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Release 7.00

February 24, 2004

To jump to the release summaries, click appropriate section:

New Product and Component Names

Action Software International is pleased to announce new names for its products and their components. The new names have been chosen to more accurately and concisely represent the full range of capabilities of the products. Change Action has been renamed to eventACTION, and USS Action has been renamed to ussACTION.

The following tables summarize the new and old component names:

New Name
Old Name
eventACTION Change Tracker Change Action change tracking component
eventACTION Change Manager Change Action change controls component
eventACTION Reference Tracker Change Action reference tracking component
eventACTION Command Manager Change Action command tracking and controls component
eventACTION Communication Manager Change Action LULU component
New name
Old Name
ussACTION Change Tracker USS Action change tracking component
ussACTION Change Manager USS Action change controls component
ussACTION Reference Tracker USS Action reference tracking component

 

eventACTION Summary

Command Manager

eventACTION’s Command Manager component (formerly known as Command Tracking & Control) is now generally available.

Product Execution Control (PXC)

eventACTION’s Product Execution Control feature (PXC) is now generally available.

DFSMSdss Tracking

eventACTION’s DFSMSdss tracking feature, which was previously in beta test status, is now generally available. To activate this feature, you must still specify PARM=DFDSS at eventACTION startup.

VSAM Controls

eventACTION’s VSAM Controls feature, which was previously in beta test status, is now generally available. To activate this feature, you must still specify PARM=VSAMCTL at eventACTION startup.

Catalog Alias Tracking and Control

eventACTION’s Catalog Alias Tracking and Control feature, which was previously in beta test status, is now generally available. It is no longer necessary to specify a parameter at eventACTION startup to activate this feature.

Excluded Events

Whenever a change is excluded (from stats, backups and/or controls), the event will be recorded to External Logging (Subtype 11) on the eventACTION database. This information can be displayed by using EXT Option from the Primary selection panel. Due to the potentially large volume of data, the log records will be automatically deleted after 7 days.

Datasets For Reference Tracking (option RT)

When you select a dataset under RT, a list of members is shown. On the members panel, a new command "DEL DAYS=nnnn" has been added. This will delete all the references from the database for which the value of DAYS is greater than or equal to the value specified for nnnn.

Product Execution Control Definitions

Just a reminder: Datasets defined for PXC must be load libraries (not just any PDS). The help panels have been updated. Since you are allowed to define a dataset which has not been created yet, no check is made to verify that it is a load library.

Change Requests

The email to approvers of a change request will now contain more information, i.e., proposed schedule dates and the list of datasets and members.

Change Distribution And External Logging

You can now stop the MZXP task by issuing the command

F MZCA,EXT=STOP

(where MZCA is the eventACTION started task name used at your site).

Note: you can still stop the task by using STOP command from Change Distribution (Main Panel) or External Logging (Main Panel).

Compare Utility

Commands to alter comparison options have been added to the line-by-line Data Output results display so that you do not have to return to the main compare panel to change these options. There is now a LDREF command to turn this option off and on; there is now a COLS command to alter the columns being compared; there is an IGNORE command to alter the options of ignoring line numbers, IDR dates for load modules, and ignoring certain records within the files using a table of record definitions. Please refer to the help panels.

Pop-up windows are being used to display warning and results messages to give a more complete view of the compare processing. When comparing a set of members using a member mask, a results summary will be displayed. When using Quick compare, a results summary window will also be displayed.

PDSE load modules are now handled in the compare utility. The output hex dump format is slightly different from non-PDSE load modules because of the extra information that may exist within a PDSE load module. As such, PDSE load modules cannot be compared with non-PDSE load modules.

Reference Tracking By Members

RTM has been completely rewritten and has been tested by a large user. The new RTM creates new record types in the database. The following are the major changes:

  • Better locking in a multiple CPU environment.
  • Reduced database space usage, particularly if you have defined a large number of members.

For users who do not choose to use the new RTM, the old RTM is still included in the product and works as before.

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

Job Accounting Information

New Feature: This feature writes job accounting information to an external log. This log can be merged with other eventACTION tracking information in order to associate accounting information with the other tracked events.

Reference Tracking Reporting

New Features: Sort options and summary options added:

  • Tracking by Dataset Detail Report: sort order is added.
  • User Reference Count Report: has been moved to be defined in the Report Definition Types and sort order is also added.
  • Tracking by Member Report: sort order, detail report and summary report options are added.
  • Tracking at Dataset Level Report: detail report and summary report options are added.

ussACTION Summary

ussACTION

New Product: Action Software International is pleased to announce the general availability of ussACTION, which helps installations manage their z/OS Unix System Services environments much as eventACTION (formerly Change Action) assists with z/OS MVS systems management. ussACTION is comprised of the following major components:

  • ussACTION Change Tracker
  • ussACTION Change Manager
  • ussACTION Reference Tracker

ussACTION also includes a full suite of supporting features such as reporting, external logging, and file and backup comparison.

Note: ussACTION was known as USS Action during beta testing.

Excludes Feature

New Feature: Allows you to exclude certain actions from being tracked. You can define the excludes by:

  • Started task name
  • Batch jobnames
  • Logon userid
  • Security userid
  • SMFid

The exclude definitions are checked by Change Tracker and by Reference Tracker.

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