User Guide

Start in 3 steps

Nothing to install. You need a web browser and a free account. Without an account you can look at the sample programs, but not analyze your own code.

The workspace

The app has three columns. Work from left to right: choose what to do, add the code, read the result.

Finding a mode

Modes are grouped by what you want to do: Understand this code, Find problems, See connections, Convert, Write COBOL and Reports to share. After you add code, the sidebar suggests modes for that file type: a copybook suggests Copybook, JCL suggests JCL Analyzer, two or more programs suggest Dependency Graph and Cross-Program Audit. You can also type in the search box, for example "convert".

COBI, the follow-up assistant

Click COBI at the bottom right to ask about the code you loaded or the result you got: what a paragraph does, what a COMP-3 field holds, why a finding was raised, or what to check next. COBI keeps the context of your current session. A free account includes 2 COBI questions a day.

Which mode to use

Start from the question you need answered.

What you get

Every mode writes its result in the output panel. Here is what each kind of result contains and how to keep it.

Reports to share

1. Portfolio Decision Status: candidate disposition and evidence per program
2. Executive Brief, with Known Unknowns and a Board Brief
3. Plain English Explanation per program
4. System Architecture and call relationships
5. Bug and Risk Report
6. Architecture Evaluation with validation questions
7. Technical Documentation
8. Modernization Validation Plan: evidence and tests needed before a decision
9. Binary Portability Findings (COMP-5, packed decimal)
10. JCL and Dataset Inventory, when JCL is included
11. HLASM Modules, when assembler is included
12. Language Environment runtime options, when LE markers are found

Keeping and sharing results

• Copy puts the result on your clipboard.
• Download saves a self-contained HTML report that opens in any browser, offline.
• With several files, Download gives a ZIP: one result per program, variable_trace.csv with the combined field mappings, and README.txt with the mode, files and time.
• Clear View, CICS Transaction Flow and Convert to Jazz have their own download buttons, and a COBI conversation can be downloaded too.

Enterprise Assessment deliverables

For a whole portfolio, the Enterprise Assessment runs an offline Scanner inside your environment. Raw source stays with you; only a validated evidence package is shared. It produces a Decision Brief for leaders, a Technical Appendix for engineers and Provenance showing where each conclusion comes from, packaged as a Decision Pack, Technical Pack or Complete Pack. See the sample deliverable or plan an assessment.

All modes

Every mode, in the same groups as the app. BETA modes are still being refined; check their output with extra care. MULTI-FILE modes need two or more files.

Files you can add

The app recognizes over 30 file extensions, and reads the content when the extension is unknown.

Limits

• Free account: one file at a time, up to 50 KB.
• Paid pilot: larger files, several files at once, and ZIP archives.

Files that are skipped

Documentation and data files are recognized and left out, with the reason listed under "Files Not Analyzed" in the report, so you can see every uploaded file was accounted for: .md .rst .adoc .html .pdf .docx .doc .odt .rtf .log .out .err .csv .json .xml .yaml .yml.

With several files, each report starts with a files line: Analyzing N migration units from M uploaded files. K supporting artifacts. L files not analyzed.

Better results

A few habits make the output more precise.

1. Upload a program together with its copybooks. Field sizes and types come from the copybooks; without them the engine has to say a layout is unknown.
2. Set the compiler when you know it. Open Compiler settings in the sidebar to choose the dialect (IBM z/OS, Rocket Enterprise Suite including products formerly sold as Micro Focus Enterprise products, or GnuCOBOL) and TRUNC. Detection from the source is a guide, not proof.
3. Add the JCL that runs a batch program to see datasets, steps and utilities in context.
4. For a bug ticket, run Bug Finder on the program, then ask COBI about the paragraph or field in the ticket.
5. Enter a client or project name above the code so downloaded reports carry the right heading.
6. Check before acting. Findings and conversions point you to the right lines; confirm them in the code and in testing before changing production.

Plans and limits

Current prices are on the pricing page.

Uses reset at midnight UTC. The sidebar shows how many you have left today.

How your code is handled

The 7 Rs

Source analysis can suggest a technical candidate. A final 7 Rs disposition requires the business, operational, dependency, target fit and owner evidence listed here; until then it is reported as not established.

Questions

Support

Email support@cobolintel.com for help with the app, billing or an assessment. Enterprise customers have a named support contact.