Systems and methods are provided that extract information from IMS log records to reduce the amount of data transmitted and input to an analysis engine. An example method includes writing IMS log records matching log types identified in an extraction list to a file within an IMS control region of a mainframe computer and outside of the IMS control region, and reading records from the file. For each record read, the method may also include extracting fields of interest from the log record based on fields of interest associated with the log type of the log record in the extraction list and a data-to-field mapping for the log type, converting the fields of interest to a predetermined format based on the data-to-field mapping, and writing at least one field of interest to an output file. The method may also include transmitting the output file to an analytics engine for processing.