF operate from the German national headquarters in Cologne.
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In the late 1980s, the German UNICEF began with the conception and implementation of a commercial core application for IT support in the areas of merchandise management, order processing, customer management and donation management. For strategic tools, it was decided to use an Adabas C database and the programming language Natural from the Darmstadt-based corporation Software AG.
Over the years, applications that were custom-tailored to the needs of the German UNICEF were created, which allowed users to brilliantly
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- support the essential address maintenance at hand (e.g. some donators have to be stored more than once with different names, addresses or bank account details in order to ensure that donation receipts cannot be misused),
- provide sophisticated address assessment in a procedure that was optimized over the years (e.g. statistical evaluations are run to ascertain which donators reacted the most positively to which campaigns and what type of information),
- and to facilitate the so-called broadcast management of over one hundred mailing campaigns with over a few million letters per year—by just one employee from the IT department.
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These examples quickly make it clear that no one standard software vendor can serve all of these specific demands with just one product. Neither in the late 1990s, nor today.
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| This exact subject came up again in 2007, something every CIO who works with end customers knows all too well: “What does our custom-developed application package offer and where are its limits? Can’t we just switch to standard software?” |
But what exactly was going on at UNICEF?
Well, up until 2007 the address data was maintained in the software system by employees at the head office in Cologne. This particularly meant that all volunteer staff from the task forces, who were in close contact with the local donators, forwarded any changes in address data to headquarters, where the new data was then fed into the system.
However, because the focal point at headquarters (donation business) greatly differs from that
of the task forces (primarily greeting card sales), misunderstandings and errors regarding adjustments to addresses continually arose in their communications. This resulted in an unnecessary double burden on both sides, as well as unsatisfied employees.
In such, it made sense to sit down and figure out how the task forces could independently input the modified address data into the system in the future. Both sides quickly recognized it would be worthwhile to open up direct access to the Adabas C database via a newly created web-based application.
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The Solution:
So far, so good. But unfortunately it’s not that easy accessing data in an Adabas C database with today’s standard SQL mechanisms. So how was the new application, which was to be written in Java, supposed to have reading and writing access to the tables in the Adabas C database?
For the IT executives at UNICEF, it quickly became evident that the tight interplay with the tools from Software AG either had to be intensified or the system had to be opened up by finding an alternative solution. Or maybe a standard package should be used, like SAP from Walldorf? Upon closer inspection though, that idea was soon thrown overboard: working with address data is the German UNICEF’s core business area and for tasks related to the core business of a company, no product in the world can ever be as precisely tailored to individual needs as a self-developed solution.
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| Ralph Ohmann, UNICEF German’s IT director, says: “Upon closer examination, SAP was rejected because the efforts needed to make the ABAP adaptations became more and more unmanageable as the analysis progressed. Completely rewriting the core application in such a short amount of time with state-of-the-art technologies like Java, SQL and WebServices was also out of the question. These were simply too complex and I wouldn’t have been able to justify such an expensive undertaking that carries so much risk.” The idea of migrating the entire Adabas/Natural app to Java with the corresponding tools from a Hungarian vendor was also rejected because this step (changing over both the language and the database in one go) was deemed “too big a leap to take at once.” The reasoning behind this stance lies in the fact that it’s not just a matter of migrating applications to the “new world”—developers also have to be in the position to work with a new language AND administer a new database. And that has to be done parallel to daily business and ongoing administrative and development work on the existing system. Not a trivial undertaking in terms of IT and technical know-how! |
| In such, Ralph Ohmann was faced with the challenge of finding a procedure that could support the step-by-step replacement of the existing system and the parallel operation of existing applications with new apps. And references of the potential vendor had be contacted in order to back up the decision for the chosen method. The evaluation was to particularly meet the concerns of performance issues—when it comes to SQL, that’s one of those heretical thoughts of anyone who’s familiar with and values the speed of the Adabas C database. |
| Ralph Ohmann did a Google search and quickly found the Ravensburg-based company PKS Software GmbH and the transparency gateway it offers, SmartDCI. |
SmartDCI migrates applications quickly and smoothly from Adabas C to relational databases—without having to make any changes to the applications’ source code (see also the PKS data sheet on SmartDCI for more information). Says Ralph Ohmann: “In terms of the concept, SmartDCI was exactly what we had been looking for: |
- The data go from Adabas C to an Oracle database without having to make any changes
to the Natural programs.
- PKS takes on most of the project tasks, optimally supports our small team with the implementation, trains our staff and helps us stay on top of the ongoing operation.
- The developers do have to get acquainted with Oracle or SQL, but they’re not burdened by having to deal with any other programming language.
- We can become a bit more independent of proprietary technologies".
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| But were all the promises the data sheet made also kept? Were there any testimonials from other customers here in Germany that we could talk to? And wouldn’t a tool like this put the applications’ performance be put through the wringer? |
Ralph Ohmann got in touch with the Ravensburg-based firm which quickly and competently provided him with information and put him into direct contact with some reference customers. Their testimonials all shed positive light on the PKS company, its technical team and the SmartDCI product. The trust in the PKS team and the details of the SmartDCI solution were then intensified in on-location meetings held between UNICEF and PKS.
Then it was time for PKS to prove itself: the data model and CLOGs of the application were automatically analyzed and professionally evaluated. Indeed, no changes had to be made to the program and normalization of the database schemas could be universally implemented. In addition, the particularly time-critical program procedures were examined in a performance benchmark. The results were presented after just a few weeks: PKS could offer the migration project at an attractive fixed price with a defined performance output that was laid down in the project contract. |
The project was commissioned, and the project contract including spec sheet and how work was to be divided amongst those in charge was quickly signed. After all, the project was definitely supposed to be finished during the slower summer months so that the data quality for the previous top-selling quarter could be safeguarded.
Thanks to the parallel operation of Adabas C and the Oracle database made possible by SmartDCI (see spec sheet), maximum security was ensured during the changeover. Yet the first test migration as well as the final turn-over and launch of productive operations all went without a hitch. Functionality and performance were tested before the product was handed over, and no further improvements had to be made at all. Migration went smoothly and right on time two weeks after the test changeover. The test phase could also be minimized thanks to SmartDCI’s ingenious test procedure, which also made the transition really easy for the end users |
| In less than half a year—even a few weeks prior to the originally scheduled completion—a really major project had been successfully completed for the IT department of UNICEF Germany. |
| The Advantages: |
- The Adabas applications are run in an unmodified state in Oracle
- No modification of the source code was necessary; existing applications continue to run
in an unmodified state.
- Testing efforts were minimal; end users were not burdened
- Maximum investment protection was attained thanks to the unmodified operation of existing applications
- Consolidation was done in Oracle as a corporate-wide database
- Integration of existing and new applications is possible through commonly used data
basis in Oracle
- Thanks to the short duration of the project, new developments based on the Oracle database could be started
- Through open industry standards, security and sustainability aspects were accommodated
- Independence was achieved from Software AG's licensing and maintenance policies
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The Customer:
“In retrospect I really couldn’t say what I would have done differently if I was ever faced again with the task of migrating an Adabas C app to an SQL-based database. The teamwork with the specialized staff from PKS was both professional and, on a more personal level, pleasant at all times. Only one thing remains to be noted: they can do everything… except speak standard German!”
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Mr. Ralph Ohmann,
Head of IT at UNICEF |
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| www.unicef.com |
 Long Version! |
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