The energy company had been running on a core application written in Fortran on an OpenVMS platform for many years, but there was a general concern that the technology was archaic and cumbersome. It did not provide the business with the tools it needed to operate at maximum efficiency and ensure competitive advantage.
Specific problems included the decreasing number of employees with sufficient knowledge to successfully maintain the application, and it was proving difficult to acquire extra resources with the necessary legacy skills.
The application was rather awkward to use, slow and difficult to enhance in a timely manner, with a long lead time for any requested changes. The organization also lacked the critical ability to share information across business units - resulting in the possibility of duplicated activities and the organization not taking full advantage of the results of the research.
Des Donachie, Information Systems Development Manager, DFID
Transoft Acquired by Advanced Computer Software Group