Compuware has introduced zAdviser, an innovative product that uses machine learning to continuously measure and improve an organization’s mainframe DevOps processes and development outcomes. Based on key performance indicators (KPIs), zAdviser measures application quality, as well as development velocity and the efficiency of a development team—empowering enterprise IT leaders to make evidence-based decisions in support of their continuous improvement efforts. zAdviser is free for Compuware customers on current maintenance.
zAdviser leverages a set of analytic models that uncover correlations between mainframe developer behaviors and mainframe DevOps KPIs. These correlations represent the best available empirical evidence regarding the impact of process, training and tooling decisions on digital business outcomes. With this empirical evidence and associated recommendations, managers can make high-impact decisions about their mainframe DevOps methods with vastly improved speed and confidence.
Enterprises that outsource mainframe development can also reap significant value from zAdviser by using the analytical results to continuously achieve better business outcomes over time.
Improvements in mainframe DevOps is an imperative for large enterprises, which are becoming more dependent on mainframe applications—not less. According to a recent Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Compuware, 57 percent of enterprises with a mainframe run more than half of their business-critical workloads on the platform. That percentage is expected to increase to 64 percent by 2019, while at the same time enterprises are failing to replace the expert mainframe workforce they have lost by attrition.
According to the study, “As mainframe workload increases—driven by modern analytics, blockchain and more mobile activity hitting the platform—customer-obsessed companies should seek to modernize application delivery and remove roadblocks to innovation.”
The Forrester Consulting study also highlights the importance of responding to these challenges with empirical insight: “KPIs like mean lead time, number of epics per deployment, and metrics that drive automation will harness velocity and efficiency, even as the skills gap of the workforce expands.” The full study can be accessed here.
Compuware has been helping their customers qualify, quantify and increase the value derived from their Compuware products through its Value Improvement Program (VIP) for over 15 years. zAdviser is the next step in the evolution of the VIP and evidence-based mainframe process improvement, leveraging these years of experience helping enterprises modernize mainframe DevOps and improve mainframe staff performance.
zAdviser data inputs include both 1) metrics captured from Compuware tools, including behavioral data relating to feature utilization and 2) data captured from the customer’s DevOps toolchain.
By aggregating input from customer sites across industries and around the world, Compuware is building the industry’s richest repository of mainframe DevOps data—which combined with advanced machine learning methods generates unmatched insight for enterprise IT leaders.
"Our mainframe applications continue to play a critical role in delivering an excellent customer experience,” said Steve Kalkowski, Assistant Vice President, The Hartford. “A product like Compuware zAdviser will give us the advanced analytics we need to drive our efforts towards improving developer speed and quality as we transition to an agile delivery model.”
Compuware today also announced a new ThruPut Manager web interface that provides mainframe staff with visually intuitive insight into how batch jobs are being initiated and executed—as well as the impact of those jobs on mainframe software licensing costs.
“Enterprises cannot afford to be even slightly complacent about the speed and excellence with which they update and evolve the core business logic of their mainframe applications,” said Compuware CEO Chris O’Malley. “With zAdviser, Compuware is now offering a powerful, fact-based resource for IT leaders at the world’s largest corporations to lead their critical mainframe modernization efforts—and to thereby sustainably derive maximum business value from their investments in mainframe hardware, applications and talent.”
