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Business Rule extraction


IBM Mainframe Forums -> CLIST & REXX
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frozenblood
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:06 am
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Hi,
I am currently working on building a logic to extract business rules from a COBOL program. My first step to this approach is to search for all variables being used in a program and trace them backwards to understand how they are getting populated.
I have written a simple REXX to search for variables being used in a program but having difficulties in trying to trace them back to procedure division/initialization and require your help in this regard. Can anyone provide me an idea how I can accomplish this and make it generic. Really appreciate if someone who has tried this in the past can share some thoughts.
Thanks
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Robert Sample

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:45 pm
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I'm not sure what you're doing makes a whole lot of sense; I really don't think you asking questions so early in the process makes sense since it appears you lack the knowledge needed to do the task properly.

Wouldn't it make more sense to use the compile output? With the proper compile option, the compiler generates a list of variables along with each line the variable is referenced on. You don't have to worry about your REXX code expanding copy books to find variables, as an added bonus of using the compile output.
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Bill Woodger

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:02 pm
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I agree with Robert. The compiler listing "normalises" things like data-definitions, gives you a cross-reference with an indicator of lines where a field changes, note (real) "nesting" levels for conditions, and much, much, more.

Don't try to write a compiler yourself, in Rexx, when 97% (a guess) of what you want is already in the compiler listing, and your just need to apply yourself to interpreting that.
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Rohit Umarjikar

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:40 pm
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Quote:
Can anyone provide me an idea how I can accomplish this and make it generic
You don't have to. I would start with Job scheduler to trace it backwards manually ,because the field may be populating by a SORT or any non cobol program so REXX wouldn't know that and you will miss it. We have had a migration project where few jobs were decommissioned and moved to Data warehousing jobs and it took us 4-6 months for few applications to migrate. You fully cannot automate this task. I am not sure who instructed you to do this but you should have reasons and downsides to tell them back why it is risky and waste of time to do this automated.
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enrico-sorichetti

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:56 pm
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Quote:
business rules


define exactly what You/Your-organisation mean by business rules

it' s meaning can range from little
( I would consider a cross reference of the record fields with usage a minimum )
to a full business logic
( there are product who claim to be able to extract down to the algorithmic part of the code )
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frozenblood
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 6:35 am
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enrico-sorichetti wrote:
Quote:
business rules


define exactly what You/Your-organisation mean by business rules

it' s meaning can range from little
( I would consider a cross reference of the record fields with usage a minimum )
to a full business logic
( there are product who claim to be able to extract down to the algorithmic part of the code )


Thanks Enrico. You're correct business rules can encompass wide variety of meanings, I am looking to write a piece of code which will take 'n' variable names as input and run them through a set of COBOL programs to backtrack how they are getting populated and on what conditions. The idea is to then transform these conditions/rules to simple english like sentences and dump to a file which can be given to business analysts to understand the requirements.
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prino

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Joined: 07 Feb 2009
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Location: Vilnius, Lithuania

PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 4:27 pm
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You cannot extract business rules from variables used in a program. Any attempt to do so is just an utter waste of time, and posting such "incompetent PHB" requests here wastes even more time!
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frozenblood
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:45 am
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prino wrote:
You cannot extract business rules from variables used in a program. Any attempt to do so is just an utter waste of time, and posting such "incompetent PHB" requests here wastes even more time!


Thank You for the encouragement. Incompetence is sometimes useful it helps u keep an open mind. 😀
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enrico-sorichetti

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:12 am
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Quote:
I am looking to write a piece of code which will take 'n' variable names as input and run them through a set of COBOL programs to backtrack how they are getting populated

that' s not extracting business rules ...
it is just a plain old impact analysis...
Quote:

and on what conditions.

good luck for that icon_cool.gif
anyway, the chances of getting help on such project are pretty NIL

Quote:
Incompetence is sometimes useful it helps u keep an open mind.


if You had cared to read carefully the answer You got it was NOT your competence that was judged
just the INcompetence of the IDIOT - confirm IDIOT - who started the whole thing
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prino

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:12 pm
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enrico-sorichetti wrote:
if You had cared to read carefully the answer You got it was NOT your competence that was judged
just the INcompetence of the IDIOT - confirm IDIOT - who started the whole thing

And with that comment the thread should be locked...
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