Washington State Department of Licensing COBOL Migration Case Study

This case study details the migration project undertaken by the Washington State Department of Licensing (WADOL) to convert 1.5 million lines of COBOL code to a .NET platform using Fujitsu Software NetCOBOL. The document outlines the challenges faced by WADOL, including high maintenance costs, outdated usability, and the cessation of support from Independent Software Vendors for their legacy system. The migration aimed to minimize risk while retaining existing business logic and improving system integration. The solution involved migrating 35 applications to a Windows/SQL Server environment, ensuring that user interfaces and reports maintained their original format. The results of the migration included a significant reduction in operational costs, improved system reliability, and enhanced flexibility in application management. By leveraging NetCOBOL, WADOL successfully transitioned to a more modern infrastructure while preserving their investment in existing code, positioning themselves for future technological advancements.