A group of experts in the documentation and reverse engineering of RPGIII, RPGLE(fixed and free format), COBOL & SQL applications, have collaborated, to produce a totally new analysis tool. Designed to facilitate all the new language features of the past 20 years. All the relevant tools currently in this space were originally designed before ILE , before modules, and before SQL. They have all been modified to accommodate, but are unfortunately limited by the original design. Today’s applications require some serious restructuring in order to evolve and meet modern expectations.
Data-driven, data-centric, data scientist, data engineer, all things data depend on constraints and trigger programs. Why would you keep duplicating your efforts in a program-centric way when the logic could be consolidated at the file level? In order to derive a proper data model, it is necessary to know the origins of the fields used to do the CHAIN or READ. That means following them backward threw called programs, modules, renames, data structures, and work fields. Existing tools, simply are not capable of this. They may claim to derive a data model but they make a lot of assumptions to get there.
Sapphire Analysis is documentation designed for modern applications. Built to deal with the challenges currently confronting IBM i developers
The graphical interface makes complex relationships in IBM i applications easy to understand by giving you a visual rendering of objects from multiple points of view.
Publish the design model
The complete application design is extracted from the CA 2E model and presented in an interactive and graphical analysis tool making it available to developers and analysts.
View business rules
A highly structured repository of business rules written in easily readable pseudo code provides a basis for all ongoing activity: modernization and maintenance, rewriting and reengineering, all types of audits, etc.
Understand code quality
Complexity metrics enable managers of CA 2E applications to measure, monitor and proactively manage complexity and changes to the applications, leading to less testing and faster development.
Improve planning
A wide array of detailed code metrics help you understand where the most complex code in the system resides and plan accordingly for development and testing time and resources.
Understand change impact
Powerful impact analysis lets you see every place where an object is used. A single click gives you a list or graphic of every object that has a relationship with the object you clicked.
Educate the organization
Documentation is easily exported to other formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel or Visio for easy sharing to open up the application design throughout your organization.
Easily identify problems
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What do you expect from your documentation tool?
Traditional definition is cross referencing, which is great for maintaining an existing application with no requirements to modernize. Depending on your definition of modernizing you can get various levels of assistance from documentation. The major expectation of documentation is to understand what you have so as to reduce the time and effort required to get to where you want to be.
I’m proud to say that I’m part of the development team of the insanely efficient new documentation tool for the IBM i (formerly AS/400). Designed to analyze RPG RPGIII, RPGLE, (free & fixed format) COBOL & SQL.
I declare Sapphire Analysis to be the new standard for documentation on IBM i. The graphical representation simplifies understanding complex applications. The intuitive UI interface makes it easy to locate and examine program logic.
In a perfect world, you would have an I/O server directing the data requests with trigger programs enforcing the business rules. This structure provides consistency by consolidating the GRUD logic into one place and negates the need to recreate & maintain it in multiple programs
The derived Data Model provides the exact information needed to add constraints to your DB which will negate the need to do so in the programs.
The extracted Business Rules are exactly what is needed to build trigger programs which will avoid the problems associated with doing it in multiple programs.
From impact analysis to advanced modernization support, Sapphire analysis is ready to take it on.Contact me or visit our website.