Creating workstations

Specify your environment to HCL Workload Automation for Z in terms of workstations and resources. A workstation is not necessarily hardware. It is a stage in the processing that is controlled by HCL Workload Automation for Z. The processor complex that runs your controller is a computer workstation, and you will probably create two workstations for it, because there must be separate workstations for jobs and for started tasks.

The job preparation team submits jobs, often adding runtime parameters on request. Often a runtime parameter is just the day's date. The program cannot simply get the date from the time-of-day clock because sometimes the date must be when the group of jobs starts, which must not change, even if the jobs continue to run past midnight. At other times, the date appears on the pay slips, and must be Friday's date, regardless of the date when the jobs run. In these cases, HCL Workload Automation for Z is usually able to automatically substitute the correct date in the jobs. Where manual intervention is unavoidable, HCL Workload Automation for Z can control when the job is available for variable substitution and submission. HCL Workload Automation for Z can also keep track of what stage the job is at. You specify manual job preparation work as a workstation.

Another type of workstation is a printer workstation. HCL Workload Automation for Z is notified when a print output group has finished printing. This way HCL Workload Automation for Z can keep track of the status of important print operations and the time they take. You do not have to specify a print operation for every job that prints something. Only specify a print operation when you want to track it.

If there is a manual process that you want to track, specify it as a general workstation. Such workstations do not, of course, have JES and SMF exits to tell HCL Workload Automation for Z what is going on, but you can have a terminal where the operator changes the HCL Workload Automation for Z status of an operation through the ISPF panel. If the status of an operation can be detected by VTAM®, NetView®, or by one of your own programs, you can get the program to inform HCL Workload Automation for Z of the new status, and HCL Workload Automation for Z then starts the dependent operations.

Returning to Paymore, how many workstations do you create, and how do you create them? You need a:
  • Computer workstation for jobs
  • Computer workstation for started tasks, if CICSA is a started task and you want it to run under HCL Workload Automation for Z
  • General workstation for job preparation
  • Printer workstation
  • General workstation for the payroll office, if you need to keep track of manual operations there, such as the collation of pay slips and preparation of pay packets

See Creating workstations for a full description of workstations. This section shows how you might create them for Paymore.

Select option 2 from the MAINTAINING WORKSTATION DESCRIPTIONS menu, (or option 1.1.2 from the main menu) to list workstations. The command CREATE displays the panel shown in EQQWCGEP - Creating general information about a workstation.
Figure 1. EQQWCGEP - Creating general information about a workstation
 EQQWCGEP ----- CREATING GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT A WORK STATION --------------
 Command ===>
 Enter the command R for resources or A for availability or O for end-to-end
 options or D for Destinations above, or enter data below:

 WORK STATION NAME   ===> CPU1
 DESCRIPTION         ===> Local system processing_________
 WORK STATION TYPE   ===> C         G  General, C  Computer, P  Printer
                                    R  Remote Engine
 REPORTING ATTR      ===> A         A  Automatic, S  Manual start and completion
                                    C  Completion only, N  Non reporting
 PRINTOUT ROUTING    ===> SYSPRINT  The ddname of daily plan printout data set
 SERVER USAGE        ===> B         Parallel server usage, C, P, B or N
 DESTINATION        ===> ________   Name of destination
 Options: allowed Y or N 
  SPLITTABLE         ===> N         JOB SETUP             ===> N
  STARTED TASK, STC  ===> N         WTO                   ===> N
  AUTOMATION         ===> N         
  WAIT               ===> N         Z-CENTRIC AGENT       ===> N
  VIRTUAL            ===> N         DYNAMIC               ===> N 
REMOTE ENGINE TYPE   ===>           z z/OS or D Distributed  

Defaults:
  TRANSPORT TIME     ===> 00.00     Time from previous workstation  HH.MM
  DURATION           ===> 00.05.00  Duration for a normal operation  HH.MM.SS

EQQWCGEP - Creating general information about a workstation is one of several ISPF panels that you need to create a workstation. Use the A command to specify when the workstation is available.

Use the R command to specify workstation fixed resources, called R1 and R2. Although these fixed resources are less useful, because you can do more with special resources (see Creating special resources). So the Paymore application does not use any workstation fixed resources.

Grouping of payroll applications shows values that you might specify for the workstations. If you have a general workstation to track manual operations in the payroll office, PAY1, create it like the job setup workstation SETP, but with JOB SETUP = N.