This document describes how to review the assessment of the discovered assets, and analyze the application source files using generative AI.
The assessment results provide you with details such as the lines of codes and number of calls found in the application, which help you plan your migration. Also, the analysis provides you with a summary of the program, which helps you understand the semantics of the program.
Before you begin
- Complete the steps to run the discovery and assessment.
Review assessed applications
To review and analyze the assessed applications, follow these steps:
- In the Mainframe Assessment Tool application, open the Assessments page.
- Click the Reference ID of the application that you want to review. The Discovery page opens and the dashboard appears.
The dashboard provides multiple tabs that are explained in the sections that follow. Each tab provides various filters that let examine the assessed applications better. For example, you can filter the applications based on different domains, if you've set them up while creating an assessment.
Inventory
The Inventory tab provides the following details:
- Number of files per language
- Number of code lines per file type
- Code lines versus comment lines
- Batch versus online programs
Module Types
The Module Types tab provides more information about COBOL and JCL. It categorizes modules called from COBOL programs into the following types:
- Orphan: programs that are not called nor call another program.
- Missing: programs that are called, but whose source code has not been provided.
- Utility: system programs built by companies such as IBM and Microfocus.
- Program: Programs of an unrecognized type, potentially due to missing parsing or their absence from the source code.
- COBOL: application programs.
JCL calls (EXEC statements) are categorized into the following 3 types:
- Program: the actual application programs.
- Proc: set of statements inside a JCL grouped together to perform a particular function.
- Utility: system programs built by companies such as IBM and Microfocus.
Complexity
The Complexity tab shows a table listing the complexity of every source in the uploaded application. The complexity uses McCabe as a metric which represents the number of execution paths or decision points in a source.
- Simple: complexity < 100
- Medium: 100 <= complexity < 500
- Complex: 500 <= complexity < 1000
- Very Complex: 1000 <= complexity
Call Dependency
The Call Dependency tab shows the call graph of all uploaded entities. The size of the icons is related to the number of incoming and outgoing calls.
Driver Modules
The Driver Modules tab shows modules that call many other modules. The size of the icons is related to the number of incoming and outgoing calls.
Data lineage
The Files Data Lineage tab shows how JCL batch jobs and COBOL programs use files. It identifies the programs that read from and write to files.
The Databases Lineage tab shows how DB2 tables are used in JCL batch jobs and COBOL programs. For each JCL job that executes a COBOL program that accesses a DB2 table, the tab identifies the called program, the accessed table,and the corresponding usage.
JCL Substitution Params
The JCL Substitution Params tab shows the resolved values of the JCL parameters.
CICS Calls
The CICS Calls tab shows the CICS calls made from each program, and their parameters. You can filter the results by command, program or parameter.
Parse Issues
The Parse Issues tab shows all the errors that the Mainframe Assessment Tool encountered during the parsing of the source code.
Missing Modules
The Missing Modules tab shows the modules that are used in the code, but that weren't found during the input analysis.
Use this tab to understand what was missing, and consider adding these modules before re-running the assessment.
Orphan programs
The Orphan Programs Tab lists all programs that neither call another entity nor are called by another entity in the source code.
Databases
The Databases tab lists the DB2 tables used in the assessment. The page details each table's columns and properties.
Datasets
The Datasets tab displays an overview of the datasets used in the assessment. For each dataset, the page details all the fields and properties of each field.
JCL Job Connections
The JCL Job Connections tab displays dependencies between JCL jobs. The Mainframe Assessment Tool analyzes dependencies in three ways:
- Connected jobs based on a shared data source: This chart connects two jobs if they use the same data source; one job writes to the source, and the other reads from it.
- Connected jobs based on a shared data source (tabular view): This table details the connections between the jobs. It presents the writer job, reader job, shared data source, and its type.
- Job dependencies from writers to readers: This tree chart displays the writer job, the writer program, the data source, the reader program, and the reader job.
Analyze source files using generative AI
You can analyze the application source files using Generative AI. This feature depends on Vertex AI. To use this feature, make sure AI Analysis was enabled on the Settings page before running the assessment.
To explore the results, follow these steps:
In the left navigation menu, click AI Insights. A page appears that shows a list of entities including domains and files.
Select the assessment you'd like to inspect AI results for, using the assessment selector drop-down at the upper left side of the page.
Each entity has one of the following statuses:
- Pending. The entity has not yet been analyzed.
- In Progress. The entity is being analyzed.
- Completed. The AI analysis for the entity completed successfully.
- Failed. The AI analysis completed with an error.
- Warning. AI analysis completed with a warning.
Select an entity to view AI insights. The available insights depend on the selected entity type.
Domain
- The domain description that was entered when starting the assessment.
- Generated summary of the domain based on the assigned files. No summary is generated if no files are assigned. The summary includes an overview of the domain's business purpose, data flows, dependencies and business logic.
COBOL Programs
- Generated summaries of the different programs with their expanded copybooks, providing a high-level summary, detailed business logic, and a list of important constants.
- Call diagrams with paragraph level deep dives and test case suggestions.
- Batch data processing analysis and online BMS descriptions.
- Modernized code suggestions of the source code in various languages, providing a starting point for a modern rewrite.
JCL (Job Control Language)
- Generated summaries of the different jobs, providing a high-level summary, data transformations and lists of input and output data files.
- Deep dive into the different jobs' steps and methods called by them.
- Modernized SQL code suggestion of the job, providing a starting point for a modern rewrite.
High Level Assembly (HLASM) (Preview)
- Generated summaries of the different programs, providing a high-level summary, detailed business logic if exists, and a list of important constants.
- Modernized code suggestions of the source code in various languages, providing a starting point for a modern rewrite.
Easytrieve (Preview)
- Generated summaries of the different programs, providing high-level summary as well as details on data sources, data manipulations and report schema.
- Modernized code suggestions of the source code in various languages, providing a starting point for a modern rewrite.
You can filter results by domains if you've set these up when creating an assessment.
The Q&A tab provides you with a space to ask questions and receive AI-generated answers about the analyzed code. You can use the Q&A tab to do the following:
- Ask questions about the business logic of the code. (e.g. "Which program is responsible for calculating the claim rate?" or "How is the claim rate calculated?")
- Search for usage or mentions of specific functions. (e.g. "Which jobs execute the ABC program?")
- Explain data structures and summarize their usage. (e.g. "What do variables ABC and BCD are used for in program XYZ")?
Export reports
Export your assessment report as a zip file in HTML format to view the report offline or share it with others. To export the report, follow these steps.
- On the Mainframe Assessment Tool Assessments page, locate the assessment for which you want to export the report.
- Click ()More, and then click Export Report.
The report is downloaded as a zip file to your computer.
The zip archive includes an HTML file for each program in your assessment. These HTML files contain the information found on the AI Analysis page, including specification summaries, detailed logic, and generated code suggestions.
The archive also contains an entrypoint file named report_index.html. This
file serves as a table of contents with links to all of the files in the
archive.
Export partial reports
To export a report for a subset of files in your assessment, follow these steps.
- On the Mainframe Assessment Tool AI Insights page, filter the file list by using the filter or the search box.
- Click Download report.
The downloaded zip file contains only the files visible in the filtered list.