Q. What does “OPS” represent in OPS/Master®?
A. OPERATION PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEMS™ (OPS)
Q. What are the products that make up the OPS/Master family?
A. JOB/Master®
RUN/Master®
CONSOLE/Master®
JCL/Master™
TSO/Master®
TAPE/Master™
DISK/Master™
OPS/Server™
Q. Generally, what do these products do?
A. OPS/Master is a family of high-powered productivity software products which automates all data center operations. OPS manages workload, improves system through-put, reduces data processing error rates, improves staff efficiencies, better utilizes data center resources and delivers enhanced error rate capability.
Q. Who do these products best serve?
A. These products are developed to support mid to large scale data center management systems. They offer comprehensive, integrated solutions for automated production control.
Q. What can these products do for our data center?
A. Corporations rely on the data center more than ever. Large quantities of information have to be processed on time and accurately. Businesses can’t afford failures or reruns. Data centers have to run with absolute efficiency. Efficiency is dependent on automation. We provide total automation to make your business more efficient.
Q. What level of hardware is required for OPS/Master?
A. Any IBM System mainframe.
Q. What operating systems is required to run OPS/Master?
A. Any level of z/OS operating systems.
Q. What are the capacity limitations of OPS/Master?
A. Technically, there are no limitations on the capacity of OPS/Master other than the mainframe capacity and VSAM file sizes.
Q. How easy is it to implement OPS/Master?
A. OPS/Master has been designed to be installed in two hours in most cases. The actual implementation can be phased in easily. With “check mode” processing, job flow can be simulated to verify schedule.
Q. How is it possible to have a full-featured automation system running so quickly?
A. OPS/Master is designed from an operation manager’s viewpoint. We focus on the real world needs of the data center. We understand that minimal downtime is critical.
Q. You mentioned real world capabilities. Can you give more detail?
A. OPS/Master offers total automated control of all daily production and scheduling activities, TSO/ISPF interface, Job setup facilities, complete on-line production statistics. The system is user friendly with fill-in-the-blank function to perform data definition and program functions. No system anywhere is easier to operate.
Q. In today’s market, businesses are more costs conscious than ever. How does OPS/Master help?
A. OPS/Master power and price add up to the best price/performance ratio of any production management system in the industry.
Q. What about security with OPS/Master?
A. Security is critical! Information must be safeguarded. With our OPS/Master Integrated Security Facility (ISF), your administrator can define individual functions, customize user access and authorize TSO user access. Your data center security can be tailored to your specific needs.
Q. Can you give an overview of the main individual components of OPS/Master?
A. JOB/Master – automates the production process with fully automated scheduling, reduced manual intervention, enhanced problem determination and improved production support. JOB/Master offers unrivaled speed of implementation, superior ease of use, full security and unmatched facilities for the control and monitoring of external jobs.
RUN/Master – automatically controls the entire job rerun procedure, accounting for adjustment of GDG (generated data group) relative numbers, dataset scratching and the un-cataloguing of datasets which are to be created in the rerun. RUN/Master maintains an online database supporting both inquiry and editing of historic and real-time information on each production and rerun job. Extensive tracking facilities are also available for analyzing production status and recurrent causes of job resubmission.
CONSOLE/Master – automatically manages and controls MVS, OS/390 and z/OS console functions. The system allows entry of console commands from any TSO terminal, offers an integrated event processor and provides full security through ISF. CONSOLE/Master’s database module gives users an easy to use ISPF dialogue for inputting and controlling console message and reply functions.
JCL/Master – provides JCL substitution for batch jobs using a standard online interface. Any number of variables can be processed and defaults may be established. JCL/Master generates dates automatically and provides easy maintenance with Automatic Variable Substitution (AVS).
Q. Can you summarize the features of OPS/Master?
A. Extremely fast implementation, control of external jobs, automated job scheduling, advanced schedule simulation, menu-driven operation, improved problem determination, historical data collection, reduction of manual intervention, automated response to redundant console messages, standard system interface with TSO, complete rerun management, integrated event processor of console operations and job schedules, automated console command processing, Interactive Security Facility.
