Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Last Updated: 2024-03-26

Get answers to the frequently asked questions about IBM® watsonx Code Assistant for Z Refactoring Assistant.

Q: Why is IBM proposing the Z Refactoring Assistant solution?

A: Z Refactoring Assistant is proposed as a strategic enabler for incremental modernization that helps retain z Systems workload by modernizing in place.

  • Bringing IBM’s know-how and depth to help customers modernize. IBM is combining its know-how with the capabilities and depth of IBM Research to provide modern modernization experience for z Systems applications.
  • Responding to IBM's expectation for z Systems platform’s growth and promoting pragmatic modernization in place. Z Refactoring Assistant shows IBM’s commitment to its customers and to z Systems platform. It will create accumulative success stories to help z Systems customers modernize and expose services to cloud and as containers.
  • Starting modernization with small increments and POCs. Z Refactoring Assistant provides small teams the technology and design studio to succeed in small modernization and drive wider modernization in place.
  • Meeting the needs for isolating business logic from monolithic application that is complex and challenging. Z Refactoring Assistant provides insights and automation for isolating the relevant business logic code within a design studio experience that captures user decisions.

Q: When is it necessary to rebuild an ADDI project during the course of the modernization journey? What is the impact on the existing workbooks?

A: In some cases, you might need a project rebuild during analysis. Check the following cases and evaluate the impact of rebuilding projects.

  1. Some missed artifacts are identified during the initial build and as the team starts the analysis, they realize that they do have the artifacts available and can bring them in. It is recommended that all the possible artifacts should be brought in during the first build of ADDI. The build should be validated whether the call relationships, impact analysis, source files and so on are all showing up as expected. When you find the validation is satisfactory, you can start creating workbooks. Note that if you have created workbooks from an incomplete build and then you rebuild the same project, there is a chance that those workbooks might not reflect the most recent build data. In this case, you have to recreate the workbooks.
  2. A new release of ADDI with some desired features is available. In such cases, it is possible that what was not showing up as a key condition in Z Refactoring Assistant previously starts showing up. Or there were some missing relations in the data flow or control flow because those kinds of relations were not supported in the earlier version of ADDI analysis. Note that the existing workbooks cannot be modified. However, the workbooks are still valid and at best will not have that additional information that in many cases is just good-to-have. It is recommended to upgrade after completing an application or the business function that you started analyzing. This way, you can make sure that all workbooks for a function or application being built are using the same version of ADDI, which makes it easy to track. It is also recommended that you create a new workspace pointing to the same project to create workbooks by using the upgraded ADDI version.
  3. A new release of Z Refactoring Assistant that provides advanced features is available. While most features will work in a backward compatible manner, it is possible that you run into some issues while trying the new features on the old workbooks. Therefore, it is recommended to understand the impact on your existing workbooks before you install or upgrade to a new version of Z Refactoring Assistant.
  4. In some cases, you need to rebuild a project as part of the modernization journey because of the introduction of new service code. It is recommended to create new ADDI projects with the new COBOL generated files, which prevents an overwrite to the existing ADDI project DB data and ensures that your workbooks remain valid.

Q: How could I replicate a workbook?

A: To replicate a workbook, you can export the workbook first, and then import the previously exported workbook into your workspace. Note that the workbook replication will not work in the following cases:

  • You import a workbook into a workspace that is for a different project instead of the one for which the workbook was created. You must ensure that the workspace that you import a workbook into is for the same AD project.
  • You lack the permission to import a workbook. Although anyone in the workspace can export a workbook, only the owner of the workspace or those with the Import or Create permission can import a workbook.

While IBM values the use of inclusive language, terms that are outside of IBM's direct influence, for the sake of maintaining user understanding, are sometimes required. As other industry leaders join IBM in embracing the use of inclusive language, IBM will continue to update the documentation to reflect those changes.