In recent years program transformation technology has matured into a practical solution for many software reengineering and migration tasks. FermaT, an industrial strength program transformation system, has demonstrated that legacy systems can be successfully transformed into efficient and maintainable structured C or COBOL code. Its core, a transformation engine, is based on mathematically proven program transformations and ensures that transformed programs are semantically equivalent to its original state. Its engine facilitates a Wide Spectrum Language (WSL), with low-level as well as high-level constructs, to capture as much information as possible during transformation steps. FermaT’s methodology and technique lack in provision of concurrent migration and analysis. This provision is crucial if the transformation process is to be further automated. As the constraint based program migration theory has demonstrated, it is inefficient and time consuming, trying to satisfy the enormous computation of the generated transformation sequence search-space and its constraints. With the objective to solve the above problems and to extend the operating range of the FermaT transformation system, this thesis proposes a Parallel Transformations Framework which makes parallel transformations processing within the FermaT environment not only possible but also beneficial for its migration process. During a migration process, many thousands of program transformations have to be applied. For example a 1 million line of assembler to C migration takes over 21 hours to be processed on a single PC. Various approaches of search, prediction techniques and a constraint-based approach to address the presented issues already exist but they solve them unsatisfactorily. To remedy this situation, this dissertation proposes a framework to extend transformation processing systems with parallel processing capabilities. The parallel system can analyse specified parallel transformation tasks and produce appropriate parallel transformations processing outlines. To underpin an automated objective, a formal language is introduced. This language can be utilised to describe and outline parallel transformation tasks whereas parallel processing constraints underpin the parallel objective. This thesis addresses and explains how transformation processing steps can be automatically parallelised within a reengineering domain. It presents search and prediction tactics within this field. The decomposition and parallelisation of transformation sequence search-spaces is outlined. At the end, the presented work is evaluated on practical case studies, to demonstrate different parallel transformations processing techniques and conclusions are drawn.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this research project is to describe the journey to a process enterprise. This research project is a combination of work been done by Dr. Michael Hammer about the process enterprise and the author. The bulk of the theory of the research project is the following courses that were presented by Dr. Hammer in Boston, USA: • The Transition to the Process Enterprise: Strategies and Techniques. • Managing the Process Enterprise: Principles and Practices. • Process Design and Implementation: Reengineering and Change Management. A model of the research project is designed by the author who includes a theoretical summary of the two books written by Dr. Hammer about the process enterprise: • The Agenda. • Beyond Reengineering. A further model is designed which form part of the research project model, and is a roadmap to implement the process enterprise concepts. This model is based on the process lifecycle and covered all the material of the three courses presented by Dr. Hammer. The process lifecycle is the journey to a process enterprise which will result in improved sustainable enterprise or business performances if implemented. The sub parts of the process lifecycle model are the following: • Building commitment for the process enterprise. • Mobilisation to perform processes. • Process metries, prioritisation and targets. • Plan the process work. • Work the process plan. • Persuade, sell and align. • Change management. The different chapters of the process lifecycle are tools and techniques that must be implemented in a chronological order to become a process enterprise. The implementation of these tools and techniques will transform a traditional functional enterprise to a process enterprise. The last part of the research project described the practical experience by Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation on their journey to a process enterprise. Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation is a zinc mine owned by the South African diversified mining house, Kumba Resources. Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation delivered spectacular results since the implementation of the process enterprise concept. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die navorsings projek is om die transformasie na 'n proses gedrewe organisasie te beskryf. Die navorsings projek is 'n kombinasie van werk wat gedoen is deur Dr. Michael Hammer en die outeur. Die grootste gedeelte van die teorie is afkomstig vanaf die volgende kursusse wat deur Dr. Hammer aangebied is in Boston, USA: • The Transition to the Process Enterprise: Strategies and Techniques. • Managing the Process Enterprise: Principles and Practices. • Process Design and Implementation: Reengineering and Change Management. 'n Model is ontwerp vir die navorsings projek wat 'n teoretiese opsomming insluit van die twee boeke wat geskryf is deur Dr. Hammer oor die proses gedrewe organisasie. Die twee boeke is die volgende: • The Agenda. • Beyond Reengineering. 'n Verdere model is ontwikkel deur die outeur wat deel vorm van die navorsings projek model wat 'n padkaart is om die proses gedrewe organisasie konsepte te implementeer. Die model is gebaseer op die proses iterasies en bevat al die materiaal van die kursusse wat deur Dr. Hammer aangebied is. Die proses iterasies is die transformasie na 'n proses gedrewe organisasie wat sal lei tot verbeterde volhoubare besigheids prestasie, indien die konsepte geimplementeer word. Die sub gedeeltes van die proses iterasie model is die volgende: • Verkry toewyding vir die proses gedrewe organisasie. • Mobiliseer om die prosesse te implementeer. • Proses metings, prioritisering en doelwitte. • Beplan die proses werk. • Werk die proses plan. • Oorreed, verkoop en belyn. • Veranderings bestuur. Die verskillende hoofstukke van die proses iterasie is gereedskap en tegnieke wat in 'n kronologiese volgorde geimplementeer moet word om te transformeer na 'n proses gedrewe organisasie. Die suksesvolle implementering van die gereedskap en tegnieke sal 'n tradisionele funsionele organisasie transformeer na proses gedrewe organisasie. Die laaste gedeelte van die navorsings projek beskryf die praktiese ervaring van Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation met hul implementering van die proses gedrewe organisasie konsepte. Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation is 'n sinkmyn wat deur die gediversifiseerde mynhuis, Kumba Resources, besit word. Rosh Pinah Zinc Corporation het uitstekende resultate gelewer sedert die implementering van die proses gedrewe organisasie konsepte.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / As we adopt and implement the doctrines of reengineering, we at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are asked to make a giant leap in how we think of and design SpaceCraft. We call what we are doing a revolution, since we are not “evolving” to the next step in our activity, but literally leaping beyond it. This is fully in concert with the concepts of reengineering, in that areas that need to be changed are indeed literally invented anew. To be successful, JPL and its industry partners, must perfect processes, techniques and methods that allow them to work together at all levels of the SpaceCraft development cycle. If all other parts of the discipline have moved on and changed, but a key portion remains locked in a time warp of yesterday, we will not be able to reach our desired goal. At the present time change is occurring all over JPL, and it is our intent to describe how it applies to areas where prototype, or one of a kind hardware are fabricated, and how these areas might look when new approaches to doing business are applied. Since all activities in an organization must attain similar levels of expertise or be in danger of hampering the entire process, the issues of Packaging Engineering, Manufactureability, and fabrication become key items.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Exxaro Breakthrough Improvement Process has been introduced as a tool whereby breakthrough results could be achieved in areas where poor performance was evident. Furthermore it was also envisioned that such a process be sustainably entrenched in the Exxaro business and therefore also become the way continuous improvement is driven on a day to day basis by all employees at Exxaro. In the implementation of this change methodology, varying degrees of successes was realized and time to results also significantly differed. This thesis thus attempt to explore reasons for this phenomenon. Firstly, the essence of breakthrough methodology and thinking behind this approach is explored. The importance of the individual involved in the change effort and thinking process is proven to be critical to the success and for that matter rate and extend of success. An individual that has been able to achieve self mastery has a marked impact on the change process. The thesis then explores in detail this journey and factors that influence self mastery and growth from, as Stephen Covey (2004) explains, dependence to independence and ultimately interdependence. It requires that a whole person approach is followed and thus body, mind, heart and spirit be addressed and captured. Failure to do this and any change methodology is doomed to fail or at best do not create sustainable results. The thesis then went on to explore how external consultants address change and what steps they deem to be critical. The importance of business process interrelationships are highlighted and explored and it is clear from research that, when change is to be effected, a holistic business approach is required in many cases. It was also found from study and experiences that, even though the breakthrough methodology addresses most of the crucial steps or ingredients of successful turnaround approaches, more emphasis is needed on the change readiness of both the implementation team as well as the community the change is to be affected. The theory of change is explored and particularly the role of culture and leadership in the change process. It again became very evident that the importance of the individual involved in the change effort is critical to the success and for that matter rate and extent of success. Strong leadership in both the implementation team and community is critical. The ability, however, to be flexible or well rounded and to be able to capture the whole bodied person but also, when necessary, to be a strong driver and sometimes be brutally honest and remove barriers or individuals that hamper the process, are important traits which obviously come from growth to interdependence, as was mentioned before. The theory is related to the current breakthrough process and steps and criticality of steps yet again emphasized. Practical implementation case studies of this process on the background of research is then recalled and explored to determine where the process was successful and why, and related to where the results proved to be less impressive and not sustainable. The case studies are of particular interest, as they vary in business size and scope of change required and thus are it possible to also test theory of business process relatedness and impact to on change process. The beehive tool in particular is used to prove many of the findings and is also discussed in brief. Ultimately the thesis endeavours to highlight the importance of certain success factors and proposes additional emphasis to the existing Breakthrough Process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die “Exxaro Breakthrough Improvement” Proses is bekendgestel in Exxaro as ‘n metode waarmee resultate gegenereer kan word in areas waar swak prestasie aanwesig is. Die oorspronklike intensie was om die proses beide as eenmalige intervensie asook deel te laat vorm van die dag tot dag besigheidsprosesse, om sodoende voortgesette verbetering te bevorder by alle departemente in Exxaro deur sy hele werkskorps. Na aanleiding van verskeie verbeteringsprojekte waar die proses van gebruik gemaak is, was dit egter baie duidelik dat daar baie verskillende resultate bereik word. In die een geval is die uitkomste baie goed en word dit in betreklike kort tye bereik, maar in ander gevalle was die resultate nie na wense nie en het dit redelik lank gevat om te bereik. Die bespreek die redes vir die verskynsel. Eerstens word die sogenaamde “Breakthrough” metologie en denke ondersoek om te verstaan wat dit behels en hoe dit ontketting kan word. Die belangrikheid van die individu in die veranderingsproses en die “Breakthrough” proses word ook ondersoek en is dit duidelik dat dit krities tot die sukses van enige veranderingsproses is. Die individu wat ontwikkel het tot ‘n vlak waar hy homself kan bestuur en interafhanklik van ‘n organisasie kan word, is bewys speel ‘n sleutel rol tot veranderings sukses. Dus word die pad van ontwikkeling van ‘n individu tot interafhanklikheid in detail ondersoek in die verhaling. Volgens Stephan Covey (2004) moet ‘n volkome en onverdeelde persoon aangespreek word in die veranderingsproses en sodoende sal die persoon se liggaam, verstand, hart en gees betrokke wees by die verandering en ondersteuning en dryf gee daaraan. Deur dit te doen, veroorsaak dat ‘n persoon sin kry in wat hy doen en dus gemotiveerd en enrgiek is om ondersteuning te gee in die proses en mense/kultuur rondom hulle. Soos John Dunn eens gesê het – dat geen mens ‘n eiland is nie en dat almal maar met mekaar verbind is en invloed het op mekaar – so sal die persone in ‘n organisasie mekaar positief of negatief beïnvloed en hang dit dus van die manier af wat die persone bemoei, betrek en tot verbintenis geroep word. Die verkeerde of halfhartige bemoeienes met die persone in die veranderingsproses kan dus tot sekere faling lei en groot skade berokken aan jou mense en finansiële kapitaal. Daar word dan ook na eksterne konsultante en hulle metodes en prosesse gekyk om te sien wat hulle as belangrik ag en hoe hulle die dinge aanspreek. Verder word die impak van besigheidsprosesse ondersoek om ook vas te stel interafhanklikhede van die prosese die veranderingsproses affekteer. Dit is vasgestel dat ‘n holistiese besigheidsvisie geneem moet word wanneer ‘n veranderingsproses onderneem word in besigheidsprosesse, aangesien veranderinge in die een slegs volhoubaar is asook die intervlakke en impak daarvan verstaan word en ook aangespreek is. Mees belangrikste egter is gevind dat, alhoewel die Exxaro Breakthrough proses baie van bogenoemde kritiese suksesfaktore aanspreek, daar meer aandag en fokus gegee moet word aan die veranderingsgereedheid van jou implementeringspan en die organisasie waarin so ‘n veranderingsproses geïmplementeer moet word. Daarom word daar ook in diepte na die veranderingsteorie gekyk waarin dit ook duidelik gewys het dat leierskap ‘n deurslaggewende rol speel. Weereens, soos vantevore genoem, is dit belangrik om geronde persone, of eerder leiers, te hê, beide in die implementeringspan asook in die organisasie, om die regte besluite te neem en die vermoë te hê om moeilike versperrings of selfs individue betyds uit die weg te ruim sodat die proses voort kan gaan. Die “Breakthrough” Proses word in detail bespreek en implementeringsgevallestudies word ondersoek om die effektiwiteit van die proses te bepaal en om voorafgenoemde suksesfaktore te beproef en te bewys. Twee spesifieke scenarios is bespreek, een waarin groot sukses behaal was en een waarin daar in betreklike lang tyd nie veel vordering gemaak was nie. Wat die twee gevallestudies uniek maak, is dat die probleem wat geadresseer word, presies dieselfde is, maar dat die organisasies verskil het. Sodoende kan die effek van leierskap, veranderingsgereedheid, kultuur en besigheidsprosesse, goed beproef word. Daar is van die “Beehive” opname gebruik gemaak wat die laasgenoemde faktore toets en aanspreek. Hieruit kon duidelike gevolgtrekkings gemaak word. Ten slotte poog die verhaling om die belangrikheid van sekere suksesfaktore te beklemtoon en dus voorstelle te maak oor hoe die huidige “Exxaro Breakthrough” proses aangepas of verbeter kan word om verhoogde en meer volhoubare resultate te gee.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 1994 the world has been opening up for South Africa, leading to the consequent issue of globalisation of trade. Not only have many of the old political orders gone but also so too have many of the old trade groupings. With the coming of globalisation the days of limited competition are over and the new business environment is far more open and dynamic. Since the world and its commercial activities are different, a different organisation needs to be created, the traditional ones simply do not survive the new circumstances. The resurgent interest in developing executive talent has been stimulated in recent years by various events and a lot of wishful thinking. It was not lost on corporate America that the leadership styles that had seemed so effective in the twenty or so years after World War II were inadequate in a later, convulsive era characterized by global competition, deregulation, economic upheaval, technological revolution, the end of the Cold War and other developments that ended the seemingly halcyon days. Wherever one looked, it seemed, there was a shortage of leaders who could navigate the storms, and company after company, legend after legend, stumbled, floundered, and sometimes died altogether. Many factors determined the success and failure of corporate struggles, only one of which was the quality of leadership. But it did seem that the inability of many companies to adapt was abetted by inadequate leadership, and it was at least plausible to assume that a different kind of leader was needed. Wisely or not, in times of crisis we want leaders to take charge, then we hold them perhaps more responsible for events, good and bad, than is actually merited. The massive dislocations of the last thirty years, driven by deregulation, globalisation, and competitive pressures, led to a widely perceived shortage of leaders who had the skills to handle change effectively. lscor embarked on a process of re-engineering (Project Apollo) towards the end of 1997, primarily to identify and redesign the core processes to enable Iscor to become a competitive player in the international markets. During the reengineering project various project teams worked on various core processes. Succession Planning referred to as Organisational Planning in this project, was one of the Human Resources (HR) core processes. The design was completed during 1998 and the implementation has now been in progress for a period of one year. The focus of this study project is to document the implementation of the model and the problems experienced while implementing a theoretical model as a case study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wêreld het vanaf 1994 oopgegaan vir Suid Afika wat daartoe gelei het dat Suid Afrika deel geword het van die wêreld handel. Die vorige politieke dispensasie en sekere handels blokke bestaan nie meer nie. Met die koms van wêreld handel is daar nie meer beperkte kompetisie nie en is die nuwe besigheidsomgewing baie meer oop en dinamies. Omdat die wêreld en die handelsomgewing verander het, moet 'n nuwe organisasie geskep word. Die tradisionele organisasie sal nie oorleef in die nuwe omstandighede nie. Die hernude belangstelling in die ontwikkeling van bestuurstalent is gestimuleer deur verskeie gebeure en 'n klomp denkbeeldige denke. Korporatiewe Amerika het besef dat die leierskapstyle wat so effektief was in die twintig of so jaar na die tweede wêreld oorlog, nie meer so relevant is in die huidige era wat gekenmerk word deur internasionale kompetisie, deregulasie, ekonomiese opbou, tegnologiese revolusie, die einde van die koue oorlog en ander ontwikkelings wat 'n einde gebring het aan die goeie ou dae. Waar 'n mens ook al kyk is daar 'n tekort aan leiers wat die pad kan vind deur die storms en organisasie na organisasie, legende na legende het gekwyn, gestruikel en partykeer heeltemal verdwyn. Daar is baie faktore wat die sukses of mislukking van organisasies bepaal, waarvan slegs een die kwaliteit van leierskap is. Dit wil egter voorkom of die onvermoë van organisasies om aan te pas tot 'n mate veroorsaak is deur onvoldoende leierskap en is dit logies om aan te neem dat 'n ander tipe leier nodig is. Wyslik of nie, in tye van krisisse wil ons hê dat leiers moet beheer neem en hou ons hulle somtyds vir meer verantwoordelik as wat regverdig is. Die massiewe hestruktuerings die afgelope dertig jaar wat gedryf is deur deregulasie, globalisering en kompeterende druk het gelei tot 'n wyd waargenome tekort aan leiers wat die vaardighede het om verandering effektief te hanteer. Iscor het teen die einde van 1997 begin met 'n proses van herstruktuering (Projek Apollo) ten einde die kern prosesse te identifiseer wat lscor in staat sal stel om kompeterend in die internasionale markte te wees. Gedurende hierdie herstruktuerings proses het daar verskeie spanne gewerk aan die verskillende kern prosesse. Opvolgbeplanning, wat bekend staan as Organsisasie Beplanning in hierdie projek, was een van menslike hulpbronne se kern prosesse. Die ontwerp was voltooi gedurende 1998 en die implementasie is nou in proses vir een jaar. Die fokus van hierdie studie projek is om die implementering van hierdie model asook die probleme wat ondervind word met die implementering van 'n teoretiese model te dokumenteer in 'n gevalle studie.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

One of the most difficult tasks a programmer can be confronted with is the migration of a legacy system. Usually, these systems are unstructured, poorly documented and contain complex program logic. The reason for this, in most cases, is an emphasis on raw performance rather than on clean and structured code as well as a long period of applying quick fixes and enhancements rather than doing a proper software reengineering process including a full redesign during major enhancements. Nowadays, the old programming paradigms are becoming an increasingly serious problem. It has been identified that 90% of the costs of a typical software system arise in the maintenance phase. Many companies are simply too afraid of changing their software infrastructure and prefer to continue with principles like "never touch a running system". These companies experience growing pressure to migrate their legacy systems onto newer platforms because the maintenance of such systems is expensive and dangerous as the risk of losing vital parts of sources code or its documentation increases drastically over time. The FermaT transformation system has shown the ability to automatically or semi-automatically restructure and abstract legacy code within a special intermediate language called WSL (Wide Spectrum Language). Unfortunately, the current transformation process only supports the migration of assembler as WSL lacks the ability to handle data types properly. The data structures in assembler are currently directly translated into C data types which involves many assumptional “hard coded” conversions. The absence of an adequate type system for WSL caused several flaws for the whole transformation process and limits its abilities significantly. The main aim of the presented research is to tackle these problems by investigating and formulating how a type system can contribute to a safe and reliable migration of legacy systems. The described research includes the definition of key aspects of type related problems in the FermaT migration process and how to solve them with a suitable type system approach. Since software migration often includes a change in programming language the type system for WSL has to be able to support various type system approaches including the representation of all relevant details to avoid assumptions. This is especially difficult as most programming languages are designed for a special purpose which means that their possible programming constructs and data types differ significantly. This ranges from languages with simple type systems whose program sare prone to unintended side-effects, to languages with strict type systems which are constrained n their flexibility. It is important to include as many type related details as necessary to avoid making assumptions during language to language translation. The result of the investigation is a novel multi layered type system specifically designed to satisfy the needs of WSL for a sophisticated solution without imposing too many limitations on its abilities. The type system has an adjustable expressiveness, able to represent a wide spectrum of typing approaches ranging from weak typing which allows direct memory access and down casting, via very strict typing with a high diversity of data types to object oriented typing which supports encapsulation and data hiding. Looking at the majority of commercial relevant statically typed programming languages, two fundamental properties of type strictness and safety can be identified. A type system can be either weakly or strongly typed and may or may not allow unsafe features such as direct memory access. Each layer of the Wide Spectrum Type System has a different combination of these properties. The approach also includes special Type System Transformations which can be used to move a given WSL program among these layers. Other emphasised key features are explicit typing and scalability. The whole approach is based on a sound mathematical foundation which assures correctness and integrates seamlessly into the present mathematical definition of WSL. The type system is formally introduced to WSL by constructing an attribute grammar for the language. Type checking and type inference are used to annotate the Abstract Syntax Tree of a given WSL program with type derivations which can be used to reveal and indicate possible typing errors or to infer types if the program did not feature explicit type declarations in the first place. Notable in this approach is also the fact that object orientation is introduced to a procedural programming language without the introduction of new semantics. It is shown that object orientation can be introduced just by adjusting type checking rules and adding some syntactical notations. The approach was implemented and tested on two case studies. The thesis describes and discusses both cases in detail and shows how a migration which ignores type systems could accidentally introduce errors due to assumptions during translation. Both case studies use all important aspects of the approach, Including type transformations and object identification. The thesis finalises by summarising the whole work, identifying limitations, presenting future perspectives and drawing conclusions