The modernization process begins with an analysis of your requirements. During this phase you define modernization goals, review your legacy architecture, identify opportunities for reuse, and finally, determine requirements for a modern OpenEdge solution.

The first step is to determine your business goals and identify target OpenEdge features that will enable you to reach those goals. As part of this exercise, you may want to consider factors that extend beyond your application.

For example:
  • What does a successful modernization process look like to you? It may be useful to start by describing the end result. For instance, "By the end of this modernization process, I want to have increased application uptime, decoupled operations, a service-oriented architecture, and improved security". By clearly articulating your business goals, you can focus your effort on the aspects of modernization that are most important to your business.
  • What OpenEdge features or components will help you achieve your target environment? For example:
    • If your key goal is increased application uptime, you will want to take advantage of the ability to make online database changes in OpenEdge 12.
    • If your key goal is to have decoupled operations, you will want to use an OpenEdge Web Handler to design and develop REST APIs for your backend ABL business logic.
  • What type of cloud environment do you need? Will your environment be hosted on a public cloud or a private cloud? Will your OpenEdge application have cloud-native characteristics such as containerization and orchestration? If so, you may want to look at Docker support in OpenEdge.