ASG Technologies Announces Enhanced ASG-PRO/JCL® to Provide Easy DevOps Integration

Increases productivity by enabling developers to run Job Control Language (JCL) scans from their preferred Integrated Development Environments (IDE), enhancing the mainframe DevOps tool chain 

ASG Technologies, the only provider of integrated and flexible end-to-end solutions for the information powered enterprise, today unveiled ASG-PRO/JCL 3.5, which delivers superior Job Control Language (JCL) management with multiple interfaces. ASG-PRO/JCL automates JCL error detection, standards enforcement and routine changes to ensure error-free batch processing. This latest release includes DevOps integrations to strengthen any DevOps toolchain in an IBM z mainframe environment.

Key features of ASG-PRO/JCL 3.5 include:

Eclipse-compatible Integrated Development Environment (IDE) desktop environment: Extends the functionality of ASG-PRO/JCL’s exceptional JCL validation and run-time simulation to the Compuware Topaz® Workbench and other Eclipse-compatible IDE desktop environments. Empowers Time Sharing Option (TSO) and batch developers by simplifying maintenance and support tasks with a modern front end, saving them time and easing their experience.  

RESTful web services API: Enables automation of ASG-PRO/JCL scans in a DevOps toolchain environment using the RESTful web services API. Integrates with ASG’s Digital Automation Platform and other automation tools like Jenkins, Team City, Circle CI and more.

As organizations adopt DevOps and become more agile, it is critical that they accelerate the pace of business. Companies must be able to release new digital services and features at the speed that meets their customers’ needs and expectations. Achieving this requires close collaboration between development, IT and business stakeholder teams, as well as streamlined processes that allow for continuous collaboration, development and improvement.  

ASG-PRO/JCL is in position to be easily added to the DevOps toolchain. As new JCL is developed, standards and formatting can be applied and checked directly in the IDE before any new code is submitted to production. Then, as the ASG-PRO/JCL RESTful web services are integrated into continuous integration flows, batch processing remains error free because the production JCL scanning is included in the DevOps cycle.

"In keeping with our 'open borders' approach to DevOps, Compuware is excited to be partnering with ASG Technologies,” said Chris O’Malley, CEO, Compuware. “The new ASG-PRO/JCL plugin integration for the Compuware Topaz Workbench IDE will empower developers at our mutual customers to improve mainframe software delivery quality, velocity and efficiency within a preferred and continuously improving Topaz experience."

“Our customers tell us how important adopting DevOps across the board is to their commercial and technology strategies,” said Jeff Cherrington, VP of Product Management, ASG Technologies. “That posture is critical to their ability to reduce time-to-value and increase returns on their technologies investments. By adding this new interface to ASG-PRO/JCL, we are able to meet these needs for our customers, allowing them to improve internal operations and accelerate innovation.”

Visit the ASG-PRO/JCL product page and learn more by joining our upcoming webinar at 11:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, December 3. Also, be sure to check out this blog post, Why You Should Include JCL Tools as Part of Your DevOps Strategy, on adding JCL Management to the DevOps toolchain.