Foundational reads mainframe source code and links it with downstream Java code, cloud data platforms and BI dashboards, so you can see which programs read, transform and write each field, and what a change affects before it ships.
Read the CardDemo walkthrough · Used by Fortune 100 financial institutions to trace mainframe data. SOC 2 Type II certified.
On the mainframe, the logic that moves your data lives in COBOL programs and JCL jobs, not in database queries. Take the nightly card posting job in AWS CardDemo: it reads the day's transactions from a flat file, checks them against the account master and writes the results to several files. It doesn't run a single SQL statement.
Tools that rebuild lineage from query logs have nothing to work with here. On the mainframe, lineage has to come from the code itself.
Foundational parses your mainframe source and traces data flow field by field:
Data flow and control flow are kept apart, so a field that only appears in a condition doesn't show up as a data source.
Foundational works like a compiler and linker. It analyzes each repository on its own, then links the results into one graph across repositories:
The result: your mainframe joins the same code and data graph as your cloud data platforms, dashboards, models and AI applications. Learn about cross-platform lineage.
Before you change a COBOL field, you need to know which downstream programs, reports, services and models depend on it. Foundational shows you that impact from the code, so modernization and maintenance teams can plan changes instead of guessing.
If your team reviews COBOL changes in pull requests, Foundational can flag downstream impact right in the PR. See impact analysis.
Supervisors expect banks to show where critical data elements come from and how they were transformed, as in BCBS 239. When those elements start on the mainframe, field-level lineage from the code helps your team document that provenance. Used by Fortune 100 financial institutions.
Related reading:
Foundational needs read-only access to your source code, from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos or any other way you provide it. It doesn't connect to your mainframe or your production Db2, and it doesn't access data, PII or PHI.
Foundational is SOC 2 Type II certified.
CardDemo is AWS's public sample mainframe application, so we can show real lineage without any customer data. Here's how one field, the account's current balance (ACCT-CURR-BAL), gets updated by the nightly posting job POSTTRAN and its COBOL program CBTRN02C:
Read the full CardDemo walkthrough
GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos or any other way you provide the code.
Comparing options for mainframe lineage? See how Foundational compares.
Mainframe data lineage shows where each field in your mainframe data comes from, how COBOL programs and JCL jobs transform it, and where it goes next, including systems off the mainframe.
COBOL, JCL, copybooks, Db2 and BMC.
No. Foundational works from read-only access to your source code. It doesn't connect to the mainframe or to production databases.
Foundational links the lineage it finds in mainframe code with the lineage from your Java code, cloud data platforms and BI tools, so you can follow a field from a COBOL program to the dashboard that shows it.
Yes. Before you rewrite or move a COBOL component, Foundational shows which programs, files, tables and downstream systems depend on it, so you know what the change affects. Read our COBOL modernization roadmap.
No. Foundational builds lineage by analyzing code. It doesn't copy, move or replicate your data.
Send us a repository of COBOL, copybooks and JCL, and we'll walk you through field-level lineage on your own code. Book a demo.
