JST JCL = Value stream, removing constraints

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Job Submit Tool, Test automatization - JCL structuring

Making work of ICT colleagues easier.

Software development full circle Releasemanagement - the releasetrain Details testautomation in the releasetrain Details releasetrain Details Data information security Details dataflow Looking and analyzing what the colleagues are doing, improvements and corrections getting planned (PDCA).

SIAR
S Situation
I Initiatives
A Actions
R Realisations

🔰 lost here, than.. devops sdlc

Progress


Contents

Reference Topic Squad
Intro Making work of ICT colleagues easier. 01.01
Bu line(I) Learning the Organsisation (I). 02.01
Bu line (II) Learning the Organsisation (II). 03.01
Initial tasks Initial Tasks optimised & automated. 04.01
Advanced tasks Advanced Tasks optimised & automated. 05.01
Results evaluate Evaluating results - impact value. 06.00
Words of thank to my former colleagues 06.02


sea log

Learning the Organsisation (I)


The department syssup (system support) was my landing zone. Other technical departments with direct contacts. An introduction with persons doesn´t explain everything for expectations and tasks.

System support (SYSSUP) - Mainframe middleware tools
🎭 OS (Operating System) support tasks:
native group nl
The OS (Operating System) is not the only asset to manage. A DBMS, filetransfer tool, Analytical tool, programming environment, release management tool, manageble user interfaces to security, printing system, all are examples of middleware.

🎭 Middelware support tasks:

DBA Data Base Administration (IDMS)
🎭 DBA the department when to use DBMS resources. Tasks:

DA-DP Data Administration - Data Protection.
🎭 DA-DP (metadata & security) Tasks:

Operations (OPS) - computerroom (OP), planning & support (PB)
native group chmk 🎭 OP (part of OPS) Tasks:
🎭 PB (part of OPS) Tasks:

Permanent Test Group
🎭 PTG (part of functional management) Tasks:
It is key factor in the sdlc (software development life cycle) for reliable predictable code. The logical placement is far more to functional management and not technology.

green logl

Learning the Organsisation (II)


The organisation has far more departments than highly specialized technical persons. The department of programmers was in size at least four times bigger. More departments getting touched when digging into more details.

DEV developers - Cobol IDMS
🎭 DEV Tasks:
native group gr
Still part of ICT but organized in business lines. The business context is an important knowledge asset.
🤔 Coding guidelines are set internally and by several ICT lines in several subject contexts.
SDA is doing the the high level abstraction business needs with a high level design.

SDA Business Analysts, Office Automation
🎭 SDA Business Analysts Tasks:
Recently architects for this kind of role has become popular. The role of code developers technicians into engineers. Missing in that is the role of what was syssup.

Not everything is necessary to get done in a costly structured way. Self service tools, documenting, planning and administration is better with easy commercial tools.
🎭 Office Automation Tasks:

Functional management, life insurance policy
Functional management, property insurance policy
Functional management, payments - customers
native group afst These are the "heroes" of the core business. There are several business lines and a central one for common services. For the high level business goals a well cooperation for these business lines would be rational and logical. There are more interests and concerns than just those mentioned business goals.

No matter what is going one at business lines, the ICT service provision should service them all.
🎭 Functional management Tasks:

Actuary, Marketing, Accountancy, bookkeeping
The list of departments with tasks is growing to ones that are bulding op the figures others are relying on:

modern5 logl

Initial Tasks optimised & automated.


It al started when seeing all the manual work, the long time waiting somebody completed his part of work, the same work being repeated over and over again. That repetition has historical grown because of it was done in several departments not having thoughts on cooperation.

JCL JOB guidance Form (JBF)
Working on the middelware for changes found myself blocked by some jobs running.
I could not figure out who was running them. At that moment I knew the OPS teams well, so went to them asking what they were. hat is the moment I got to learn the work of the PTG group. There were that many PTG persons, but one person of the PB team being busy there. The PTG persons had to fill a hardcopy paper (TRF), using a ot of correction paint. The PB person used that and making notes on it to create Jobs to run for that group. The throughput limit about 100 jobs a day.

There was another hardcopy paper coming in from the Dev department that described how the programs were supposed to be used with a lot of details on how data was defined (JBF). When the papers were found to have wrong information the paper had to go back and being corrected before further processing.
There was no business analyst for processes at ICT.

ToC Theory of constraints clarke ching
The often used jobs for testers (Pareto)
I got some time and cooperation for doing a little small things. PTG was willing to do more themselves, the generic data preparation and reporting jobs mainly used for test as test tools too start with.

Interesting discussions started on whether:
Structuring JCL, a requirement along with operations (JCL2000)
PTG needed more time for acceptance new things, but that other form paper was bothering me. I found an ear at the PB department to improve that process.

When all jobs would be build in a standard "common job&approach it could be automated. The question was what the beste and acceptable option for new JCL coding would be. We made several examples of possiblities doing steps in normalisation. Showing this to other persons the most structured one was suprisingly acceptable prefered. Explainging it to another PB person, as soon he did understood the intention, he wanted to start changeing. We were not ready at that moment.
Of course not everybody did like it, but we could go on.

All kind of batch jobs for testers additional tools (compare)
Running the test by PTG rather well additional questions were asked. Some of those:
Handy tool
Backup restore tools are coming in wiht the operating system. We delivered them as syssyup to the OPS departmen. Using this tool also at test was not that difficult at that moment.
Comparing data is included in TSO/ISPF the tool could be automated when the data is in datasets.

The backup restore option using a virtual tape and the ADRDSSU backup program got later into discussion. The problem was that doing a backup of data would be a task only allowed to an operational ICT department (OPS). The OP (mainframe) department has moved to another location as a result of reorganisation and consolidation. The computer machine was moved out of the building.


modern7 logl

Advanced Tasks optimised & automated.


The more got automated in the test, operations and development, more functionality was built in. Education of people being an options in user acceptance testing using the operational code with selected test data. Technical software changes is a similar way having several versions of the tools middleware on the same machine.

On line Transaction Processing (IDMS)
Implementing the backup restore there is a discrepancy in time. What has to back uppped validating wit a listing what should have backupped is comparing ouput results in the smae job.

Timing questions are more complicated using a online tranasction system (OLTP).

Release mangement, parallel testing development (Endevor)
With the DTAP approach home grown tools were present and used for many years.
ToC Theory of constraints clarke ching A huge reorganisation started, a merge of two companies at almost the same size. With new management in house the promise was made the releasemanagement tool "Endevor" would solve alle test actvities.
Disappointing: release management is not the same as running tests validating archiving test results.

The implentation of Endevor was very complicated wiht a lot of frictions.
Another mismatch that testing should be done in the production systems using the production scheduling without the option in time travelling. Just think of how monthly and yearly processes should get validated, answer: impossible.

The effect of these mismatches was that the JST tool got rolled out to development (DEV) and to acceptance environments.

Time travelling, unit conversions (Milo Euro)
The period of year 2000 (milo) and euro with the organisational merge dit put a big load on testing. Capacity for testing was never a problem.
For milo an additional tool was installed and used that could manipulate dates in data and the database (EZ-test cogito).

Printing Services, IO guidelines
Printing was in the beginning done in house with an in house placed mainframe. Printers chosen were using Siemens technology. This technology was already out of date when the machines were moved form the office to another location (early 90´s).

For using the Siemens technology (fob form overlay buffers) the JCL was generated in the header. References to it were made in the IO include-definitions. When the printer moved from the office an additional overlay for non productional print was added to help preventing test prints would be send out externally.

Technical debt for printing was solved around 2010, allowing the print services to be outsourced. The technology change to the one what was used at other amchines.


Small - Big

Evaluating results - impact value


Removing bottlenecks, mass processing
The ROI goes positive only hen used intensively.
Imagine: This is what happened, intensively used from the 1990´s, up to after 2015.

💡 The questions what the tool did had their focus on technical realisations. Far more important was the impact on the workers in the process. This was not an easy change process, many objections by wanting some other toolset and no dependencies on in house skilled persons.

ISTQB JST-JCL relationship
All work at JST - JCL was done accordingly to the documentation found at ISTQB. ..🤔.. However, it was done years before the ISTQB organization did exist.
Just the mainframe approach is what I have documented here. It is according to the design concepts chapters. The approach can be used using any tool any environment.

The security association may not that obvious. The DTAP segregation needed to be a logical one because there was only one central machine, the mainframe.
✅ Solving technical questions using naming conventions also made the segrations using the system security more clear.
⚖ Having the overall security and configuration in a way you can run a complete DTAP on a single box (Iron) having containerized anything, is a good practice.

Words of thank to my former colleagues
We had a lot fun in stressfull times working out this on the mainframe in the nineties. The uniquenes and difficulties to port it to somewhere else realising.
A few names: Many more people to mention, sorry when I didn´t. (notes: 2008)

Not always unhappy by what is going on
Software development full circle Releasemanagement - the releasetrain Details testautomation in the releasetrain Details releasetrain Details Data information security Details dataflow Looking and analyzing what the colleagues are doing, improvements and corrections getting planned (PDCA).

SIAR
S Situation
I Initiatives
A Actions
R Realisations

🔰 lost here, than.. devops sdlc.


⚒   Intro   Bu line(I)   Bu line (II)   Initial tasks   Advanced tasks   Results evaluate   ⚒
  
⚙   bpm   sdlc   bianl   data   meta   math   ⚙

© 2012,2020 J.A.Karman
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