DEVOPSdigest

Compuware and SonarSource are helping large enterprises protect and increase the long-term value of their mainframe applications by 1) giving mainframe-inexperienced developers with mainstream programming skills the ability to rapidly deliver quality COBOL code and 2) simplifying smart management of agile mainframe development activities.

Both these capabilities are essential for enterprises with mainframes. The first is essential because enterprises must more frequently update their legacy applications to fulfill rapidly changing business requirements — even as their experienced COBOL programmers retire. By integrating Compuware Topaz Workbench—an intuitive Eclipse-based environment for mainframe source-code editing, debugging, and tuning — with SonarSource’s SonarLint, which automatically discovers defects introduced into COBOL code, the companies are enabling IT to assign vital mainframe tasks to mainstream-skilled developers without putting application integrity at risk.

The second is essential because IT managers need clear visibility into individual, team, and project metrics as they seek to increase the agility of their mainframe environments and aggressively shift responsibility for COBOL development to programmers with little or no mainframe experience. Leveraging Jenkins for continuous integration and integrating Topaz Workbench with SonarSource’s SonarQube — a popular dashboard for tracking defects, complexity and technical debt — these managers can more easily keep projects on schedule and address shortfalls in developer performance.

“Large enterprises must move quickly to safeguard the long-term integrity of their mainframe applications as their senior COBOL specialists retire — and they must more aggressively leverage their mainframe application logic to enhance their digital customer engagement,” said Compuware CEO Chris O’Malley. “Compuware and SonarSource are helping large enterprises achieve these objectives by empowering their existing IT staffs to more rapidly, effectively, and efficiently enhance mainframe code.”

“Compuware has a great vision for bringing mainframe application development, data management, and platform operations into the mainstream of agile enterprise DevOps,” said Olivier Gaudin, CEO, SonarSource. “SonarSource is contributing to the fulfillment of that vision by providing our mutual customers with the continuous automated code quality and project management they need to increase their mainframe agility without compromising their mainframe integrity.”

“In software development, our agility is only as nimble as its slowest link. The time has come for the convergence of the mainframe and distributed systems DevOps processes,” said Mike Wells, Director Software Development at Ameritas. “Compuware and SonarSource are enabling us to do exactly that by giving us tools with functionality and look-and-feel our Java development teams utilize every day.”