Release 6.01

March 1, 2000

Change Tracking

Change Action now tracks changes even when the Change Action started task MZCA has been stopped. When MZCA is restarted, it records the queued changes to the database. Please note that change controls still require MZCA to be active.

Users of Panvalet, Librarian or Roscoe must install the current versions of the Change Action exits for these products to take advantage of this new functionality. Please see the installation instructions for details.

Change Blackout

The change blackout display program has been rewritten to comply with Change Action standards. It now includes a PRT primary command that prints full details for each entry.

Change Request

When displaying List of Change Requests, if the end date is the same as the current date, then it will be displayed even though it may be a closed Change Request due to expired to-time.

Command Tracking and Control

This new component allows you to control and log operator commands issued from console, TSO, batch and started tasks. To access this component, use option CC from the primary selection panel. Detailed help panels are available.

Note: This component is currently under Beta test and is subject to further change. Please notify Action Software International if you wish to test this component, and provide feedback regarding the results of your testing.

External Logging

Since there are more options available, now the Main Panel for External Logging will be displayed for you use Command EXT from the Primary Selection panel.

A new log record subtype has been added to record Change Action controls activity. This record is created whenever Change Action issues controls-related messages to a user (e.g., change disallowed or change allowed due to warn mode).

The following new subtypes have also been added

Subtype 04: TestAction Log
Subtype 05: Command Tracking & Control Log
Subtype 06: Change Distribution Transmits
Subtype 07: Reference Tracking by Members
Subtype 08: Updates to Excludes Options
Subtype 09: Updates to Blackout Options

A new line command Select has been added on the External Logging panel to format the display records from a dataset for a selected subtype. The display panels have extensive selection criteria, as well as a PRTint primary command.

The following enhancements have been made to the External Logging task:

You can have unique DD statement for one or more subtypes. The DDNAME will be MZDATAnn, where nn is the subtype. If a unique DD statement is not provided for a subtype, then the records for the subtype will be written to DDname MZDATA.

Whenever an external dataset is opened, the external dataset information will be written to the Change Action database. After that the same record will be rewritten periodically with the counts of records by subtype. Use primary command DSlist from the External Logging main panel to see the list of datasets that were created, along with the record count by subtype on each dataset. This will assist you to see what is on each external dataset.

Please refer to the help panels for full details.

Program Execution Tracking

Program Execution Tracking now tracks the execution of JES2 PROCs, TSO CLISTs and REXX EXECs.

Compare Utility

Enhancements have been added to the Batch volume compare portion of the compare utility. You may now specify INCLude and EXCLude control cards to eliminate unnecessary processing for data sets that you are not interested in. These control cards further reduce the list of datasets as indicated by the DSN1 and DSN2 parameters already specified; you may limit by dataset name/mask and/or DSORG.

The output in the MZCPRINT file has been enhanced to match the Change Action DBLOG format so that there are timestamps with all messages. Please see the sample JCL in the control library member SAMPVCMP.

Reporting

The Database Usage Summary report has been corrected to properly report on datasets using very little space, typically data sets which are recording only stats, no backups.

Batch Function and Selection Templates>

All job definitions (including Reports, Batch Jobs, ELI jobs and LULU Batch Jobs) have been enhanced to support Selection Templates.

This allows you to create a selection template for searching the database for information and use these exact same criteria in both the online and background modes. This enhancement requires a conversion of the Change Action database to support and provide automatic accessibility to these new functions.

Data Set Options

* and *.* without a volume specification are no longer allowed. There is no need for these options, since they cover all other datasets and should not be tracked by Change Action.

The BK line command on .* dataset will force a .ENVIRONMENT in it's entry in case it no longer exists. In the past, you had to restart Change Action to get the new entry.

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