Transform the business logic hidden in your mainframe and legacy applications into an AI-ready semantic twin.
eXplain creates the trusted foundation for modernization, transformation and enterprise AI.
Make Legacy and Mainframe Systems AI-Ready
AI needs context
Modern AI models can explain single code fragments. They cannot reliably understand enterprise systems without business and runtime context.
Business logic is your real asset
Decades of business knowledge are hidden inside COBOL, RPG, PL/I and Natural applications.
eXplain creates an AI-ready semantic twin
Transform legacy systems into a structured, semantically enriched knowledge model that enables trusted AI-powered modernization.
Understand Your Legacy. Enable AI.
Analysis and Understanding for IBM Z and IBM i Applications
Legacy applications usually have a bad reputation. But behind the seemingly old and dusty code lies a legacy load that is usually more valuable than initially assumed. You will find out what you really have in your inventory when you want to get rid of legacy applications. But what makes an application a legacy application? eXplain and our consulting services are your key to getting the true perspective! Step inside and find out more!
eXplain in numbers:
100 %
Coverage of your technological peculiarities through customizable parser
Up to 40 %
Reduction of legacy source code through intelligent death code detection
< 12 month
Reach ROI within the first year of use
3x
Triple value through technical, professional and qualitative analysis
Our happy customers on IBM Z (System z) and IBM Power i (AS400):
eXplain is the ‘radar’ for AI. It provides the structured metadata that an LLM needs to operate without errors.
eXplain at a glance
eXplain is the market-leading tool for transforming your legacy software. Whether you need to replace, redevelop, or simply modernize specific aspects: with eXplain, the specialized code analyzer for IBM Z (mainframe) and IBM Power i (AS400), you ensure project success and accelerate the onboarding of new employees by up to 50%. First, all relevant program sources are uploaded to the eXplain server – the unique feature: eXplain does not need to be installed on the host. The repository on the eXplain server serves as the central knowledge hub. It is fed by the outputs of the eXplain parsers and can be enriched with additional information via open APIs. Developers can access the repository for various analysis use cases through the eXplain client or execute their own SQL queries. The following figures provide an overview of the typical setup and the special features of the eXplain technology:
| Programming languages | Databases | Scheduler | Transaction monitors |
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As the eXplain technology is fully developed and supported by PKS, customised extensions are possible at any time. Please do not hesitate to contact us!
Please note, however, that Java and C/C++ are not supported by eXplain.
Use case: Fully penetrate the code technically
- The parsing of all code artefacts and the structure of the meta-database (eXplain Repository) enable comprehensible visualisation and a 360-degree view of complex application systems.
- Developers recognise connections and data flows, redundancies and inconsistencies in the code, which speeds up project work by around 30% and even makes it possible to train new employees twice as quickly.
- Thanks to PKS's own YYOP basic technology, customised constellations such as macros or generated code as well as dynamic calls can also be resolved in a meaningful way.
- All interactive display variants can also be made available offline, e.g. as an HTML report, or exported in a Bafin-compliant format.
Use case: Understand the applications technically and structure them in a business-relevant way
- Is based on the source code analysis, but enriches it with the possibility of structuring the technical artefacts from a business perspective and thus creates a link between technical reality and the business view.
- Is the basis for clean component cuts and interface analyses in the context of decoupling and componentisation projects.
- Enables a shared view of the applications for developers, architects, project managers and specialist departments and thus leads to efficient, error-free communication and holistic decisions in legacy modernisation
- Non-relevant areas can also be easily identified and isolated so that the focus can be placed on the key challenges.
Use case: Make the quality of the code visible and optimize it
- eXplain supports both the typical quality rules of the supported programming languages as well as the metrics known in computer science and presents these in a sensibly compressed and appealing graphical format in relation to the relevant code subsets in the so-called QA dashboard.
- This makes it possible to measure the complexity of legacy applications and their level of maturity, but also to show the progress of modernisation measures. This also supports clean code development.
- The collaboration between different internal and external development teams can be standardised with the QA dashboard in terms of programming guidelines and architectural principles, thereby ensuring the maintainability, reusability and comprehensibility of the source code.
Use case: Enable performance improvements in batch (only available for IBM Z / mainframe applications)
- Information from common schedulers can also be integrated into eXplain and their job networks visualised.
- On the one hand, this enables the proactive optimisation of time-critical processes, but also helps to speed up impact analyses in the event of reactive errors.
- Paired with MSU key figures, cost savings can also be identified.
Use case: The software assessment
- With eXplain, not only can the effort and runtime of software assessments be reduced, but the quality of the results can also be significantly increased.
- eXplain provides special reports that fully check the code for the issues relevant to assessments and provide project participants with reliable recommendations for action.
Become a Partner!
Are you interested in becoming a distribution partner for eXplain? We look forward to hearing from you! As a distribution partner, you'll benefit from our innovative products and comprehensive support. Contact us today to learn more about the advantages and opportunities of partnering with eXplain. Together, we can achieve great things! Use the contact form on our website or call us directly. We are excited about a successful collaboration!
Your advantages with eXplain, the market-leading code analysis tool, at a glance
Save money and gain speed
Benefit from the best price-performance ratio on the market: analyse faster and visualise better than you could with IT Panorama, Enterprise Analyzer, ADDI, SonarQube, Cast, Cornerstone or Natural Engineer.
Controlling risks and utilising expertise
Reduce the risks of legacy transformation and avoid bad investments. Numerous references from well-known companies and major customers secure your decision in favour of eXplain.
Inspire your employees: from under 20 to over 60 years old
Bring your teams together with eXplain and eliminate the risk of misunderstandings in communication and project work with a clear view of the technical and functional relationships in your legacy code.
Transforming legacy into innovation
With eXplain, you can rely on the most modern and innovative analysis and reengineering software on the market. Thanks to eXplain, you can solve your tricky legacy problems and have full energy for new topics.
The eXplain Whitepaper:
Download our brand new whitepaper to get a detailed insight into how eXplain can support your transformation projects.
One of the biggest challenges in the maintenance of grown Cobol applications is the training of new employees in existing projects. With eXplain, we are able to integrate new employees into ongoing development projects much more quickly and efficiently. As a result, we gain speed, increase quality for our customers and at the same time save on training costs. eXplain has become an indispensable part of our Cobol tool chain.
Dieter Kölbl
T-Systems International GmbH
PKS’s eXplain enabled us to identify a considerable portion of code in our Natural and COBOL-based core banking system that was no longer needed, so we could fundamentally clean up and clear out the system. In addition, the documentation that was created automatically by eXplain meets our auditing requirements fully. Those are just two of the ways that eXplain supports us in our Core Banking System Stabilization project. I’d also like to highlight how pleasant it was to work with the expert PKS team, and how we appreciated the flexibility as we worked on the project, so we could always take Helaba-specific requirements into account.
Stephan Böcher
Group Lead Application Development
Helaba-Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen
The use of eXplain has taken us to a new level in several respects - we are not only more innovative, but also save time and money through the automated creation of documentation. In addition, the clustering function in particular will enable us to have a better view of our broad-based software components in the future. Working with eXplain is a complete enrichment for our daily business.
Thomas Glaser
DPD Deutschland GmbH
Software Development Central Database
At Wesco, we generally rely on Infor XA as our central ERP program. However, we have made extensive customizations over the decades and have also developed numerous RPG programs of our own. We have been using the PKS tool eXplain for several years to keep track of this and to be able to act quickly and purposefully, especially when changes are necessary. With eXplain, development is simply easier for us, dependencies are recognizable at a glance and the implementation of changes is very reliable. We can recommend eXplain and PKS as a company unconditionally.
Markus Strotmeyer
IT / Organization
M. Westermann & Co. GmbH
eXplain – What's new
What's new – Release 8.4
- GOTO analysis
- Graphical representation of tags and GOTOs in the new GOTO navigator
- Marking and tracking of GOTOs directly in the source
- Improved zooming with the mouse wheel in the graphs
- PDF user report
What's new – Release 8.3
- eXplain system initialization
- Shortcuts for defined eXplain actions
- Application documentation: Dynasmic execution via a configurable user report
- Source Compare: eXplain offers the possibility to display 2 files in Eclipse's own diff tool
- Source Explorer: Hits can now be displayed in a grid via the context menu
- User Multi Queries (UMQ): A Source Explorer search can be performed in the UserMultiQueries
- User Report: Another graph for ProcessFlow has been implemented. Syntax highlighting for more convenient use
- COPY modules in the IFS: eXplain now also supports the evaluation of COPY routes that are located in the IFS
What's new – Release 8.2
- Function neighborhood (actually "routine neighborhood") can be opened directly in the grid for a selection
- Saving and loading analysis collections
- Jump from editor for a selected function / routine to the declaring source location
- Sankey graphs in UserReports
- Consolidation of line counts in the source code / adjustment of module metrics
- Times of downstream analysis steps are explicitly stored in the repo and can be viewed in the diagnostics view
Do you have specific questions or want to find out more?
Get in touch now and book a one-to-one consultation.
We’ll start with a discovery session to discuss your requirements and find out whether and how we can help you. Based on that, we’ll organize the next steps for you, such as product demos, reference contacts or consulting sessions.
PKS has been active in the market since 1991 and focuses on business-critical individual software, especially on IBM Power i (AS400) and IBM Z (mainframe). Up to now, this has made a significant contribution to the success of many companies. Now, however, due to generational change, the cloud transformation and other business and other business needs.
This is exactly where PKS comes in: No matter if you want to modernise or replace - or if you still have to find out.With us, you will find and implement the optimal path. Because we speak plain language and implement.
Contact
PKS Software GmbH
Georgstraße 15
DE-88214 Ravensburg
Tel: + 49 751 56140-0
Mail: [email protected]
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