A Baseline represents the current state of your system landscape before any modernization actions are applied. It defines the environments, applications, gateways, and integrations that Planner uses as the foundation for dependency analysis and plan generation.

The Baseline provides a structured and consistent visual and logical view of your legacy architecture and serves as the starting point for all modernization workflows.

What Is a Baseline

A Baseline is a logical and visual model of your existing architecture. It typically includes:

One or more Environments (on-prem, cloud, hybrid)
Applications (Apps) within each environment
Gateways and integration points
Relationships between Apps across environments

The Baseline does not change runtime systems. It is a planning artifact used only for analysis, visualization, and modernization design.

Why Baselines Are Important

The Baseline enables Planner to:

Perform reliable dependency analysis
Generate structured modernization plans
Visualize relationships between systems and environments
Control and scope modernization initiatives
Maintain traceability between legacy components and generated tasks

Without a Baseline, Planner cannot analyze dependencies or generate plans.

Core Elements of a Baseline

Environments

An Environment represents a physical or logical runtime boundary, such as:

Mainframe
IBM i (AS400)
On-prem distributed servers
Cloud environments
Digital

Environments provide isolation and grouping for applications, gateways, and integrations.

Applications (Apps)

An Application (App) represents a functional system or bounded business domain. Examples include:

Account
Payments
Customers
Billing

Each App may contain:

Programs
Data stores
Batch jobs
Integration endpoints

Apps are the primary units used for dependency analysis and modernization planning.

Integrations and Gateways

Integrations and Gateways represent communication paths between Apps or external systems. These may include:

API gateways
Messaging systems
File-based integrations
Batch data transfers

These connections are visualized as arrows in the Baseline and become part of the dependency graph used for planning.

Building a Baseline

Step 1: Create Environments

Start by defining the environments that exist in your architecture.

Examples:

Mainframe environment
IBM i environment
On-prem application environment
Cloud environment

Step 2: Add Applications to Each Environment

For each environment, create the relevant Applications (domains).
Each App represents a bounded functional area of the system.

Step 3: Define Integrations and Gateways

Add integrations between Apps and across environments, such as:

Synchronous APIs
Batch-based data transfers
Messaging channels
File exchanges

These definitions allow Planner to visualize and analyze cross-system dependencies.

Baselines and Dependency Analysis

Once a Baseline is defined, Planner can perform dependency analysis to discover and represent:

Program call relationships
Database access
File usage
Batch and job execution paths
Cross-application communication

The result is a unified dependency graph that mirrors the technical structure of the landscape.

Using Baselines in Modernization Planning

Baselines are used as the input for:

Selecting modernization targets
Selecting a Plan Action (Refactor, Rehost, Reimagine, Augment, Capture)
Generating tasks and execution phases
Visualizing pre- and post-modernization architecture

All modernization plans are always anchored to a specific Baseline version.

Managing Multiple Baselines

You may maintain multiple Baselines for different use cases, such as:

Different business units
Separate modernization initiatives
Pre- and post-migration comparisons

Each Baseline is managed independently and can generate its own set of plans.

Summary

A Baseline:

Represents the current state of your architecture
Defines environments, applications, gateways, and integrations
Serves as the foundation for dependency analysis
Drives all modernization planning in Planner

Accurate Baselines lead to accurate plans.