AWS Transform: Accelerating COBOL Mainframe Modernization with AI

AWS Transform is a comprehensive platform designed to accelerate and ensure the success of mainframe application modernization, particularly for COBOL systems. It addresses the critical challenge by dividing modernization into two distinct phases: deterministic reverse engineering to understand existing systems, and forward engineering to build new applications. Unlike generic AI coding assistants that excel only at forward engineering, AWS Transform focuses on providing AI with the necessary context for accurate results.

Key features include building a complete, deterministic model of the application, where specialized agents extract code structure, runtime behavior, and data relationships across the entire system. It resolves “bounded, complete context” by identifying all implicit dependencies (copybooks, subroutines, JCL) before AI processing, and provides “platform-aware context” by resolving compiler and runtime-specific behaviors to prevent critical errors, especially in financial systems. Crucially, AWS Transform establishes a “traceable foundation,” ensuring every output has an auditable connection back to the original source, vital for regulatory compliance in sectors like banking and government.

AWS Transform prepares data for AI by decomposing large programs into manageable units, resolving platform specifics, and validating AI-extracted business logic against deterministic evidence. This end-to-end platform automates analysis, test planning, refactoring, and reimagination, supporting diverse modernization paths for entire application portfolios. Benefits are significant, with BMW Group reducing testing time by 75%, Fiserv cutting project timelines from 29 to 17 months, and Itau accelerating modernization by 75%. Its integrated test planning and on-prem data capture capabilities further streamline the process, making it a robust solution for large-scale enterprise transformation.

(Source: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/learnings-from-cobol-modernization-in-the-real-world/)