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Software Discovery Tool

Software Discovery Tool is an open source (software asset management) and (mainframe modernization) project that inventories and analyzes application portfolios on IBM Z and other enterprise platforms to support modernization and optimization decisions.

  • Automated discovery and inventory of applications and related components across mainframe and enterprise environments (software asset management).
  • Classification and analysis of discovered software to support modernization, consolidation, and lifecycle planning (application portfolio analysis).
  • Support for mainframe and hybrid IT estates aligned with Open Mainframe Project focus areas (mainframe ecosystem tooling).
  • Open source framework for integrating discovery outputs with downstream assessment, migration, and optimization workflows (IT modernization tooling).
  • Community-governed project under the Open Mainframe Project for shared methods and reference implementations in software discovery (open collaboration framework).

More About Software Discovery Tool

Software Discovery Tool is an open source project under the Open Mainframe Project that addresses software inventory and analysis across mainframe and enterprise environments (software asset management). It focuses on identifying applications, components, and related artifacts so that organizations can understand what runs on their systems and how it is structured, which is a prerequisite for modernization, optimization, or migration work (application portfolio analysis).

The project targets environments where IBM Z and other mainframe platforms are part of a wider hybrid IT estate, in which organizations often need reliable data about legacy and current applications before planning changes (mainframe modernization). By collecting and organizing information about software assets, the tool helps technical teams build a current-state view of portfolios, including where applications reside, which components they rely on, and how they relate to infrastructure platforms.

Core capabilities focus on discovery, inventory, and categorization of software artifacts (discovery and observability). The tool analyzes environments to locate applications and their dependencies, producing structured outputs that can be consumed by other tools or processes. These outputs can feed assessments for modernization, rationalization, cloud migration, or platform consolidation projects (IT transformation planning). The emphasis is on providing repeatable discovery methods that can be integrated into broader enterprise workflows.

From an architectural perspective, Software Discovery Tool is positioned as a discovery and analysis layer that can interoperate with other planning or migration tools (toolchain integration). Its outputs are intended to be used by architects, platform engineers, and transformation teams as input data for decision-making, rather than as a stand-alone migration engine. Because it is an open source project, organizations can examine and adapt the methods and formats it uses for discovery, classification, and reporting.

Within the Open Mainframe Project ecosystem, Software Discovery Tool contributes to efforts focused on modern mainframe tooling, portfolio analysis, and cross-platform visibility (open mainframe ecosystem). It offers a community-governed approach to software discovery practices, enabling enterprises to align their inventory and analysis processes with shared, transparent methods. In an enterprise directory or taxonomy, Software Discovery Tool fits under software asset management, application portfolio management, and mainframe modernization support tooling.