COBOL is older than the internet and still processes an enormous share of the world's business transactions. Australian enterprises and government agencies running COBOL systems face a specific challenge: the developers who understand these systems are retiring faster than they can be replaced.

The COBOL problem

COBOL systems were built to last — and they did. The problem is that “lasting” has turned into “nobody understands it anymore.”

Common situations:

• The COBOL developers who built and maintained the system have retired or are close to it
• The system runs on aging hardware or mainframe infrastructure that is expensive to maintain
• Business requirements have changed but nobody is confident enough to modify the code
• The organisation wants to migrate to a modern platform but the COBOL system contains decades of undocumented business logic

COBOL programs are often dense with business rules — tax calculations, benefits logic, financial processing — that were encoded once and never documented. Modernizing a COBOL system without first understanding what it does is how migrations fail.

What I do

• Analysis and documentation of COBOL program logic and business rules
• Data extraction from VSAM, flat files, and other legacy data formats
• Business rule documentation in plain language for handoff to modern developers
• Modernization options — re-host, re-platform, or rewrite
• Migration planning with phased approach and risk assessment

What I need

• Access to the COBOL source code (preferred) or the running system
• Sample data or data file schemas
• Any available documentation, however partial
• Context on what the system does and what processes it supports

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