Recently
a HORIZONT customer required a quality assurance
(QA) system check of all processes of a large new application package before
going productive.
Completely replicating the application (including all interfaces) in the QA system.
Testing
the modified processes over eleven production days in the QA system. To be
able to recognize and resolve possible issues before the trial run, a JCL
check was performed for the entire time frame.
The
test focused on running a check of the application programs. This meant that
production control had to make available all the elements required for running
the application programs properly. “Unnecessary” issues such as JCL errors,
checking whether programs exist, files and cassettes, resolution of scheduling
variables and so on had to be eliminated in advance:
The
customer uses the scheduling system “TWS for z/OS” (OPC) to run more than
65,000 z/OS jobs and 15,000 decentralized processes each day. HORIZONT SmartJCL
was used to check the JCL. SmartJCL’s integrated simulation system made it
possible to completely simulate the eleven production days required and to
identify all possible errors in advance (“DATA SET NOT FOUND”, “REQUESTED
MODULE NOT FOUND”, “UNDEFINED VARIABLE XYZ LINE 00008 OF ORIG JCL”)
A
total of 453,406 jobs containing approx. 3 million steps were checked in approx.
6 hours.
The
QA system had to be populated with the most current data possible – and of
course with all the required data. To do this, the productive system of approx.
22 million files was mirrored in the QA system at a pre-determined point in
time. But the archived files and the files on cassette were still missing.
This
is where the SmartJCL catalog check feature was able to help out. This SmartJCL
feature simulates data flow across multiple jobs and reports data processing
errors such as whether a file is missing or a file already exists. Optionally,
this feature can also output a list of input files that are on cassette
(specific VOLSER). The customer used this list to generate copy and recall jobs
for integrating cassettes and their attached tape robots into the QA system.
SmartJCL
checked the 450,000 jobs in the correct job run sequence and simulated the data
processing of all 22 million files. Approx. 28,000 missing files were
identified, primarily archived files on cassette.
With
the help of Smart JCL, production planning came to the conclusion that nothing
stood in the way of a complete test of the application package. SmartJCL had
caught errors in advance, preventing additional costs.
Production
planning has now started using the SmartJCL catalog check feature for other
purposes, for example, checking an entire production month of approx. 870,000
jobs in advance.