Automotive – Manufacturing Schedule – Dyalog

Hercules is a system utilized by the Volvo Car Corporation (Volvo) for planning automotive manufacturing. Its predominant output is the month-to-month Grasp Manufacturing Schedule (MPS) – an in depth plan on what number of automobiles are to be produced per market, manufacturing unit and week throughout the next 13-15 months. Migrating such a complete and very important system from an APL2 Mainframe to a Dyalog Microsoft Home windows platform isn’t any small activity. Working with skilled and knowledgeable APL programmers from Aplensia in Gothenburg along with Mahindra Satyam, the undertaking was accomplished in report time, with no disruption to the customers or the operations, saving a considerable quantity within the course of. Peter Simonsson from Aplensia takes us by means of the method of the profitable Hercules migration undertaking, which was accomplished within the autumn of 2012.

“Outdoors of manufacturing the month-to-month Grasp Manufacturing Schedule (MPS), based mostly on market necessities, out there manufacturing capability and materials provider capability on very important parts, Hercules additionally performs various different key capabilities corresponding to lengthy vary planning (as much as 9 years), dealing with of manufacturing and materials capacities used for order slotting. The system additionally performs checks on the forecasted volumes. The MPS is subsequently damaged down into Payments of Supplies, which is used to ship out forecasts to the suppliers,” Peter Simonsson explains.

When you’ve an annual output of round 450,000 automobiles (2011) from manufacturing amenities in Gothenburg, Ghent (Belgium) and Chengdu in China, it takes little or no creativeness to grasp the doubtless catastrophic penalties of a Hercules system failure.

“Hercules is a really giant system. Not a lot by way of customers – the answer is barely utilized by round 300 knowledgeable customers plus just a few analysts. Nevertheless, with greater than 425,000 strains of code, 468 consumer screens, 290 tables, integration with 17 different techniques, use of 25 on-line web-services in the direction of the product information system on orders for dealing with all of the automotive configuration guidelines, in addition to amassing info from different techniques corresponding to gross sales statistics, you can say that we’re speaking in regards to the coronary heart and the digital soul of Volvo Vehicles. It was, due to this fact, very apparent that we needed to plan the migration undertaking very rigorously to make sure we did not by chance trigger any disruption to the system,” Peter explains.

The Must Migrate

Hercules is an outdated system that has labored admirably for greater than 20 years. It was initially based mostly on IBM Mainframe VM and APL2. Through the years, the system has been enhanced and up to date repeatedly, however by 2012 the expertise it was based mostly on was declining quickly, which made assist increasingly more troublesome.

Peter says “The principle background for desirous to undertake the migration within the first place is one in every of declining expertise and assist. The upgrades of APL2 had been few, and the system was utilizing a number of parts for which we had been getting poor or non-existent assist. Coupled with this was the truth that working prices within the mainframe had been getting relatively excessive, and we knew from expertise that we may run an APL system rather more cheaply on a Home windows server. Volvo Vehicles additionally wished to harmonise the APL platform utilized in Hercules and different essential APL functions all through the corporate to be able to higher assist them sooner or later. Nevertheless, there have been a few essential issues we wanted to consider. In the beginning, Volvo Vehicles did not need a new system as such because the performance of Hercules was working properly and thus wanted to be stored. Additionally, there was no query of fixing the Graphical Consumer Interface (GUI), so we would wish to retain GDDM (IBM Graphical Information Show Supervisor) and 3270 screens. The choice, due to this fact, shortly centered on securing the platform and migrating the system, relatively than re-writing it from scratch – and to do it shortly!”

The Street to Transferring Code

Aplensia determined to suggest a undertaking the place they’d migrate the code from APL2 to Dyalog, though this isn’t fully simple as there are syntax variations. The crew additionally wished to totally utilise a number of the highly effective fashionable amenities in Dyalog. To maneuver ahead shortly, the crew determined to maintain the greater than 400 screens, so that they wanted a 3270 emulator in Microsoft Home windows. The rationale behind this determination was prudent, as it’s at all times attainable to introduce a brand new GUI step-by-step sooner or later when required – and when the price range permits for it.

“We determined to make use of thick shoppers, which implies that a number of issues are processed on the customers personal work stations. The outdated Hercules system was utilizing an outdated Sharefile system from Manugistics so we wanted a substitute and determined to make use of Dyalog File Server. Though we did have a look at utilizing Dyalog element recordsdata instantly, the rationale for not taking place that route was primarily that we wanted to guard the recordsdata,” Peter says. He continues “We additionally needed to discover a new approach of fixing authentication. For the integrations in Hercules that are sending and receiving recordsdata, we wished to get out of the in-house VCOM system and transfer to the brand new normal WebSphere MQ, and this required a bit of additional work. Lastly, we wanted to resolve the batch course of dealing with, so we copied and tailored an answer we might achieved for an additional Dyalog system, which we knew labored.”

Earlier than the migration the customers logged on to their very own consumer session in VM utilizing IBM Private Communications. For some particular duties there have been Excel add-ins that allowed the consumer to drag information from Hercules into Excel, work with them there, after which ship the info again to Hercules. The Excel add-ins had been serviced by means of HTTP-queries by 4 server periods working in VM. There have been additionally various periods to deal with batch jobs and processing incoming recordsdata. Communication with different techniques went by means of MVS utilizing a mixture of completely different expertise; nevertheless, most of them used the in-house VCOM. All information storage, in addition to the main a part of the applying code, was saved in Sharefile.

After the migration customers go surfing by beginning an executable software put in on their PC. The executable fetches all of the required code from the server, thus it has no software logic saved domestically and solely must be changed for Dyalog updates. The customers’ fats shopper processes all information (besides batch jobs) domestically, and the server is barely contacted to carry out duties that the shopper can not do itself corresponding to sending e-mails, sending queries to different techniques, submitting batch jobs and so forth. Sharefile has been changed with the Dyalog File Server. An answer for batch queue dealing with has been carried out and all exterior communications undergo WebSphere MQ.

Getting Critical with Code and Information Switch

Aplensia used SCAR (Self-Contained Array) to switch code and information from VM to Home windows. This meant making a set of capabilities to learn the Sharefile element recordsdata, covert them to SCAR utilizing the ATS perform equipped by IBM and writing the outcome into CMS recordsdata. The recordsdata had been then despatched over to Microsoft Home windows by means of FTP, picked up on the Home windows aspect, transformed into Dyalog utilizing the SCAR capabilities in Dyalog’s SQAPL workspace and saved into Dyalog element recordsdata.

“The configuration file – aplunicd.ini – needed to be tuned considerably to get all of the characters appropriate, however as soon as we might achieved that, this turned out to be a really fast approach of shifting information. Whole time to switch 30 GB of manufacturing information and changing it into Dyalog element recordsdata was about 6 hours,” Peter says with a happy smile.

“For the switch of code we made use of the identical capabilities, however we added an extra step the place we transformed the code into switch format utilizing the ⎕Tf perform in APL2. The switch format of the code was written into the element recordsdata that had been transferred and skim into Dyalog, the place variables and capabilities had been created by merely doing an execute on the switch format strings. With the intention to save time on the “go reside” weekend, we did a full switch one week forward, saving a report of recordsdata transferred and the replace timestamp every file had when transferred. This meant that on the precise “go reside” date we solely wanted to re-transfer recordsdata that had been modified for the reason that full switch one week earlier.”

Migrating the Code, Code Tooling and Testing

In line with Peter “We wished emigrate the code as routinely as attainable. Nevertheless, there are a number of language variations between APL2 and Dyalog which we wanted to handle. The three predominant variations are; selective project in Dyalog is extra restricted, there are variations in a number of the performance corresponding to formatting and error trapping, and we wished to make use of namespaces for teams of capabilities. The latter meant that each one our primary capabilities wanted to be re-named and all calls to them wanted to be modified. However as soon as we had that in hand, we developed a device that routinely modified the code. For some issues this was straightforward – for instance, selective project. For formatting and error trapping it was harder. The device we developed, due to this fact, aimed to seek out all these particular conditions and provides diagnostic messages for them, after which they had been written manually. We additionally re-wrote the code generator to generate code with appropriate Dyalog syntax and use the brand new namespaces and naming conventions.”

Testing was a bit particular. The idea for the testing was that the unique code was appropriate and that the logic was there from the outdated system. However for the reason that crew needed to change a part of the code manually, it was crucial to check that this was achieved accurately, and so they principally ran by means of all or most strains of codes to be on the secure aspect.

“At the actual low stage of testing we did truly run by means of each single line of code,” Peter says. “This was achieved with our primary and normal capabilities – all in all 600-700. We used a small set of capabilities utilising the ⎕MONITOR in Dyalog. On the next stage we focused on a core set of interactive consumer capabilities – dialogs. These had been examined utilizing an prolonged and extra interactive device additionally utilizing ⎕MONITOR. System integration was clearly essential since we had modified all recordsdata sending and receiving information to make use of MQ. This meant loads of work with the opposite techniques and with the Integration Centre at Volvo Vehicles IT division. A big a part of this work was testing. Lastly, we performed consumer testing with a reference group. This group additionally ready the remaining customers for the switchover. The customers examined the 3270 emulator and the efficiency and so they additionally tried to catch any remaining bugs. The final two weeks the outdated and the brand new system had been working in parallel with the identical information.

“As I discussed earlier, we determined to maintain the greater than 400 screens utilizing a 3270 emulator. Nevertheless, the customers had been additionally used to working extensively in Excel by way of Excel add-ins within the outdated system, so there was a must get information from the brand new software into Excel. A method is to make use of Excel add-ins; one other is export of knowledge from the applying screens to Excel. In VM it was achieved by sending the info in Excel format (or truly tab-separated values saved as .XLS) as an e-mail attachment to the consumer’s inbox. With the transfer to Home windows we may as an alternative make use of the Excel OLE object, thereby including an choice to instantly open an Excel sheet full of information. This additionally added the likelihood to do formatting on the produced Excel sheets.”

The Dyalog File Server – DFS

Aplensia wanted a substitute for Sharefile/AP and, while the element recordsdata in Dyalog present virtually the identical performance, there was a necessity for a safe and sturdy shopper/server setup. Aplensia turned to Dyalog Ltd who helped with the event of the Dyalog File Server (DFS).

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“As soon as we had DFS we solely wanted minor code adjustments within the software. There have been adjustments within the calling of the F-functions (FTIE, FREAD and so forth) however we additionally wanted to make some adaption of the code that made extreme quantities of knowledge accesses. In VM the entry of knowledge was native and therefore giant quantities of small reads took no time in any respect. However since DFS sends information over the community, these small reads will get pricey. It was crucial to check extensively, as a result of DFS was being developed in parallel with our migration undertaking, and partly based mostly on our necessities. The testing included useful and efficiency testing, in addition to stability and cargo,” Peter explains.

“For authentication we took a lesson from Dyalog Ltd’s growth of the DFS. Dyalog Ltd determined to implement IWA (Built-in Home windows Authentication) as a part of Conga. Primarily based on their code we carried out the identical authentication technique each between shoppers and server in addition to between Excel add-ins and the server. The answer makes use of SSPI (Safety Assist Supplier Interface) to determine an authenticated connection between shopper and server utilizing a challenge-response protocol (NTLM). The massive benefit of utilizing IWA is that the customers haven’t got to go online to the particular software. As a substitute, the consumer credentials of the present logged-on Home windows consumer is used. Thus, you solely should enter username and password if that you must go surfing as a unique consumer.”

“As for the combination with different techniques, all of them had been modified to make use of WebSphere MQ, which is the present normal at Volvo Vehicles. The entire integrations had been ready and examined upfront in each take a look at and QA environments. In precise manufacturing, the migration was scheduled in two steps:

1. Earlier than “go reside”, all outbound integrations had been arrange and examined. From the brand new manufacturing atmosphere easy ping assessments had been achieved by sending a small take a look at file to every downstream system, simply to confirm the connection. Up till this level – with one exception – no adjustments had been required within the receiving system’s manufacturing atmosphere. Throughout “go reside”, the outdated system was shut down and as an alternative configured to routinely ahead any incoming file to the brand new system.
2. After the profitable “go reside”, the inbound integrations had been converted one after the other. Over a interval of two weeks one system at a time had adjustments put in to start out sending to the brand new system.

A number of different techniques had been already utilizing FTP, and people we’ve determined to maintain for the second. Altering them would require not more than a easy change of FTP parameters. The identical utilized to web-services, all we needed to do was change the configuration,” Peter concludes.

Outcomes

The complete migration undertaking was performed over 10 months. The brand new Hercules system went into operation in October 2012. It’s at present estimated that the migration to Dyalog Home windows will save Volvo Vehicles 3,000,000 SEK (roughly €350,000) yearly.

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