Fresche Solutions has added AI and a new web-based UI to its flagship application documentation and impact analysis product, X-Analysis, helping to transform how IBM i IT leaders approach application modernisation.
For years, IT teams have struggled with complex IBM i code, limited visibility, and slow development and modernisation projects.
Traditional IBM i development tools weren’t built to keep pace with today’s evolving demands on the IBM i enterprise with manual analysis no longer enough.
The good news?
With the integration of AI into X-Analysis, Fresche Solutions is eliminating bottlenecks and bringing intelligence-driven insights to the IBM i developer community.
Application documentation with X-Analysis
Andy Nicholson takes a deep dive into X-Analysis in this video – and there’s also a demonstration of the new AI feature in the video below:
X-Analysis itself has been supporting the IBM i community in application discovery and documentation for many years now.
It does this by building a repository of data on your IBM i landscape.
X-Analysis could be considered as akin to an MRI scanner for your IBM i estate. It forensically analyses your RPG and COBOL application and provides insightful analysis documentation and graphical representations of your IBM i applications.
This not only helps you know what is where, but also supports the UNDERSTANDING of your IBM i enterprise.
While X-Analysis is unrivalled in its ability to extract and document your IBM i applications, this information was largely limited to experienced users.
Now, powered by natural language processing and AI, the new X-Analysis lets you ask questions on your code – questions in plain English.
‘What programs use this file?’ and get understandable answers, in a natural, conversational manner.
This opens up your IT resource. Not just for developers, but for Project Managers, Business Analysts — even C-levels.
They can all get actionable insights from the same tool, without getting lost in the code.
Whether you’re tackling database redesigns, looking at an UI overhaul, or untangling a monolithic application, the AI-enabled X-Analysis will provide you with a clear, visual roadmap.
Look at it like getting a blueprint for your modernisation journey.
It’ll be like talking to a knowledgeable colleague. It’ll be comprehensive, understandable and quick.
In fact, moving to their platform, in some cases, Fresche have recorded more than a 10x in response speeds against the legacy system.
Andy Nicholson, Proximity’s Sales Director, caught up with Steve Cast, Fresche’s newly appointed Practice Director, to discuss the new AI-powered X-Analysis product.
Steve explained that the new release of X-Analysis “will allow you to understand your RPG code and your DB2 for i database as you currently do within X-Analysis in a kind of graphical format but being able to ask intelligent questions of the AI agent that has been built into X-Analysis.”
One of the key benefits of the AI-enabled interface is making accessing information much faster and easier.
“Rather than you having to know the right question to ask, and that’s what has always been the problem with X-Analysis, in that all the information is there in the repository but sometimes being able to find it, you’ve got to almost point and click and hope for the best” explained Steve.
“The new AI enabled X-Analysis provides a much simpler interface. So, the same great repository information that X-Analysis has always built for us, but being able to interpret the information in a way that is more interactive and more intuitive for us to use.”
Steve also confirmed that the new release won’t be the only Fresche product that will be treated to a new UI and be AI-enabled:
“This is the direction of travel for Fresche Solutions. We’re making sure we AI-enable the tooling that we have. So I think you can probably guess that X-Analysis is not the only tool that’s going to be AI enabled – there’s more to come on that. I’ve seen sneak previews of our AI enablement of some of those other tools.
“Testing would be an obvious one to be looking at. Watch this space!”
Fresche’s AI-enhanced X-Analysis stands as a significant advancement in IBM i application discovery and understanding.
It offers IBM i shops a smarter, faster, and more accessible path to support and modernise their legacy systems.
Contact us to learn more about the new AI-enabled X-Analysis
Interested in reading more about X-Analysis?
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