RPG and IBM i Skills Succession Risk Assessment
Many IBM i environments run well but depend on two or three experienced people. This assessment scores that dependency so you can decide whether to document, hire, outsource or plan a different direction.
1. How many people can independently support your RPG and CL programs?
2. How many of your IBM i staff expect to retire or leave in the next five years?
3. How well documented are your customised programs and batch schedules?
4. Do you have an external partner under contract for IBM i or JD Edwards World support?
5. How often do you recruit or train new IBM i and RPG staff?
6. Does your team use modern RPG (free format RPG IV) and source control?
7. Can you restore and run the system from backup without the one person who knows how?
8. How many modifications have been made to standard JD Edwards World code?
9. Do business users depend on green screen programs only one person knows?
10. Have you written down a roadmap decision (stay, modernize, replace) with dates?
How to use it
Answer the ten questions honestly, ideally with the team lead and a manager together, because the two often answer differently. Each answer scores from 0 to 4, and the total is shown as a percentage band. Export the result to share with leadership. Repeat it once a year so you can show whether risk is going down.
What the questions measure
They cover four areas: how many people can support the system, how much knowledge is written down, how modern the practices are, and whether there is a plan. Key person dependency and undocumented customizations are the two biggest drivers. A system with one expert and no documentation scores low even if the software is stable and the hardware is healthy.
- People coverage and retirement timing
- Documentation and customization volume
- Tools: free format RPG, source control
- Recovery testing and roadmap decision
What to do with the result
A low score does not mean you must replace the system. Often documentation, a support contract and a tested recovery plan lower the risk at a modest cost. A written decision on whether to stay, modernize or replace removes the drift that makes the risk worse each year. Take the lowest scoring answers first, since those are the cheapest improvements.
Common mistakes
Counting people who know the system in general as people who can support specific custom programs overstates coverage. Treating a vendor contract as insurance without checking that it covers your modified code is another. Waiting until the retirement notice arrives leaves too little time for knowledge transfer, which typically takes many months to be effective.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the IBM i platform itself at risk?
The platform is actively supported by IBM with new releases. The risk in most shops is people and documentation rather than the operating system. This assessment focuses on the skills and knowledge side of the system.
How many experts are enough?
Three is a practical minimum for any critical system, including external partners, because it survives one departure and one absence. Fewer than two is a clear risk, however stable the system looks day to day.
Should a high risk score mean we replace the ERP?
Not necessarily. Many shops reduce risk through documentation, a support contract and modernizing tooling. Replacement is a large project, so make it a deliberate decision with a business case rather than a reaction to a score.
Can AI help with legacy RPG code?
Language models can explain RPG and CL code, draft documentation and help with analysis, but output needs review by someone who knows the system. Running the model on your own servers keeps source code private.
Netray can help capture knowledge from legacy code and ERP data with private AI that runs on your own hardware, so documentation does not depend on one person's free time.
Related Tools
RPG and CL Program Inventory Worksheet
List your custom programs with language, size, files used and owner, and get a simple complexity score to prioritise what to retire, keep or rewrite.
OracleIBM i OS Upgrade Readiness Checklist
A grouped checklist covering planning, backup, compatibility, the upgrade weekend and validation for an IBM i operating system upgrade.
OracleIBM i CL Command Cheat Sheet
A searchable lookup of the CL commands operators and JDE World support staff use daily, grouped by task with a short note on each.
ERP OperationsIBM i Disk Capacity Runway Calculator
Enter total and used disk, your yearly growth and a threshold to see how many months of headroom you have left.
More ERP Migration & Selection tools
See all- JDE World to E1 Migration Readiness Assessment
- ERP Cutover and Go-Live Plan Template for IBM i Migrations
- JD Edwards World Parallel Run Cost Calculator
- ERP TCO Comparison Calculator (5-Year)
- ERP Migration Risk Assessment
- Data Migration Effort Calculator
- ERP Selection Scorecard for Manufacturers
- ERP Go-Live Readiness Checklist
- ERP Change Management Readiness Assessment