This article is based on reporting originally published by SD Times in October 2018.
The Mainframe Skills Gap Is Blocking DevOps Adoption
Despite decades of predictions to the contrary, the mainframe remains central to enterprise computing. A study cited by Forrester at the time of this report found that 64 percent of enterprises planned to run more than half of their critical application workloads on the mainframe. Yet only 37 percent reported being able to keep pace with the demand for skilled mainframe professionals.
That gap between mainframe reliance and mainframe expertise is a significant barrier to modernization. As workloads grow—driven by analytics, blockchain integrations, and increased mobile traffic—enterprises face pressure to accelerate mainframe application delivery using the same Agile and DevOps practices already standard on distributed and cloud platforms.
Compuware Updates zAdviser with AI and Real-Time Metrics
To address this challenge, Compuware announced updates to its zAdviser platform, a solution designed to help mainframe development leaders track, measure, and improve development velocity, quality, and efficiency. zAdviser applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to surface connections between individual developer behaviors and key performance indicators (KPIs), and to identify DevOps trends and patterns across the organization.
The updated release introduced several notable capabilities:
- Improved dashboard interface built on Elastic’s Elastic Cloud Service, providing a more accessible and unified view of mainframe DevOps data.
- Advanced behavioral and operational metrics to give teams deeper visibility into how developers interact with their toolchains.
- Near real-time data streaming, enabling faster detection of issues and quicker response cycles.
- Expanded AI and algorithmic correlation, helping teams identify whether high defect rates follow specific code changes and whether developers are making effective use of their DevOps tooling.
The practical outcome is that engineering managers can make data-driven decisions about training, tool adoption, and process improvement—rather than relying on anecdotal evidence or delayed retrospective reviews.
“Enterprises that have put off their mainframe modernization efforts must move quickly to bring their DevOps practices on the platform up to par if they want to stay competitive in a marketplace where continuous digital innovation has become table stakes. Rich, fact-based insight into their current state—and into whatever might be impeding them from achieving their desired state—is essential for accelerated adoption of mainframe DevOps.”
— Daniel Howard, Senior Researcher, Bloor Research
Partnership with CollabNet VersionOne: Value Stream Management Comes to the Mainframe
Alongside the zAdviser updates, Compuware announced a new partnership with CollabNet VersionOne to extend enterprise DevOps automation to mainframe environments using a Value Stream Management (VSM) approach.
The integration connects two complementary tools:
- Compuware ISPW — a DevOps-enabled source code management solution purpose-built for mainframe environments, handling version control, build automation, and deployment pipelines on z/OS.
- CollabNet VersionOne Continuum — an enterprise pipeline orchestration and value stream management platform designed to track, automate, and coordinate software delivery workflows across heterogeneous environments.
By connecting ISPW’s mainframe source control capabilities with Continuum’s orchestration layer, enterprises gain end-to-end visibility into mainframe software value streams alongside their distributed system pipelines. This helps break down the historical silo between mainframe and non-mainframe development, moving away from waterfall-bound delivery cycles toward iterative, Agile-aligned practices.
“As large enterprises digitally transform to compete in today’s fast-moving markets, the smart ones are aggressively transforming their mainframes away from siloed, waterfall-bound development, leveraging the Agile and DevOps best practices they’ve brought to their other platforms. This announced partnership combines Compuware’s modern take on mainframe tooling with the cutting-edge enterprise value stream management from CollabNet VersionOne.”
— Jason Bloomberg, President, Intellyx
Why Mainframe DevOps Matters
For organizations running core banking, insurance processing, retail transaction systems, or government workloads on z/OS, the mainframe is not a legacy curiosity—it is the production system of record. Yet many of these organizations struggle to apply the same CI/CD, automated testing, and pipeline tooling that their distributed platform teams take for granted.
The combination of AI-driven observability (via zAdviser) and value stream orchestration (via the CollabNet VersionOne integration) represents a practical path forward: make the mainframe a first-class citizen in the enterprise DevOps toolchain, rather than treating it as an exception that requires entirely separate governance and delivery processes.
As Forrester noted at the time, customer-obsessed enterprises need to modernize application delivery across all platforms—including the mainframe—to remove roadblocks to innovation and keep pace with digital transformation demands.
Key Takeaways
- The mainframe remains critical infrastructure for a majority of large enterprises, but the skills gap threatens their ability to modernize delivery.
- Compuware’s updated zAdviser platform uses AI and ML to surface actionable DevOps metrics specific to mainframe development teams.
- The Compuware–CollabNet VersionOne partnership integrates ISPW with Continuum to bring Value Stream Management to mainframe software pipelines.
- VSM on the mainframe allows organizations to achieve end-to-end pipeline visibility across both mainframe and distributed environments.
- Enterprises delaying mainframe DevOps modernization risk falling behind competitors who are already applying Agile practices across all platforms.