Subject: CM evolveIT March 2026 Newsletter

The modern state of static analysis, refactoring, and digital transformation

March 2026

In this issue...

  • Webinar: Shortening the Rewrite Time for Legacy Applications

  • Featured: What You Don’t Know About Your Own System: The Hidden Risk in Every Legacy Rewrite - CM First

  • Article: ‘You need those experts to even define what these transformations are’: COBOL developers will always be needed, even as AI takes the lead on modernization projects - IT Pro

  • Video Vault: Next-Gen Pair Programming: AI Collaboration on IBM i and IBM z Systems - CM First

  • Broadcom Support: Let Us Help You Get the Support You Need

  • Intelligence: News to think about...

Stream

Watch: "Shortening the Rewrite Time for Legacy Applications"


For most organizations, the hardest part of rewriting a legacy application isn’t the rewrite itself, it’s what comes before it. Teams spend months, sometimes the better part of a year, trying to understand what the old system actually does. Code that hasn’t been touched in a decade. Documentation that was never written, or was written and then lost. Business rules buried inside COBOL routines that only one retired developer ever fully understood. By the time the team is ready to write a single line of new code, the schedule is already in trouble.


This session examines how AI-powered analysis is fundamentally changing that equation. Using CM evolveIT, organizations can compress the discovery and analysis phase dramatically, reducing what once took six weeks of manual reverse engineering to two weeks or less. Automated inventories, process flow documentation, and business rule extraction give modernization teams an accurate, complete picture of the legacy system before the first architectural decision is made. That means fewer assumptions, less rework, and a rewrite process grounded in reality rather than guesswork.


Watch now →


Viewers will leave with a clear understanding of how to:

  • Compress the discovery phase from months to weeks using automated code analysis and business rule extraction

  • Surface cross-program dependencies and embedded logic that manual review consistently misses

  • Enter the rewrite phase with a complete, documented picture of what the legacy system does, reducing rework and mid-project surprises

  • Connect discovery findings directly to scope, phasing, and architecture decisions

If your organization is planning a legacy rewrite in 2026, or struggling with one already underway, this session will show you how to shorten the most expensive phase of the project before it derails the rest.


Watch now →

Featured

The Legacy Risks Nobody Talks About… Until It’s Too Late


The riskiest part of your legacy system… is the part you don’t see.


There’s institutional knowledge that doesn’t survive retirements, reorganizations, or team turnover over 15 years. It lives in the codeedge cases handled quietly, business rules never written down, even decade-old regulatory logic.


When a rewrite team inherits a system without the right tools, surprises are inevitable. Can AI surface what your team can’t see before it’s too late?


Read the full story here  →

Announcing CM evolveIT 11.7


Available for Streaming: Join us for informative, hands-on sessions focused on the new CM evolveIT 11.7 release. 


Tailored for future-minded developers, these sessions showcase groundbreaking enhancements aimed at revolutionizing your code analysis and transformation workflows. Expect hands-on demonstrations that you can take to your development workflows right away.

Watch one of these two webinars now...

Mainframe

Latest Advances in Mainframe COBOL Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn about cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools that promise streamlined analysis and transformation processes, automated tools that convert legacy COBOL code to Java, and advanced code slicing.


IBM i

Latest Advances in IBM i Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn how to cut your analysis costs by up to 80% with new capabilities. We'll demo new CA 2E (Synon) and CA Plex superpowers, AI and Code slicing innovations, and improved support for DB2 and COBOL and more.


Heads Up

‘You need those experts to even define what these transformations are’: COBOL developers will always be needed, even as AI takes the lead on modernization projects


AI can’t modernize your legacy systems by itself.


Tools that translate COBOL and other mainframe code into modern languages are finally shortening what used to be multi‑year projects.


But even the best AI still needs experienced COBOL developers to define transformations, validate results, and ensure nothing breaks in production—especially given the complexity and variability of these legacy systems.


Without the right expertise, AI might move fast, but will it move safely?


Read the full article on ITPro →

 Broadcom Support 


Many enterprises struggle with obtaining Broadcom support for their CA 2E (Synon, COOL:2E) or CA Plex systems


If you're working with an older unsupported release, upgrading your IBM OS, or otherwise under the shadow of lapsed maintenance, we can get you back on Broadcom support based on your unique situation. We specialize in all sizes of customers.


Fill out our 2 minute form and schedule a no-committment fifteen minute conversation with CM First Group tech.

CM First Support

Current CM First Group customers can access tutorials and submit support tickets at support.cmfirstgroup.com.

CM evolveIT current version is 11.7.

You can read more about CM evolveIT in our white paper CM evolveIT Data Lineage, or get in touch with us directly to learn about these new features and more.

We upgrade CM evolveIT customers to the newest versions continuously. If you have any questions just send us a note to info@cmfirstgroup.com.


Other CM First Releases


CM WebClient 1.8.8 (with nightly builds) For details, go here.

CM Matchpoint ALM 7.0 Build 004. For details, go here.
CM M3 2024 Edition
CA Plex 7.3, last supported 7.2.1 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
CA 2E 8.7.4, last supported 8.7 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
Contact CM First to learn more: info@cmfirstgroup.com

Intelligence