Jan Musil, IBM Technical Sales and IBM Bob, AI Assistant

Executive Summary

IBM Bob can help clients modernize traditional relational time-series schemas into Informix native TimeSeries storage. In this example, Bob analyzed the source schema, identified the time-series table, selected the device identifier as the series owner, and generated an Informix-native target design.

The result is a migration approach that preserves business meaning while moving time-varying measurements into a storage model better aligned with telemetry workloads.

What Bob Did

Bob performed the migration as a sequence of concrete technical actions. Bob identified the measurement table as the true time-series structure, separated relational reference tables from time-varying readings, selected the device key as the owner of each native time series, and mapped reading attributes into a TimeSeries row structure. Bob then created the native Informix TimeSeries table, created the required TimeSeries container, added a compatibility layer through a virtual table, and produced migration SQL and supporting documentation.

This is important because the migration is not just a syntax rewrite. Bob changed the storage model from row-by-row readings to device-owned native series while keeping the overall business structure understandable.

The Role of Custom Bob Skills

Custom Bob skills played an important role in the migration. The TimeSeries skill provided a domain-specific workflow that guided Bob through the required Informix-native steps in the correct order.

The skill instructed Bob to preserve non-time-series support tables, define the row type for a single series element, create the native TimeSeries table, create the TimeSeries container, and expose a virtual table for compatibility.

This makes the migration more repeatable, more consistent with Informix TimeSeries design conventions, and easier to explain to technical teams and clients.

Why This Matters for Clients

For clients, this demonstrates that IBM Bob can accelerate the design phase of a TimeSeries migration. Instead of manually interpreting the source schema and designing the target from scratch, Bob can produce a structured migration baseline that is aligned with Informix native TimeSeries concepts.

That helps clients reduce early architecture effort, improve consistency in target modeling, preserve compatibility with existing data access patterns, and move faster from source analysis to target design.

Performance Perspective

Informix native TimeSeries can also provide practical performance benefits for telemetry-heavy workloads. By storing measurements as device-owned series rather than disconnected relational rows, the design can reduce structural overhead and better align with time-range and device-centric access patterns.

For large and continuously growing measurement histories, this provides a stronger technical foundation than a generic relational event-table design.

Conclusion

This example shows that IBM Bob can do more than convert SQL syntax. Bob can interpret the source schema, apply a domain-specific TimeSeries migration skill, generate the required Informix-native structures, and document the outcome in a form useful for implementation and client discussion.