Analysis

We do not just write documents from different sources of information. We can also analyse and describe existing systems.

A typical client request would be:

Can you produce a manual to describe how our legacy system works? The people who originally designed it have left, all the specs are out of date or were never completed and we have an integration team arriving in two months.

We cannot perform miracles on totally unknown system, but we can often go a long way to producing the required documentation. Here is a recent example of the way a system was analysed and documented.

Problem

• An Oracle/Unix database
• Unix cron jobs, shell scripts and SQL scripts
• An Oracle/Windows user interface (forms and reports)
• Multiple FTP data inputs and outputs on different remote platforms (Unix, MVS, Vax)

Method

Given network, host and database logins with limited rights the system was analysed by:

• Reading Unix shell scripts and SQL scripts.
• Network analysis using TCP/IP utilities such as ping, nslookup and traceroute.
• Textual analysis of log and data files using Unix utilities such as grep, sed, and sort.
• Running and tracing executables and piping output to log files.
• Hex dump and offset analysis of binary format data files.
• Executing SQL select scripts to examine the database.
• Logging FTP processes.
• SNMP polling of remote machines.

During the analysis, operational processes, data and users were not disturbed or stopped.

Output

The resulting information was presented as a series of PowerPoint network, data and control flow diagrams, with accompanying descriptions and reference tables at the clients request. A summary document was also produced.

This information could be easily presented in other formats or on an Intranet site with links to live data and servers if required.