The following application programming tasks are necessary when upgrading your source. They should be performed in roughly the following order:
It is extremely important that all updates be properly documented. COBOL itself is reasonably self-documenting. However, keep a log of the compiler options you specify and the reasons for specifying them. Also document any special system considerations. This is an iterative process and should be performed throughout the conversion programming task.
Whenever possible, use the conversion tools described in Conversion tools for source programs. Otherwise, update the source code manually.
After the source has been updated, you can process the program as you would a newly written Enterprise COBOL program. ( You need the Language Environment run time installed.)
Analyze program output and, if the results are not correct, use Debug Tool or Language Environment dump output to uncover any errors.
In this way, you can exercise all the program processing features to help ensure that there are no unexpected execution differences.
Make any further corrections that you need, and then recompile, relink, rerun, and, if necessary, continue to debug.
When your testing shows that the entire application receives the expected results, you can move the entire unit over to production mode. (This assumes your production system is already using the Language Environment run time. If not, STEPLIB to the Language Environment run time. See Deciding how to phase Language Environment into production mode.)
After cut over, monitor the application for a short time to ensure that you are getting the results expected. After that, your source conversion task is completed.