IBM z/OS Legacy Application Technical Assessor at bid., United Kingdom, £Contract Rate

We are seeking a highly experienced IBM z/OS Legacy Application Technical Assessor to undertake an independent assessment of a mature enterprise legacy mainframe application estate.

This engagement is strictly limited to the assessment of legacy mainframe applications.

The assessment does not include any review of the underlying IBM z/OS infrastructure, hardware platform, operating system, networking, storage, security configuration, middleware infrastructure, disaster recovery, performance management, systems programming, or wider enterprise architecture.

The successful consultant will focus exclusively on the application estate, assessing the applications themselves, their structure, dependencies, maintainability, supportability and associated risks.

The environment primarily comprises applications developed in Enterprise COBOL using IBM Db2 for z/OS and IBM MQ. Many applications have remained stable for more than fifteen years with little or no functional change.

The successful consultant will work independently with minimal guidance, producing an objective, evidence-based technical assessment.

Scope of Assessment

The assessment is limited to the legacy application estate and includes:

• Legacy application structure.
• Application maintainability.
• Application supportability.
• Application dependencies.
• Application technical debt.
• Application documentation.
• Application health.
• Risks associated with ongoing application support and maintenance.
• Application-level recommendations.

Out of Scope

The following are explicitly outside the scope of this engagement:

• Mainframe hardware.
• Storage infrastructure.
• Network infrastructure.
• Capacity planning.
• Systems programming.
• RACF administration.
• Disaster recovery.
• High Availability architecture.
• Enterprise infrastructure architecture.
• Cloud migration.
• Platform modernisation.
• Infrastructure support processes.

This engagement is solely concerned with the legacy application estate.

Technical Environment

Applications primarily utilise:

• Enterprise COBOL
• IBM Db2 for z/OS
• IBM MQ
• JCL

Desirable knowledge includes:

• CICS
• VSAM

Knowledge of the wider IBM z/OS platform is expected only insofar as it supports understanding of application behaviour and dependencies.

Responsibilities

The consultant will independently:

• Assess the technical condition of the legacy applications.
• Analyse application structure and design.
• Identify application dependencies.
• Evaluate maintainability.
• Assess application supportability.
• Review available application documentation.
• Identify application-level technical debt.
• Identify application-level operational risks.
• Produce an independent assessment of the overall application estate.
• Provide practical recommendations for improving application supportability and reducing application risk.

No software development, operational support, remediation activities or infrastructure assessment is expected.

Deliverables

• Executive Summary.
• Legacy Application Assessment Report.
• Application Health Assessment Matrix.
• Risk Register.
• Prioritised recommendations.

Essential Experience

Applicants must demonstrate significant experience working with enterprise legacy IBM z/OS applications, including:

• Enterprise COBOL.
• IBM Db2 for z/OS.
• IBM MQ.
• JCL.

Candidates must also have proven experience independently assessing legacy application estates and producing evidence-based technical assessments.

Essential Skills

• Strong legacy application analysis.
• Deep understanding of Enterprise COBOL applications.
• Excellent analytical and investigative skills.
• Ability to understand unfamiliar application estates rapidly.
• Ability to identify undocumented application dependencies.
• Strong technical reporting.
• Ability to work independently with minimal guidance.