Compuware continues to lead in Agile DevOps for the mainframe

By Rich Ptak

Image courtesy of Compuware, Inc.

Compuware continues to add to and extend its mainframe solutions as it advances in its campaign to mainstream the mainframe. This time with two major innovations that help their customers preserve, advance and protect their mainframe investments.

Before we get into the innovations, we want to mention Electric Cloud, a new partner, who proactively integrated their service through the Compuware open API. This is the latest example of how Compuware takes an open borders approach where they integrate with a variety of solutions to help customers build out their DevOps toolchains. 

Now, onto the announcements. First, a new product, Compuware zAdviser. It leverages machine learning and intelligent analysis for continuous mainframe DevOps improvements. This new capability provides development managers with multi-level analysis of tool usage and performance data. They focus on the critical DevOps KPI’s (key performance indicators) of application quality, development team efficiency and velocity. All are also key to agile development. Even better, the product is free to Compuware customers. 

Second, is a new GUI for Compuware’s ThruPut Manager, which provides intuitive, actionable insight into how batch jobs are being initiated and executed, as well as their impact on cost. Users can leverage graphical visualizations of batch jobs that are waiting to execute and when they might run. In-depth detail on why a job has been waiting can also be easily obtained.

zAdviser + KPIs + Measurement = Success

Mainframe KPIs are a must if organizations want to successfully compete in the digital age. After all, you can’t improve what you can’t measure and if you’re not continuously improving, you are wasting your time and worse, your customers’ time. Teams must also be able to prioritize and measure the KPIs that will directly impact development and business outcomes. 

A Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Compuware found that over 70% of firms responding had critical customer-facing services reliant on mainframe operations. Providing the customer with an exceptional experience, not simply good, clean code, has become the new measure of operational success.

According to a recent Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Compuware, enterprises are doing a good job of tracking application quality, but they are considerably less concerned with efficiency and velocity. However, in order to modernize their application development strategies to keep pace with changing market conditions, firms must place as much focus on velocity and efficiency as they do quality.

Compuware zAdviser uses machine-learning to identify patterns that impact quality, velocity and efficiency of mainframe development by exposing correlations between a customer’s Compuware product usage and the KPIs. Equipped with empirical data, IT leadership can identify what capabilities within the tools developers can exploit to become better developers.   The day of beating the drum to go faster are long gone with the machine learning. 

ThruPut Manager: Visualization for Batch Execution

Compuware’s ThruPut Manager brought automated optimization to batch processing. ThruPut Manager allocates resource decisions by balancing the needs of multiple interested parties. It involves cost-benefit tradeoffs between risks and costs, such as risking SLA (service level agreement) violations of timely service delivery to avoid a costly increase in software MLC (monthly license cost) charges.

Compuware reports that batch processing jobs account for about 50% of mainframe workloads!

Today’s complex environments compound the problem with a bewildering number of choices, combinations and alternatives to consider in making these decisions. The amount of data, competing interests and number of options means it takes years of experience to achieve even a reasonable level of competence at this task. Further, a lack of such seasoned staff means that these operationally critical decisions are now being left to new-to-the-mainframe staffs lacking that experience.

ThruPut Manager’s new web interface provides operations staff with a visual representation of intelligible information of the cost/benefit tradeoffs as they work to optimize workload timing and resource performance.

In combination with Compuware Strobe, ops staff can more easily identify potential issues. They can manage and balance competing metrics relating to cost, resource allocation, service policies and customer interests to make the best decisions for optimizing the workloads, as well as application performance.

A big part of ThruPut Manager’s advantage is the multiple drill-down views it provides. Starting with an overview, which displays data about the General Services and Productions Services queue, users can drill down to a detailed view of specific job data and job history, as well as where work is getting selected. The GUI also collects and displays the R4HA information for the last eight hours. And, if the Automated Capacity Management feature is constraining less important workload to mitigate the R4HA, this will be displayed on the graph. 

The Final Word

Mainframe workloads continue to increase even as experts steadily leave the workforce and responsibilities shift to mainframe-inexperienced staff. Organizations must constantly work to modernize mainframe environments and remove impediments to innovation to not only increase their business agility, but also attract a new generation of staff to the platform.

Compuware zAdviser provides concrete data that allows mainframe staff to link the results of actions taken to improve performance based on KPI measurements. DevOps management and staff have access to intelligible, visual information on the impact of those changes in detail. 

Compuware ThruPut Manager provides much needed clarity and insight to fine-tune batch execution for optimal value easing budget stresses while fulfilling business imperatives.

These products provide strong evidence of Compuware’s ability to create innovative ways to identify and resolve challenges in mainframe development, management and operations that have long been barriers to its wider use. The entire team deserves a salute for their 14^th consecutive quarter of very agile delivery of solutions that are driving the mainframe more and more into the mainstream of 21^st century computing. Congratulations once again for your efforts.