The Role of the Mainframe at SEB
For SEB IBM Z integrates AI and breakthrough tech, ensuring top security, performance and agility. At SEB, the IBM mainframe remains a strategic, high-performing platform supporting many of the bank’s mission-critical applications and processes. SEB operates its own COBOL Academy, which attracts hundreds of applicants annually, and maintains a large internal mainframe organization consisting of more than 300 developers, system specialists, testers, database administrators, and system programmers.
Enabling Developer Productivity with XINFO
Hundreds of SEB’s developers and system programmers rely on XINFO every day to identify critical components affected by lifecycle management (LCM) activities or new business initiatives. At SEB, XINFO is accessed in multiple ways – through ISPF, the PC client with its graphical visualizations, direct SQL queries on the database, and even via SEBz, a Visual Studio Code extension developed in-house to integrate XINFO insights directly into the development environment.
Open XINFO Data: The Foundation for Custom Tooling and Analytics
For SEB, it was essential that XINFO data resides in DB2 on z/OS and is accessible via SQL. This openness was a key differentiator when evaluating tools in the market – and a prerequisite for building SEB’s own customized solutions.
Examples include:
CC-Info: A custom XINFO panel enabling searches for elements in SEB’s SCM system based on their descriptions.
SQL User-Defined Functions: Such as SEB_XINFO_PCBUSE, which identifies all IMS database accesses within a program’s unit of work.
“Some people are afraid of the word ‘custom,’ but when it comes to development tools, customization is what sets us apart,” explains Erik Weyler. “If we can tailor a solution to SEB’s environment and save developers time and effort, it’s absolutely worth it.”
To manage in-house SQL effectively, SEB uses alias structures that ensure compatibility during system upgrades – maintaining flexibility without additional maintenance effort.
Another innovative approach involves offloading XINFO-generated data to IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA), enabling complex analytics queries to be executed with exceptional speed.
Flexibility for Continuous Enhancement
XINFO’s inherent flexibility allows SEB to extend and adapt the tool to specific needs – for instance, by adding custom panels within the ISPF interface. “We especially appreciate the opportunity to influence XINFO’s development,” says Erik. One feature developed based on SEB’s request was Referential Integrity for DB2, providing developers with a convenient, automatically generated visualization of database structures directly in the tool they use daily.
Innovation in Visualization: The Sky Is the Limit
A striking example of SEB’s innovation with XINFO is an interactive topology map of one of its major DL/1 applications, including all dependencies. The map is powered by a Neo4j Graph Database deployed as a Docker container in zCX on the mainframe, with all data collected by XINFO scanners.
“For me, XINFO is the ultimate enabler,” says Erik. “Whether it’s new developers learning the mainframe environment, or teams modernizing and integrating applications – XINFO holds many of the answers. It connects multiple sources into a live, production-level view. The day we see AI applied to XINFO data will be a very exciting one.”
Conclusion
SEB has built a robust foundation for continuous improvement and modernization of its mainframe landscape by leveraging the openness, flexibility, and analytical power of XINFO. The result is a highly empowered developer community – one that can act faster, make more informed decisions, and continuously evolve one of Europe’s most advanced banking IT environments
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