Model 204
Outsourcing — Pros and Cons
By David Webb
Outsourcing is a major issue for many Model 204 shops. Some have been outsourcing various functions for a while with varying degrees of satisfaction; others are evaluating whether their business would benefit from outsourcing, too.
Outsourcing in general has been typical of so much that happens in this industry — wild enthusiasm at the start, in the expectation that it would solve all known problems, often followed by deep disillusionment when it failed to be a panacea. But while some industry outsourcing deals have not worked well at all, this does not mean that the whole concept is flawed. Failure is usually the result of poor execution or unrealistic expectations.
This article examines some key issues involved in outsourcing your Model 204 environment, and offers advice to avoid some of the pitfalls.
Why outsource?
There are two main reasons to outsource your information processing:
Managing an outsourcer
While outsourcing suppliers may have lower costs than you, they also must turn a profit. An outsourcer takes on additional risks and makes a heavy commitment; you cannot expect someone to do this without a significant margin on the activity. In many cases, this can offset all the financial savings you hope to reap.
And although you might successfully offload some of the routine work of managing your information systems, you cannot offload the ultimate responsibility: your business still depends on the efficiency of your suppliers, and the flexibility with which they respond to your evolving needs.
Much of the disillusion with outsourcing stems from a failure to recognize these simple facts.
Gaining the advantages, avoiding the traps
Here are a few basic rules:
1. Don’t be driven solely by price.
You might think it advantageous at the start of an agreement to get the price down to an absolute minimum. If you define the description of required services very tightly and play one supplier off against another, you might eventually get one to do it at cost, or even below.
However, as soon as you want any modification to the standard service, you can be in trouble. Far better to have a deal at a price that benefits both parties, that provides some element of flexibility in the services to be provided, and that makes the supplier’s primary objective to keep you happy by providing quality work.
2. Do think about license issues in good time.
You might have to renegotiate terms with the software vendors; you are better off doing this earlier rather than later.
3. Do remember that you can outsource all the work, but you cannot outsource the ultimate responsibility.
If your business depends on your information systems (and don’t they all), then you need to ensure that you retain sufficient skills to manage the relationship with the supplier effectively.
4. Do maintain good communications with your supplier.
Meet regularly, ensure that problems are raised early and discussed openly, and cultivate an atmosphere of cooperation rather than confrontation. Take the time and effort to explain what is important to your business, so that the supplier can share your goals.
5. Do choose a supplier who understands the technology on which your systems are based, and who has strength in depth.
You will be dependant on that supplier, not just for resolving immediate operational problems, but also for ensuring that your systems run smoothly, reliably, and efficiently for years to come.
The decision is yours
Every outsourcing project has unique complexities and multiple issues to resolve. An assortment of books and seminars are available to help you understand the details and offer you advice, but, ultimately, success depends on:
CCA can help
If outsourcing your Model 204 applications is one of your options, CCA is pleased to offer you advice. We can help you determine the criteria and evaluate your technical and business options, and provide an independent view of the benefits and the pitfalls.
We also offer outsourcing ourselves on our own machines in the US and the UK, including DBA and application support facilities, if required.
See the following customer stories on our Web site as illustrations of successful outsourcing:
System 1032
Running Multiple Versions of ODBC Driver — An Update
by Tym Stegner
This article provides a few clarifications and corrections to last month’s article, "Running Multiple Versions of ODBC Driver" (June 10, 1999).
Accessing ODBC Driver T30 files
The T30 ODBC Driver files mentioned in the June article are not physically available until you install them. The June article was written from the point of view that the files were already available.
To install the T30 files, follow the procedures outlined in System 1032 ODBC Driver Installation and Reference. Then use the June article to modify your environment to handle multiple versions of ODBC Driver.
CCA strongly recommends that the T30 installation be done with a separate ODBC administrator account, to keep the operational files separate between the two versions.
Once the T30 files have been created on disk, they can be located in the [.t300] subdirectory trees under the [S1032.ODBC] top-level directory.
Locating S1032ODBC.COM
The June article advises you to modify the service-name parameter, which is located in one of the following:
S1032ODBC_LIB:DEFINE_ODBC_SERVER.COM CONFIG_NET_xxx.COM
You should also modify the command-file parameter, which is located in the same file. This ensures that the proper version of the S1032ODBC.COM file is executed by using the actual directory specification for the S1032ODBC.COM file, instead of using the S1032ODBC_LIB logical name.
Startup files
When running two versions of the ODBC Driver, you do not want to execute both ODBC Driver start- up files. If V211 is the default version, the only logical name that you need from the T30 version is the S1032ODBCSHR3 logical name.
At the end of the startup file is a command to start automatic server discovery (ASD) listener, which is S1032SERVICE.COM. You cannot run this command from both versions at the same time; the second version fails with one of the following errors:
%RUN-F-CREPRC, process creation failed -SYSTEM-F-DUPLNAM, duplicate name
s1032service: bind: address already in use
To avoid these errors, comment out this command in the T30 version when you execute the 211 version, and vice versa.
Note: ASD is useful when you are running on multiple nodes, but not on a single node.
The remaining logical names are addressed in the June article, where they are defined within the context of the T30 ODBC connection.
Lastly, the T300 ODBC installation is supposed to apply the S1032ODBC_ACCESS identifier onto the T300 image. This has not been done, and T300 does not work until the identifier is applied. The proper ACL is (from the V211 image):
S1032ODBC2.EXE;1 [S1032ODBC] (RWED,RWED,,)
(IDENTIFIER=S1032ODBC_ACCESS,ACCESS=CONTROL)
(SUBSYSTEM,IDENTIFIER=S1032ODBC_ACCESS,ATRIBUTES=NONE)
The identifier can be applied only from an account that has the S1032ODBC_ACCESS identifier already granted to the account.
Nested Function Returns a Numeric Day of the Week
I was recently creating a report to break down events by hour and day of the week. While System 1032 can call a runtime library routine LIB$DAY_OF_WEEK in an external procedure, I really needed a function to perform this operation.
The following nested function returns a numeric day of the week:
($FIND($LTRIM($TEXT(<date>,DW))[1:3],"MonTueWedThuFriSatSun")/3)
The nested function uses the $TEXT function to return the day of the week name as text. The text is trimmed for leading spaces, then the first three characters are extracted. These three characters are located in a string of day-of-the-week names, and the resulting position is divided by 3 to provide an ordinal number.
A benefit of this function is that, by modifying the order of the day of the week in the string, you can determine which day is at the beginning of the week.
Going to OS/390 V2.5 or above and using Model 204?
For OS/390 users who want to migrate to Version 2.5 or greater, CCA has implemented the use of native sockets for Horizon TCP/IP, Connect *, and WebGate client connections in Version 4 Release 2.0 of Model 204.
If you have requirements to run Horizon TCP/IP in this environment, please contact the CCA Customer Support Center at 1 800 755 4222 to request Model 204 Version 4 Release 2.0.
The following environments under Model 204 V4R1.1 and V4R2.0 using IUCV are not affected:
Model 204 V4R1.1 Advantage/SQL Users — MVS Only
If you are a user of Model 204 Advantage/SQL running V4R1.1 and you are upgrading to SAS/C 6.00 or later, then you need to use the Below the Line version of the SAS/C Run Time library that is provided by SAS when running the following jobs:
TRANCOB EXCAPILK EXCAPIRN EXBCOBRN DDLUTIL
For each JCL above, you need to change the STEPLIB dataset that currently points to the SASC.LINKLIB to point to the SAS/C 6.00 or later Below the Line version of the Run Time library.
Any Advantage/SQL programs already compiled or linked with the SAS/C 4.5 version do not need to be recompiled or relinked to execute successfully with SAS/C 6.00 or later.
There are no changes necessary for V4R2.0.
New WEBGEN Release for System 1032
The WEBGEN download area has been updated with a new WEBGEN library, which contains some fixes. In addition, the WEBGEN documentation is now available in PDF format.
See the file UPDATES.TXT for a full description of the changes.
Contact CCA Webmaster Copyright 2008
