Nonstop Business Rules: From Code to Business Specs with TIC Navigator
- Phil Ly
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
“What does this Nonstop application actually do? How does it work?” Business analysts, auditors, and managers ask these questions all the time. On HPE Nonstop systems, the answer usually lives inside COBOL, TAL, and TACL programs that have been built and modified over many years. The business logic is there, but it is buried in code that business users cannot read and developers have to trace by hand to understand.
Why Answers Are Hard to Get
When someone needs an explanation or documentation, the request lands on the IT team’s desk. A developer is asked to go into the Nonstop code, figure out how something works and then explain it in plain terms. That explanation then needs to be written down somewhere, usually in a document or email. It takes time, interrupts project work, and even then, details and edge cases are easy to miss.
In many organizations, this happens over and over again. Teams spend a lot of effort rediscovering how the system works instead of spending that time on new value
The Risk of Hidden Business Rules
When important business rules are not clearly documented, it affects audits, compliance reviews, change requests, and long-term planning. If pricing rules, limits, approvals, or validation checks are not visible, decisions are made with only part of the picture. Over time, the real understanding of “how things actually work” ends up sitting with a small group of experienced Nonstop developers.
For many Nonstop shops, those experts are now close to retirement. If their knowledge is not captured in a usable way, organizations risk losing it when people leave. That has a direct impact on support handovers, new development, and any serious modernization effort.
Why Business Rule Extraction Matters for Modernization
When you modernize Nonstop applications, the biggest danger is not the new platform—it is losing the behavior that the business relies on today. If the current system is not fully understood, rules can be dropped, changed, or rebuilt differently without anyone noticing until it is too late. Having business rules extracted and written down gives teams a solid reference. They can compare how the old and new systems behave, check results, and move forward more confidently.
With clear business rules, teams can:
Compare current and new behavior during testing.
Check that regulatory and audit-related rules are still in place.
Depend less on a handful of “go-to” Nonstop experts during critical projects.
This helps reduce project risk and makes it easier to keep schedules and budgets under control.
How TIC Navigator Helps Extract Business Rules
TIC Navigator reads Nonstop source code and pulls the business logic out of it, so teams can see what the system is actually doing today. Instead of relying only on interviews and manual documentation, Navigator works from the code itself. It understands typical NonStop environments and can work with COBOL, TAL, C/C++, and TACL.
Navigator produces:
Plain-language descriptions of business rules found in the code.
Business behavior grouped by function
Decision paths, conditions, and exception handling.
Diagrams that show how rules flow across programs and processes.
A searchable knowledge base that can be updated as the code changes.
Both technical and business teams can use this material without waiting for a developer to find time to walk through the code.
Save Time, Reduce Risks
Once business rules are written down in a way people can understand, work gets easier. Audit questions can be answered without deep dives into source. Change requests and product ideas can be scoped more accurately, with fewer surprises late in the process.
If you are looking at upcoming changes, audits, or modernization on your Nonstop environment, this is a good time to consider TIC Navigator as the way to pull business rules and behavior out of your existing applications. To see how it would work with your own codebase, contact TIC Software for a walk-through or pilot and start turning your Nonstop source into clear business specifications your whole team can use.
Request Demo or More Info about TIC Navigator
Visit us at https://ticsoftware.ai
Contact us to learn more about TIC Mentorship and TIC Navigator.
“Elevate your digital experience”
Phil Ly serves as president of TIC Software and a recognized thought leader in the NonStop community. Under his leadership, TIC Software has become the premier guide for NonStop organizations adopting modern technologies, including REST APIs, Kafka messaging systems, and cloud services. Phil’s expertise lies in bridging the gap between complex emerging technologies and practical implementation, making advanced solutions accessible to NonStop professionals across all experience levels. As architect of the innovative Navigator platform, he is pioneering the integration of generative AI into NonStop environments, demonstrating how AI-powered solutions can enhance system reliability while preserving the mission-critical security standards that define the platform.
Comments