Mainframe Development Study: The Benefits of Agile ... · mainframe applications are often connected to other internal systems as well as partner and customer systems. Yet, many IT

A Hurwitz wHite pAper

Mainframe Development Study: The Benefits of Agile Mainframe Development Tools

Sponsored by Compuware

Judith Hurwitz President and CEO

Daniel Kirsch Principal Analyst

and Vice President

Page 2Mainframe Development Study: The Benefits of Agile Mainframe Development Tools

A Hurwitz wHite PAPer

Introduction

The value of the mainframe has continued to evolve over the decades. Although many have predicted that the mainframe would become obsolete, the platform has continued to play a vital role for many organizations. More than ever, the mainframe has a firm position as the center of data security and predictable transaction services, including related capabilities such as credit card authorization and order-to-cash processes. In addition, because the mainframe often holds key business data, some businesses are beginning to use the platform for analytic workloads. Because of the mainframe’s predictability and security, many businesses and government organizations run their most critical applications on the platform. Important mainframe applications often contain decades of well-planned and custom business rules and logic. Additionally, these mainframe applications are often connected to other internal systems as well as partner and customer systems. Yet, many IT leaders and their teams assume the mainframe is a static platform, despite modern graphical tools that have enhanced developers’ abilities to leverage the platform in a transforming digital environment. In this report, Hurwitz & Associates will present findings from a survey of 77 Compuware customers, demonstrating how customers continually gain business and technical value from the mainframe and its associated assets.

Methodology

Hurwitz & Associates surveyed 77 Compuware customers from North America, Europe and South America. These customers ranged from mid-size organizations to large enterprises, and spanned a variety of industries including financial services, insurance, retail & consumer goods and government. All of the participants have used Compuware’s software for at least one year, while the vast majority, 88%, have used Compuware’s offerings for at least 10 years. Each of the 77 respondents in our study completed a detailed online survey covering:

•Theirorganization’suseofthemainframetorunavarietyofworkloads

•TheCompuwareproductstheirorganizationuses

•Technicalandbusinesschallengesformainframeproductivity,applicationperformance and test data management

•TheimportanceofCompuware’sofferingswhenaddressingtechnicalandbusiness challenges of mainframe development

In addition, Hurwitz & Associates analysts conducted in-depth interviews with six of the 77 customers to gain deeper insight into their experiences. The objectives of this study are to identify business and technical challenges organizations face with mainframe development and to analyze the benefits organizations achieve with Compuware’s offerings.

Maintaining Legacy Applications

One of the major challenges Compuware customers encounter is effectively managing poorly documented, mission critical mainframe applications. In many

More than ever, the mainframe has a firm position as the center of data security and predictable transaction services...



85% of participants described Compuware’s software as mission critical or strategic for mainframe application development and management.

cases the experts who created the applications have moved on in their careers, or worse, are retiring at an alarming rate, taking their valuable skills with them. These COBOL and PL/I applications contain years of business logic and form the backbone of the business, making them some of the most sophisticated applications within an enterprise. Because the workloads and applications running on the mainframe are so vital, enterprises must find ways to make the mainframe accessible to new developers. In addition, many organizations are beginning to use the mainframe to support new workloads, like analytics or mobile applications, that leverage critical data and applications housed on the mainframe.

Therefore, companies have a choice: They can attempt to find experienced and sometimes expensive COBOL developers, or hire new developers (or train existing staff) who lack COBOL or PL/I skills. Unfortunately many new developers have little interest in learning how to code on the mainframe, nor do these “Millennial” developers wish to work in an isolated mainframe silo that is so common. To make the mainframe more approachable to developers and to make the environment a platform for innovation, many organizations are looking for visual tools that will make mainframe coding more accessible. In addition, organizations are seeking tools to help them quickly identify performance bottlenecks and application failures. In this paper, we analyze the findings from a survey of organizations using Compuware’s mainframe development and application performance management tools to make mainframe application development easier, improve mainframe application performance and better manage mainframe test data.

Key Findings

Compuware customers face a common problem: Declining mainframe skills in the face of increasing application complexity. The survey respondents found that Compuware’s approach to developing and operating mainframe software offers significant benefits. In fact, 85% of participants described Compuware’s software as mission critical or strategic for mainframe application development and management. One of the key reasons Compuware was so highly rated is its software helps development organizations accurately understand, manage and troubleshoot complex COBOL and PL/I application logic. In fact, 61% of respondents reported Compuware’s tools are key to modernizing the mainframe development/maintenance and testing environment. In this way, the development and the application performance management processes were much easier for less experienced developers to learn.

Survey Findings

The surveyed organizations currently use the mainframe for a variety of workloads. As we suspected, the large majority, 92%, of surveyed organizations use the mainframe for transactional workloads. In addition, 63% of the organizations use the mainframe for analytic workloads because the mainframe contains a large amount of business and customer data. While some



organizations reported testing and proof of concepts of the cloud on mainframe, 44% of respondents said they never use the mainframe for cloud workloads. Figure 1 illustrates the types of workloads organizations are running on the mainframe.

Figure 1: Use of the Mainframe for the Following Workloads

Source: Hurwitz & Associates, 2016

Use of Compuware’s Tools and Their Importance in Mainframe Application Development and Management

Compuware’s mainframe tools aid customers in three main areas: Developer productivity, application performance, and test data management. Table 1 contains a list of the Compuware tools included in this study and a brief description of what each offers. Below, Figure 2 represents a breakdown of the tools study respondents currently use.

Table 1: Compuware’s Software Offerings

Product Name Description

File-AID A file and data management solution that enables developers to gather realistic, reliable and secure test data before launching applications into production.

Hiperstation A quality assurance and data breach deterrent solution that allows managers to view and record activity between internal users and applications.

ISPW An end-to-end Agile source code management, release automation and deployment automation tool that enables mainframe application developers at all skill levels to fulfill business requirements, optimize code quality, and improve developer productivity through mainframe DevOps. Note: This study was conducted prior to Compuware’s acquisition of ISPW.

Table Continues



Table 1 Continued: Compuware’s Software Offerings

Product Name Description

Strobe A suite of application performance tools that help customers control costs, measure performance and identify performance bottlenecks.

Topaz A discovery and visualization solution that enables new developers to manipulate, analyze and understand enterprise data and applications more easily and confidently.

Topaz Workbench An Eclipse-based graphical user interface that provides an TSO/ISPF alternative as well as easy access to common mainframe application development functions.

Xpediter An interactive and visual debugging and code analysis solution developers use to quickly test existing applications and new application functionality for rapid and easy deployment of applications into production.

Figure 2: Compuware Offerings in Use by Study Participants

*Note: Topaz is new to the market


In addition to asking survey participants about their use of Compuware’s products, we wanted to understand how Compuware’s customers rated the impact of the company’s software solutions. Below are the results to a question asking respondents to describe the importance of Compuware’s software to their company’s mainframe application development and management efforts:

•34%ofrespondentsdescribedCompuware’stoolsasmissioncritical

•51%ofrespondentsdescribedCompuware’stoolsasstrategic

•13%ofrespondentsdescribedCompuware’stoolsasgoodtohave

•NoneoftherespondentsdescribedCompuware’stoolsasnotimportantordetrimental



Mainframe Productivity

Although mainframe applications still form the backbone of many organizations, it’s difficult to find developers skilled in maintaining and updating these critical COBOL and PL/I applications. Because of the mainframe’s capacity to easily scale, high security and dependability, most organizations are not looking to supplant the mainframe with other computing technology; however, organizations require techniques to help new developers better manage and update z Systems applications.

According to one Compuware customer, an operations support manager in a large governmental organization, “We now have to manage and support the same number of applications with only 50 mainframe developers, down from over 200 just a few years ago.” His organization found that “Compuware’s graphical development and deployment tools have significantly increased developer efficiency and have made the mainframe more approachable for less experienced developers.“ Originally, these new developers were frightened by the traditional mainframe programming screen.” According to the manager, Compuware’s tools took away that fear, enabling less experienced developers to more quickly become effective.

In the study, Compuware customers were asked to identify their top challenges. Figure 3 below exhibits the results of the question on mainframe productivity challenges. Not surprisingly, 61% of respondents said declining in-house mainframe programming expertise and experience is a significant challenge. This finding confirms there is a generational shift occurring and that mainframe skills are diminishing, corresponding to our market research and customer interviews. In addition to declining mainframe skills, 47% of survey respondents agreed inadequate documentation is a major challenge. Finally, 40% of respondents identified that understanding relationships and dependencies between applications is a challenge.

Figure 3: Mainframe Productivity Challenges

%

Source: Hurwitz & Associates, 2016c

The study clearly revealed that respondents are using Compuware’s software tools to help address mainframe developer productivity challenges. We asked survey respondents to provide insight into Compuware’s effectiveness in

“Compuware’s graphical development and deployment tools have significantly increased developer efficiency and have made the mainframe more approachable for less experienced developers.“

– Operations Support Manager

Large Governmental Organization



helping developers create better quality code and reduce application risks. The majority of participants, 83% agreed Compuware’s software helps their development teams accurately understand, manage and troubleshoot complex COBOL and PL/I application logic. These companies use Compuware’s solutions to help understand relationships between individual mainframe applications. In addition, 80% of study participants have found that Compuware’s tools help developers focus on high-value work by automating routine tasks. Finally, 77% of study participants agreed Compuware’s software helps resolve production failures without impacting program logic or risking data corruption. Figure 4 illustrates the study participants’ answers when asked how Compuware’s software increases developer productivity.

Figure 4: Compuware’s Ability to Assist in Creating Better Quality Code and Reducing Risk


The shortage of skilled mainframe developers is a common challenge for nearly every organization using the mainframe. In the study, we asked respondents about specific ways Compuware’s software helps them address the mainframe developer skills gap. As shown in Figure 5 below, 75% of study participants said Compuware was critical or important in their efforts to modernize the

83% of participants agreed Compuware’s software helps their development teams accurately understand, manage and troubleshoot complex COBOL and PL/I application logic.



mainframe development environment, making the mainframe more accessible for less skilled mainframe developers. In addition, 67% of study participants said Compuware’s tools help their organization make the mainframe a more attractive development platform for new developers. Finally, reducing the impact of retiring mainframe developers and increasing collaboration between mainframe and non-mainframe developers are important benefits reported by Compuware customers.

Figure 5: Compuware’s Ability to Help Transfer Knowledge from Retiring Developers to Less Mainframe-Experienced Developers


Application Performance

In addition to running transactional workloads, many organizations we interviewed are looking to use the mainframe to deploy new types of mobile and web applications. Hurwitz & Associates interviewed an IT Service Manager working for a large European insurance provider. According to the manager, “The mainframe is critical for our business and continues to house customer and corporate data and run all of our core applications. Our department is under constant pressure from the business to modify applications so that new products and services can be offered to customers and partners.”

The challenge that the manager and his department are struggling with is that “these new mainframe applications are complicated and development and operations team have difficulty pinpointing coding inefficiencies. Application inefficiencies reduce performance and result in unnecessary CPU consumption.” In addition to slow application performance, unnecessary CPU usage has increased their costs for MIPS-based licensing charges. To address applications performance challenges and reduce licensing costs, the mainframe team has

“The mainframe is critical for our business and continues to house customer and corporate data and run all of our core applications. Our department is under constant pressure from the business to modify applications so that new products and services can be offered to customers and partners.”

– IT Service ManagerLarge European Insurance

Provider



increased their use of Compuware’s Strobe. The manager said “with Strobe we are able to spot performance bottlenecks much more quickly and have reduced our mainframe operating costs.”

We asked survey respondents to identify their top challenges when addressing mainframe application performance. As illustrated in Figure 6, 55% of respondents said increasing application complexity is a major application performance challenge making it difficult to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks. In addition, 42% of respondents agreed new types of workloads, like mobile and web, were a top application performance challenge. The increasing shortage of skilled mainframe developers and rising mainframe monthly license charges were also identified as significant challenges for mainframe application performance.

Figure 6: Top Challenges When Managing Mainframe Application Performance


In addition to asking study participants to identify their top challenges with application performance, we wanted to understand how they address these challenges with Compuware’s software. As Figure 7 shows, 85% of respondents reported improvements in application performance by using Compuware’s tools. In addition, 78% of respondents said Compuware’s tools have improved application efficiency. Increased application efficiencies also resulted in 78% of respondents reporting a hardware and software cost reduction attributable to Compuware’s tools. Finally, 61% of customers reported Compuware’s software helps their organization decrease application downtime.

“85% of respondents reported improvements in application performance by using Compuware’s tools.



Figure 7: Impact of Compuware’s Software on Application Performance Management


Test Data Management and Privacy

To ensure an application performs as expected, thorough testing must be performed before the application is moved into production. An important step in application testing is to provide developers with realistic test data. While it might be tempting to use data from a live database, doing so is a very poor practice. Live data often contains personally identifiable information and other heavily regulated data. In addition, live data can be very extensive, making testing difficult and expensive. These are just a few of the challenges developers face when managing mainframe application testing.

During an interview for this study, a services manager who works at a large bank shared his organization’s test data management challenges. The bank relies heavily on outside consultants to help with mainframe development projects and implementations. The manager said: “We regularly have a dozen or more outside consultants working on mainframe applications. Due to regulations and privacy policies we are obviously very restricted on who can access, view or interact with customer data.” The organization needed a way to efficiently provide developers with test data while also safeguarding data security and privacy. The company was already a Compuware customer but was not a File-AID user. To address their concerns about test data privacy and management, the bank’s mainframe development organization began a test pilot with File-AID. The organization now plans to use File-AID across the team and when it hires third-party developers.

In the survey we sought to understand the common struggles Compuware customers experience with test data management and privacy. Survey participants were asked to identify their top test data management challenges.

“We regularly have a dozen or more outside consultants working on mainframe applications. Due to regulations and privacy policies we are obviously very restricted on who can access, view or interact with customer data.”

– Service Manager Large Bank



As illustrated in Figure 8, 56% of survey participants said refreshing test data was a major challenge for their development organization. Successfully refreshing test data helps developers improve testing efficiencies while maintaining a consistent and manageable testing processes. In addition to refreshing test data, regulatory and compliance (45%) and large testing environments (45%) were top challenges for many of the study participants.

Figure 8: Top Challenges When Addressing Test Data Management and Privacy


In the study we also sought to understand the impact of Compuware’s tools on customers’ testing environments. Participants were asked to rank the importance of Compuware’s software on a variety of testing challenges—Figure 9 shows the results of this question. The majority of study participants, 75%, said Compuware tools are either critical or important in their efforts to validate test data. In addition, 72% of respondents reported Compuware’s tools are either critical or important for helping their team create test data. Finally, 70% of respondents said Compuware’s technology was critical or important for their organization to validate test data and understand data relationships.

75% of participants in the study said Compuware tools are either critical or important in their efforts to validate test data.



Figure 9: Impact of Compuware’s Software on Test Data Management and Privacy


Conclusion

Companies are at a crossroads: They appreciate the reliability, security and scalability of the mainframe to support mission critical workloads, but simultaneously, IT organizations are losing talented developers at an alarming rate, and the ability to find and train new developers on the mainframe has become a challenge. These companies have determined the approach provided by Compuware offers an effective way to move forward. Compuware’s tools are providing these IT leaders with a hybrid coding approach that enables developers to leverage their preferred languages within the context of the mainframe platform. This new generation of tools is allowing IT management to continue leveraging the mainframe to support mission critical workloads in a safe and scalable manner while attracting the talent needed.

The greatest benefits articulated by Compuware’s customers were straightforward: they want to normalize the mainframe so that it is an integral part of their IT platform moving forward. These managers want to make it easy to attract and train new developers by changing the mainframe from an isolated and esoteric platform to an essential component that supports business requirements for predictability and customer satisfaction.

Compuware’s tools are providing these IT leaders with a hybrid coding approach that enables developers to leverage their preferred languages within the context of the mainframe platform.

© Copyright 2016, Hurwitz & Associates

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About Hurwitz & Associates

Hurwitz & Associates is a strategy consulting, research and analyst firm that focuses on how technology solutions solve real world customer problems. Hurwitz research concentrates on disruptive technologies, such as Big Data and Analytics, Cognitive Computing, Security, Cloud Computing, Service Management, Information Management, Application Development and Deployment, and Collaborative Computing. Their experienced team merges deep technical and business expertise to deliver the actionable, strategic advice clients demand. Additional information on Hurwitz & Associates can be found at www.hurwitz.com.

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Mainframe Development Study: The Benefits of Agile ... · mainframe applications are often connected to other internal systems as well as partner and customer systems. Yet, many IT