IBM has received many queries from mainframe professionals about its vision for modernizing the mainframe user experience. According to Kathryn Briscoe and Iris Rivera1 from IBM, the company has already developed a few ease-of-use solutions for mainframes. These were introduced after extensive research and working closely with IBM users.
z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF)
Briscoe and Rivera said that z/OSMF simplifies day-to-day operations. z/OSMF is intended to make it easier for users to administer and manage a mainframe system. Its browser-based interface features an embedded active user assistance tool, guided checklists and other tools for guiding both experienced and entry-level users.
CICS Explorer
The CICS Explorer allows users to administer CICS through Eclipse and is designed to be modern and user friendly. The program can be installed into an Eclipse Integrated Development Environment and makes working with CICS simpler for developers.
IBM Explorer for z/OS (z/OS Explorer) V2.1
According to Briscoe and Rivera, IBM Explorer for z/OS V2.1 is used to review Job Entry Subsystem output and active jobs, edit zSeries File System files, and create and submit JCL. Its key benefit is that it provides a single Eclipse platform to access different tools from a variety of products.
[1] https://www.destinationz.org/Mainframe-Solution/Trends/IBM-modernizes-mainframe-user-experience.aspx