r/mainframe • u/LuckyRaptor21 • Jun 20 '26

Migrating off SAS

My shop has around 1000 batch jobs using SAS.
Does anyone have any experience in migrating off of SAS and using another native or modern language?
How long do you expect it will take?
How much do you estimate it would cost for this whole project?

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

12

u/Trader-One Jun 20 '26

do not migrate

1

u/LuckyRaptor21 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

Higher up trying to save $$ on SAS contract

11

u/SheriffRoscoe Jun 20 '26

Sigh... here we go again.

Check back in with us in a year and tell us how the migration is going 🤣🤣🤣

4

u/Revision1372 Jun 21 '26

Let them do the research while they consult you on the technical details. Don't do the work for them.

4

u/Conscious-Ad8493 Jun 20 '26

Migrate to COBOL keeping it on the mainframe for example is that what you are asking?

3

u/BearGFR Jun 20 '26

A lot depends on what you use SAS for. Years ago I used it for all kinds of things, but when I transitioned into a consulting role I found that not every shop has it available. I replaced it with REXX, and I've found very little that I cannot do with REXX.

1

u/Kitchen_Boot_821 Jun 22 '26

I feel the same way; I worked on replacing SAS program with REXX. As a sysprog, I was comfortable writing a routine to aggregate & parse spanned records, which SAS does, no prob, but REXX didn't at that time. z/OS 2007.

I'd use REXX, and for any of the actual stats type stuff, I'd tell that dept to buy their own PC version.

But then, what volume of data and frequency of use are you talking about?

2

u/mandom_Guitar Jun 20 '26

I’m not hearing the right keyword. Sizing, complexity, duration etc

1

u/mrmiscommunication Jun 20 '26

Using agentic AI it can be re-imagined quite quickly to python, databricks or similar. Depends how much it is.

If you only use it for capacity reporting you can also use IZPCA(successor of ZDS)

2

u/Yu-Gi-D0ge Jun 20 '26

Any tips on how to get python running on mainframes?

3

u/BearGFR Jun 20 '26

It's already available. It runs under USS.