Functional mapping of IBM i applications with AI!

1. What are the main challenges in managing IBM i systems?

IBM i systems are often at the core of critical business processes, but the accumulated volume of code and complexity over the years pose a significant challenge for technical teams. The resulting technical debt makes these applications difficult to manage, increases the risk of interruptions, and requires substantial effort for maintenance and modernization.

This technical debt also creates challenges in terms of knowledge about the IBM i platform. For new developers, who often have limited technical and functional knowledge, accessing and understanding IBM i applications can seem obscure.

2. Une documentation rapidement obsolète

With constant system changes and undocumented updates, application documentation quickly becomes outdated. Manual documentation is a significant and tedious task for developers, often relegated to the end of a project. This task is then compressed by potential delays, becoming a last-minute adjustment to meet development deadlines.

This lack of documentation leads to a deficit in understanding and confidence, making any functional evolution costly and time-consuming. Teams must repeatedly verify the accuracy of documents by examining the code.

Solution: Functional mapping fills these gaps by providing a precise and real-time updated view of application systems, facilitating maintenance, modernization, and optimization of applications.

3. Why map your IBM i applications?

Mapping IBM i applications is essential to ensure their maintenance, modernization, and optimization. It allows you to:

• Assess the effort required for application evolution.
• Measure the effort required to evolve an application.
• Manage the impact of changes inside or outside the system.
• Ensure functional traceability of applications.

Mapping provides a clear visualization of the relationships between various application components (programs, modules, files, etc.) and helps understand their overall structure. Businesses can identify critical areas, evaluate the impact of changes, and minimize risks, enabling proactive maintenance and more targeted modernization efforts.

4. ARCAD Discover: An innovative solution for mapping

ARCAD Discover is an AI-powered solution designed to simplify the mapping of IBM i applications and improve their visibility. Its automated approach provides clear and detailed analysis of applications by identifying relationships between all types of IBM i components, such as programs, files, and modules.

Key Features of ARCAD Discover:

Automated Application Mapping with AI

ARCAD Discover uses advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to efficiently analyze and map your applications. This provides an overview of components and their interactions, making it easier to understand data flows and dependencies.

Intelligent Dependency Identification

ARCAD Discover relies on ARCAD’s metadata repository, built on over 30 years of experience and thousands of analyzed applications. This approach automatically identifies relationships between components and provides concise graphical and schematic visualizations of dependencies. It also helps assess the impact of changes before implementation, reducing the risk of disruptions.

Database Schema Understanding

A representation of database relational dependencies allows often inaccessible information to be shared across teams. This makes data more comprehensible and facilitates communication between technical teams, functional users, and decision-makers.

Code Comprehension

Powerful parsers add a graphical dimension to code reading, simplifying the search for and understanding of business rules within an application. The addition of an AI-based interpretation engine further enhances accessibility through natural language explanations of the code. Less technical teams or those unfamiliar with the programming language can compensate for the lack of documentation and absence of experts to analyze or prepare updates. This feature is also a major asset for adjacent teams, such as technical support, who can access these insights to explain application behaviors to end users.

Unique DataLineage Navigation

Information collected by ARCAD Discover is presented in easy-to-understand graphs and diagrams, even for non-IBM i experts. AI optimizes data presentation, making it more accessible and improving communication between technical teams and decision-makers.

5. What are the benefits of mapping for IT teams and the business?

Mapping IBM i applications helps IT teams better understand systems, reducing the time needed to diagnose problems, plan updates, and implement changes. With ARCAD Discover, artificial intelligence quickly identifies critical areas and prioritizes actions. This enhanced visibility allows for better modernization planning, minimizes service interruptions, and meets business needs effectively while reducing maintenance costs.

Conclusion: Modernize Your IBM i Applications with Confidence

Functional mapping is the key to modernizing your IBM i applications while minimizing risks. With ARCAD Discover, you benefit from a powerful and intuitive solution driven by artificial intelligence, enabling clear and rapid understanding of your applications, identifying dependencies, and accessing up-to-date documentation.

Gain visibility into your IBM i applications—discover ARCAD Discover and schedule a personalized demonstration!