Generating impact analysis

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IBM Bob Premium Package for Z enables you to generate comprehensive impact analysis for proposed mainframe codebase changes (COBOL, PL/I, JCL, Assembler, REXX) to analyze or assess the impact before refactoring or modernization.

In Z Architect mode, impact analysis is performed using the impact-analysis skill, which provides a comprehensive, structured approach to analyzing how proposed changes will affect your mainframe system. This skill identifies affected components, traces dependencies, assesses risks, and produces structured impact reports with visual diagrams showing change propagation.

How to generate an impact analysis

To generate an impact analysis, complete the following steps:

  1. Open IBM® Bob workspace with all extensions installed and select the Z Architect mode.
  2. In the Bob Chat window, select the prompt or type your request. For example:
    Analyze the impact of changing the CUSTOMER-ID field from 8 to 10 digits in CUSTUPDT.cbl

    Alternately, type /impact-analysis followed by your query or the file/code you want to analyze.

  3. Select any one of the following:
    • Z Understand Service - Uses IBM Z Understand for comprehensive cross-application analysis
    • Local Workspace Analysis - Analyzes files in your current workspace
    Note: If you choose the Local Workspace Analysis, the system calls execute_sql_query (NL2SQL tool) to auto generate queries using the local database.
  4. IBM Bob Premium Package for Z gathers information about
    • Proposed change details
    • Affected programs and components
    • System dependencies
    • Data structures involved
  5. System performs multi-level analysis (code, application, system, and operation) and traces dependencies.
  6. It generates a comprehensive report in the following location: .bobz/impact-analysis/[change-name]-[timestamp]/IMPACT-ANALYSIS.md.

Tools

To know about the tools used by IBM Bob Premium Package for Z to generate an impact analysis, see Using workflows, skills, tools, and commands.

Sample prompts

You can use the following sample prompts to generate impact analysis:

  • Analyze the impact of <proposed change>
  • What will be affected if I modify <component>?
  • Analyze the impact of changing <variable/field> in <program-name>
  • Create an impact assessment for <proposed change>
  • Impact analysis for adding <new feature>