Most organizations know their mainframe costs. Few understand the full cost of putting mainframe data to work. 

You probably have a good understanding of what it costs to run your mainframe overall. Infrastructure, software, and processing expenses are visible, budgeted, and regularly reviewed.

But running the mainframe is only part of the story.

eporting, analytics, compliance, fraud detection, data sharing, and real-time access all depend on trusted mainframe data. While making that data available requires mainframe computing resources, it also requires staffing effort and operational support that many organizations struggle to quantify.

Every dashboard, analytics initiative, compliance report, fraud detection process, customer-facing application, and real-time data request requires effort. Data must be accessed, moved, prepared, governed, and delivered where and when it’s needed. Some of that effort consumes computing resources. Some requires staff time and operational support. 

As demand for timely and accessible mainframe data continues to grow, so does the effort required to support it.
 
The challenge is that most teams have limited visibility into those costs, if they have any at all. As a result, organizations often underestimate what it takes to support reporting, analytics, compliance, and other activities that rely on mainframe data. 

The Rocket^® Data Operations Cost Calculator helps make those costs more visible. It estimates the computing resources, staffing effort, and operational requirements involved in making mainframe data available for critical business activities. 

Understand the effort behind data-driven business activities 

Mainframe data powers many of the processes that keep modern organizations running. It helps leaders measure performance, enables teams to satisfy compliance requirements, supports fraud and risk monitoring, and provides a foundation for reporting, analytics, and decision-making. Increasingly, it also fuels cloud, analytics, and AI initiatives. 

While these activities may happen outside the mainframe, they still rely on trusted, current mainframe data. 

The Rocket^® Data Operations Cost Calculator estimates the resources required to support that dependency. Rather than focusing on the costs of the downstream platforms themselves, the calculator focuses on the effort required to make mainframe data available for: 

• Reporting and dashboards 
• Business intelligence and analytics 
• Compliance and regulatory reporting 
• Data movement and integration 
• Real-time access to business data 
• Fraud detection, risk monitoring, and predictive analytics

The result is a clearer view of how specific business processes consume mainframe effort and resources. 

Start with industry benchmarks

The calculator begins with verified benchmark assumptions based on common workload patterns across industries and organization sizes. Select your industry and organization size to generate an initial estimate. You can then refine the estimate by answering five questions about your environment: 

• How heavily does your organization rely on mainframe systems? 
• How extensive are your reporting, dashboard, and analytics requirements? 
• How much data movement and compliance activity do you support? 
• How frequently do users require access to real-time business data? 
• How extensively do you rely on fraud detection, risk monitoring, or predictive analytics? 

These inputs enable you to more accurately see everything that’s involved in making mainframe data available for the activities your organization depends on every day. 

Customize the assumptions behind the estimate 

The industry benchmarks provide a useful starting point, but no two environments are identical. That's why the calculator allows you to review and modify the assumptions behind the estimate. You can adjust factors such as MIPS/MSUs consumption, labor costs, workload volumes, and resource requirements. 

You can also see how those assumptions change the estimate in real time, providing even greater transparency into the factors driving mainframe effort and cost. Whether you want a high-level benchmark estimate or a more customized assessment, the calculator allows you to determine the results you need. 

Build a clearer picture of your operational profile 

The effort required to make mainframe data available to the business spans teams, processes, and technologies. As a result, it often disappears into the everyday work required to support reporting, analytics, compliance, fraud detection, data sharing, and other business activities. 

Because those activities span multiple functions, it’s easy to underestimate the resources required to support them. Based on verified industry benchmarks, the Rocket^® Data Operations Cost Calculator provides a practical starting point for understanding those requirements. 

Whether you use the industry benchmarks or customize the assumptions with your own inputs, the calculator helps you quantify the computing resources, staffing effort, and operational requirements involved in making mainframe data available when and where the business needs it. 

The result is a better understanding of what it takes to put mainframe data to work and the resources required to support that effort.