Identify potential areas for automation
Review your operations procedures manual to find items that are already defined in steps that can be easily programmed into an EXEC. Ask the operators about time-consuming or complicated procedures that could be simplified. Review what happens during emergency situations: how the problem was discovered and what additional information would have been helpful.
MainView AutoOPERATOR for IMS provides powerful automation capabilities of the IMS environment with its capture of IMS MTO messages for logging and processing, and its EXEC facility for automating actions. IF-THEN-ELSE logic allows these actions to be tailored to the specific situation.
Within an EXEC, one or more of the following actions can be taken, depending on its purpose.
Directly modify the system by issuing IMS, MVS or JES commands.
Determine following action by analyzing the response segments received from an IMS command.
Alert operations to an exception requiring action by posting a message to the STATUS/EXCEPTION and ALERT application displays.
Invoke an existing IMS 'automated operator' application by submitting an IMS transaction.
Document current status of the system on the BBI-SS PAS Journal log by issuing IMS or DB2 display commands.
Notify the appropriate person of exceptions that need a response. The EXEC can reword the message and also
send an ALERT to the STATUS/EXCEPTION and ALERT application displays
issue an MVS SEND command to a local TSO/E user
issue a WTO to the MVS operator
send a message to an IMS LTERM, the MTO, or an IMS user
send a message to the BBI-SS PAS Journal log with a special search string, such as 'SHIFT2'
schedule an EXEC on a remote system to notify someone at a remote location or on another system by any of the above methods
EXECs performing these actions can be scheduled in several different ways for different goals:
EXEC type | Description |
|---|---|
User-initiated | simplifies entry of a long and complicated series of commands, reducing errors by minimizing manual input |
Time-initiated | automates the execution of routine tasks to relieve the operator of the task and ensure consistency |
Externally-initiated | coordinates the online IMS system with external events, especially related batch jobs |
Remote EXEC-initiated | passes information and requests for action between connected systems |
Command-initiated | monitors the submission of commands to the IMS system |
Rule-initiated from an IMS message | automates the response to an IMS event, often signalling an exception condition |
All IMS and MainView for IMS message-initiated EXECs included in this section can be scheduled using a Rule. If the EXEC performs simple operations such as issuing an ALERT, issuing messages, setting variables, and so on, it is recommended to eliminate the EXEC and replace its functionality with a Rule that performs the same function. This will improve the automation performance and simplify automation management.
The sample EXECs described in this section are included in the BBUSER library.
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