MG Technologies - Products & Services

CICS Installation & Tuning

Overview

An MG Technologies CICS install/tune-up can provide:
Improved response time Reduced storage requirements Reduced CPU utilization Improved VSAM I/O times Improved uptime Full RDO migration Install and tune VTAM Technical support training Very low maintenance Improved operational procedures Setup for CICS PC client connections	Long range planning Multiple recoverable systems Operations documentation Systems storage activity monitor Terminal status monitor Customized security checking VSAM monitor, evaluation and setup Full MRO and ISC capabilities One year of hot line available One year subscription to free software Information on future CICS releases
Time: 5 days No one can beat our performance record!	Our CICS TS for Z/OS and VSE install includes CICS utilities, monitors and source code for autoinstaller(s).

Your CICS system is installed by one of the most knowledgeable CICS systems experts in the country to provide consistent response times with little or no effect on batch jobs! In addition, your staff is trained as we tune your CICS, VTAM, NCP, and VSAM.

MG Technologies has installed CICS systems for over 25 years. Whether CICS is new or old to your organization, you will substantially benefit from an install or tune-up by MG Technologies. Our CICS systems are well planned and tuned to match the characteristics of your environment. Unfortunately, most CICS systems have been installed using one of the following methods:

The pregenerated components and tables supplied by IBM
A copy of someone else's system
Installed and maintained by personnel with limited experienced

If your CICS falls into one of the categories listed above or you are not satisfied with it's performance or reliability, then it's time to get us in! Here are just a few common accomplishments:

Improve response time between 20% and 95%!
Reduced CPU utilization between 20% and 95%!
Reduced region size requirements from 1 meg to 3 meg
Reduced CPU during CICS idle state from 10% to .01% (1000 times!)
Reduced OSCORE and GETVIS
Improved VSAM file performance up to 300 times!
Improved data integrity and reliability
Eliminated terminal network outages
Dropped polling from 2,000,000 to 20,000 per day

Work Outline

Here is a partial list of work that we will perform at your site during an install or tune-up:

Service Highlights

Review every parameter of every CICS table
Review VTAM and NCP parameters
Monitor system flow using our performance monitors
Tune CICS with your staff. Your staff performs all or most of the changes. We will instruct your staff on how to keep your CICS systems tuned.
Improve response time.
Reduce storage requirements.
Reduce CPU utilization.
Evaluate the performance of every VSAM file
Improve VSAM and other I/O performance.
Review and tune your critical VSAM files.
Review VSAM design strategies
Make improvements in the reliability of CICS.
Resolve existing technical or useability problems.
Reduce maintenance for system programmers.
Install MRO and ISC if needed.
Convert definitions to Resource Definition Online.
Evaluate application design and performance issues using CICS traces
Improve operational characteristics such as startup and shutdown times.
Review and tune VTAM and NCP.
Install VTAM if you don't already have VTAM installed.

Software Provided

CICS activity and storage monitors for 1 year.
Message processing utilities.
VSAM performance analyzer for 1 year.
An initial logon screen and user friendly security signon screen.
See the CICS software section for a description of the CICS system programs provided.

Manuals Provided

Six of our CICS and VTAM Operators reference manuals for your release of CICS.

Other Benefits Provided

One year of technical support. We have SDLC and asynchronous dial-up capabilities. We will assist in resolving performance and reliability problems.
Review CICS related hardware and software.
Plan and implement strategies for the next release of CICS.
Provide future strategies and planning suggestions.
Provide suggestions and replacements for third party packages.

Sample Timetable

Each CICS environment is unique. However, during our installation and/or tuning of CICS, certain milestones must be accomplished on specific days of our five day visit. There are literally hundreds of changes that will be made by your staff during the week. Keep in mind that the following items are only the major milestones.

Monday

Meet with staff, review environment, establish work schedule.
Collect information regarding known problems. Also review any desired changes requiring custom programming.
Review hardware and physical network.
Install the MG Technologies CICS install tape, utilities and monitors.
Test terminal transmission time using our Transmission Time Analyzer.
Define new libraries. No existing libraries will be changed for backout purposes.
Review and change all tables for at least two CICS regions.
Review JCL for the CICS regions.

Tuesday

Define new CICS VSAM system files. This is needed to better utilize space and tune the temporary storage, intrapartition transient data, restart, and configuration files.
Convert the obsolete PCT and PPT definitions to the Resource Definition Online facility if necessary to improve maintainability.
Review, clean-up and delete unnecessary CICS definitions to increase storage availability.
Convert the TCT terminal definitions to the Resource Definition Online facility.
Remove 3270 video terminal definitions and install the MG Technologies automatic terminal installer if necessary. This will reduce storage utilization. See the CICS software section for description of the autoinstaller.
Change and correct the VTAM bind images for the terminal definitions.
Review and test any new versions of third party packages.
Activate the CICS automatic statistics facility to use for tuning.
Test applications.

Wednesday

Activate replacement CICS regions in production.
Closely monitor all available performance and monitoring data.
Review traces of various CICS time frames to analyze application techniques and recommend application changes.
Use the VSAM analyzer to isolate and prioritize the application files that must be tuned.
Activate the response time monitor on 3174 control units if possible to collect response time measurements.
Review and change tables for remaining applicable CICS regions.

Thursday

Test batch procedures to print various CICS files.
Adjust VSAM application files and file definitions.
Write and test custom system interfaces to fix problems or enhance useability.

Friday

Meet with operations to answer questions regarding the CICS and VTAM operations documentation provided by MG Technologies.
Make suggestions regarding future hardware and software acquisitions.
Talk to applications and department manager to review week and make final suggestions. Also discuss recoverability and data integrity issues. Review potential problems.