PRCA is using AI agents to modernize decades-old AS/400 systems

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) is applying specialist AI agents to modernize its legacy AS/400 backend systems, a move led by CTO Jeff Love to reduce time spent maintaining decades-old code.

Research from IDC cited in the article says unmanaged technical debt can consume between 20% and 40% of IT development time, constraining AI and data ambitions. Love initially tested general-purpose models such as ChatGPT and Grok but found they could not handle the volume and interconnected business logic of roughly 1,000 files, so he began working last July with Zencoder, an agentic platform that analyzes business logic and translates it into plain-English explanations.

Zencoder helped PRCA produce documentation of business rules, database file usage, a wiki for analysts, wireframes and an agent-driven starting point for coding. The platform also generated unit tests to catch bugs before production, and Love said the tool supports an estimated 50% reduction in development time, allowing the small internal team to focus more on digital services and event management tools.

Looking ahead, Love said the team aims to complete the AS/400 migration by the end of 2026 and then move on to migrate PRCA's ASP.NET Web Forms platform. He described the work as part of a five-year modernization plan of which he is two years in; further projects and revamps are expected after those milestones.

Key Topics

Tech, Prca, Jeff Love, Zencoder, Asp.net Web Forms, Technical Debt