Services

 

Data Conversion

Clients who are changing software from one system to another inevitably find that some data simply will not transfer correctly without being altered in some way.  Finding and correcting the corrupted data is time consuming and very difficult to do in a manual, one-by-one discovery process.  Clients often find, despite vendors' claims to the contrary, that updating the same software to a new release causes similar problems, especially if the original software has been in use for an extended period and has been modified for the client's unique needs.  Gladstone offers software and a proven methodology to prevent any loss of data.  Moreover, errors and inconsistencies in the existing database are spotlighted prior to the actual conversion to allow for a thorough cleanup.

Data Cleansing

Clients who are consolidating information to a data warehouse for use by multiple users need to make certain their legacy data is clean and error free.  Gladstone specializes in tools and services that verify the accuracy of legacy databases and map the data to the new systems, thus assuring the client of an accurate and functional data warehouse.

Data Storage Problems

Clients often find legacy systems stressed for data storage space.  The Gladstone software identifies all allocated but unused data fields and offers a convenient way to free valuable storage space.

Test Data Needs

Often the needs arises to assess newly developed system additions or output formats on a small scale but fully representative test run.  The Gladstone software automatically generates a data subset for testing that fully represents each unique field value.

System Migration Problems

Clients who are installing hardware, for instance changing from a non-IBM compatible system to an IBM compatible system, will find certain data formatting differences problematic (e.g., digit boundaries vs. byte boundaries).  Gladstone offers specific conversion programs designed to handle these subtleties.

Date Conversion

All companies faced the conversion of the century field in all data sets when we entered the 21st Century.  Many companies used the concept of "windowing" to temporarily handle Y2K.  Gladstone software handles over 130 different date formats without requiring any additional space for the values in the century field.