IBM has added Understand to the IBM Bob Premium Package for i, and it changes how Bob works with your applications in a pretty fundamental way.
Up to now, every time you asked Bob a question about your code, it had to go search for the answer, re-reading source and re-building context from scratch. Understand changes that. It runs a one-time scan against your application libraries, pulling dependency data directly from IBM i, and stores the results in a Db2 schema that your whole team can draw on. Instead of starting cold every time, Bob now has a local repository of facts about your applications to work from.
That one change has a few real effects:
- Fewer hallucinations, because answers come from scanned object metadata instead of model inference.
- Lower token usage, because Bob is querying pre-built metadata instead of re-reading source on every prompt.
- Faster analysis, especially on applications with thousands of interdependent objects, since nothing has to be re-parsed from scratch each time.
We Tested It on 90,000+ Lines of Code
We were involved in testing Understand for IBM Bob, and it was a genuinely fun project to be part of. We used Bob to work through some very complex programs, including ones north of 90,000 lines of code, and it put together clear, detailed documentation for applications that had little to none before.
That's the real problem Understand solves. Think about your own team: the lack of documentation, the millions of lines of code built up over decades, the business logic that lives mostly in a few people's heads. Now add a new developer, regardless of their experience level, and ask yourself how long it realistically takes to get them up to speed on your processes and the way your applications actually work.
Understand changes that math. Instead of a new hire shadowing someone for weeks, they can ask Bob what a program does, how it connects to everything around it, and get a real answer, backed by the actual scanned structure of your code. Bob becomes a development partner sitting right on your machine, available any time, no need to be in the office or track someone down.
Our own numbers back this up. In testing, developers found that reviewing and understanding an unfamiliar program took roughly half the time it used to. Tasks that would normally take about three hours were coming in closer to ninety minutes. Beyond the time savings, it's made onboarding and knowledge transfer noticeably easier for newer developers, and it gives teams a real foundation for maintenance and modernization work going forward, especially as experienced IBM i people retire and teams are asked to do more with less. AI-assisted documentation like this isn't a replacement for developers, it's an enabler for the ones you have.
Check Out More
If you haven't seen the announcements yet, IBM's three-month update on Bob Premium Package for i is worth a read: IBM i Three Month Update. Beyond Understand, that update also covers legacy RPG II/III support for Business Rules Extraction, new deterministic schema and file info tools, Integrated Web Services skills, COBOL support, new /Review_SQL and /Review_RPG commands, and 50+ fixes across recent releases.
You can also read our own client story on working with Bob and Understand here: ISSI Client Story.
Thank You
A huge thank you to Tim Rowe for having us help with this project. We enjoyed helping the IBM i team get Understand up and running, and we honestly believe it's a game changer for IBM Bob.
Happy Bobbing!