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Large-scale migration from Natural 1 to Natural 2
A conversion project for the application portfolio originating from Banco Nacional de Desarrollo (BANADE), carried out in the context of a public tender for Banco de la Nación Argentina.
Project scope
The objective was to convert the complete Natural application portfolio from Natural 1 to Natural 2: approximately 3,000 programs and 2,500 maps. The challenge was not only the volume of objects but also the structural differences between map definitions in the two Natural versions.
Automated conversion of approximately 2,500 maps
The first step was to study the internal composition of maps in Natural 1 and Natural 2 and identify the structural differences that had to be reproduced in the target version.
- All Natural 1 maps were downloaded from the mainframe to a text file.
- A custom conversion program was developed to process that file map by map.
- For every field, the converter read its name and attributes from the source definition.
- Field attributes were standardized consistently across the migration, distinguishing output, input and modifiable fields.
- The converter generated a new text file using the internal structure required by Natural 2.
- The generated definitions were uploaded back to the mainframe and the maps were catalogued in Natural 2.
Conversion of approximately 3,000 programs
For the Natural programs, the migration process consisted of editing and cataloguing the source in Natural 2. Compilation errors were reviewed and corrected individually. The required changes were mainly instructions whose syntax or behavior differed between the two Natural versions.
Execution result
The complete conversion of approximately 5,500 Natural objects was completed in 20 days by one specialist. The public tender had estimated a team of eight people working for four months at eight hours per day. The automation strategy therefore transformed what had been planned as a large manual conversion effort into a focused, repeatable migration process.
Capabilities demonstrated
- Deep understanding of Natural internal structures and version differences.
- Design of custom migration and conversion utilities.
- Automation of high-volume legacy transformation.
- Mainframe file transfer, cataloguing, compilation and remediation.
- Delivery optimization through technical analysis rather than manual scaling.