Course – Legacy Modernization
Mainframe Modernization, Rules Mining & AI-Assisted Transformation
2-Month Program Intermediate / Advanced Classroom / Live Virtual
Duration
2-Month Corporate Program
Level
Intermediate / Advanced
Format
Classroom / Live Virtual
Domain
Mainframe & AI-Assisted Modernization
Training Methodology
Learning by Doing
Every session in this program is built around hands-on execution, not passive slides — you leave having built something, not just watched a demo.
01
Explore
Hands-on labs from Day 1 — real or sandboxed environments, not slide decks.
02
Experiment
Work against scenarios that mirror your actual stack.
03
Engage
Solve real business problems in every session, not toy examples.
04
Apply
Capstone exercises tied to your team’s actual workflows.
Who This Is For
What You’ll Be Able to Do
- Read, maintain, and modernize mission-critical mainframe applications in COBOL, VSAM, DB2, and JCL
- Extract and document business rules and dependencies from existing mainframe code
- Assess modernization strategy using the 6R framework (replatform, refactor, rehost, etc.)
- Expose mainframe functionality via REST APIs and cloud integration (z/OS Connect, webMethods EntireX, CICS web services)
- Apply AI tools — including GitHub Copilot — for rules mining and COBOL modernization, and migrate DB2 workloads to Oracle on AWS
Prerequisites
- Prior exposure to enterprise application development or maintenance
- Basic understanding of relational databases and batch processing concepts
- Comfort with reading structured/procedural code
- Interest in legacy-to-cloud modernization (mainframe experience helpful, not required)
Curriculum
Weeks 1–2
Mainframe & COBOL Foundation
- Mainframe architecture overview and COBOL program structure
- Data types, PIC clauses, COMP, COMP-3
- Working Storage and Linkage Section; COBOL coding standards
- PERFORM variations, tables and OCCURS, EVALUATE vs IF
- Copybooks and structured programming
Weeks 3–4
File Handling, VSAM, DB2 & JCL
- Sequential files and VSAM KSDS
- File processing patterns, restart and recovery, performance optimization
- Embedded SQL, cursors and joins, DB2 performance
- JCL fundamentals, SORT, utilities, and batch flow
Weeks 5–6
Rules Mining & Modernization Strategy
- Business rule extraction and dependency analysis
- Copybook mapping and JCL flow analysis
- 6R strategy framework — replatform vs refactor
- Configuration-driven applications and modernization assessment
Weeks 7–8
API Enablement, AI & Migration Capstone
- REST APIs, IBM z/OS Connect, webMethods EntireX, CICS web services, JSON processing
- AI for rules mining and GitHub Copilot for COBOL
- DB2 to Oracle migration — AWS Direct Connect, EC2, Oracle RDS
Labs: Final capstone presentation applying rules mining, API enablement, and AI-assisted migration to a real modernization scenario.
Delivery Details
- Delivered as classroom or live virtual instructor-led over an 8-week corporate program
- Closes with hands-on use of AI tools for COBOL and a capstone modernization project
- Labs are illustrative and may vary by trainer approach, participant profile, and platform access