Leveraging your FOCUS Assets

Walter BloodTechnical Director

FOCUS Division, Information Builders

Copyright 2007, Information Builders. Slide 2

Leveraging Your FOCUS AssetsValue of Your Mainframe

Security superior to any other hardware platform 99.99% system availability Processing power for massive volumes of data “Green” – most efficient energy use for large number of

users and massive amounts of data Disaster recovery Backed by IBM

Identifying Your FOCUS Assets

APPLICATIONS OUTPUTS

DATA ACCESS PERFORMANCE

Leveraging APPLICATIONS

Interactive / BatchNumber of usersUse of FOCUS sink machineUser developed reports and utilitiesInfrequently used applications/reportsHeavy lifting tools

APPLICATIONS

Leveraging ApplicationsWhere’s the Value

1. Currently working without problems

2. Built on rules the company is currently using

3. Access large amounts of historical data

4. Require minimal user maintenance

In existing APPLICATIONS:

How extensive are your assets?

1. FOCLOG

2. Site Analyzer

LOG FILE(character flat file) LOG FILE(character flat file)

PC Analysis(Local or Information Builders)

TABLETABLEReportsReports

Mainframe Analysis

Leveraging ApplicationsFOCLOG

FOCUS Online User

FOCUS Online User

FOCUS Batch Job

FOCUS Batch Job

FOCUS Online User

FOCUS Online User

FOCUS Batch Job

FOCUS Batch Job

Memory MemoryMemory

Memory

FTP

[ M V S O N L Y ]

FOCLOG MFDFOCLOG MFD

FIN FINFIN

FIN

Leveraging APPLICATIONSBatch Applications

For batch applications:

• Make the application runnable remotely

• Provide scheduling capability to optimize cpu usage

• Re-package application output for remote access

• Spreadsheet – Excel, Lotus

• Document – PDF, Postscript

• Data – Alpha, WP

• Output delivery

• Direct shipment via ftp or email

• Create repository for output

Leveraging APPLICATIONSInteractive Applications

For interactive applications:

• Separate interactive data collection/manipulation

• Provide data collection/manipulation information via file

• Replace CRTFORM with FIXFORM from file

• Retain original processing logic

• Use screen scraping tool like IBM HATS to convert screen input to HTML

.

Leveraging APPLICATIONSAll Applications

For all applications:

• Isolate parts of application that can stand alone

• Make those pieces available as services

• Look for opportunities to deliver output to WebFOCUS

.

Identifying Data Access

FOCUS/XFOCUSRelational – DB2, Oracle, TeradataNon-relational – IMS, IDMS, ADABASVSAM, sequentialLegacy databases

DATA ACCESS

Leveraging Data AccessWhere’s the Value

FOCUS access to mainframe data

• FOCUS provides access to critical data

•Very large volumes of data

•High security requirements

•Mainframe only databases

• Moving the data is not really an option

• Too expensive – time and money

• Application not broken, why fix?

Leveraging Data AccessData Access

FOCUS access to mainframe data

• To reduce mainframe runtime costs

•Use the most efficient FOCUS version

•Use FOCUS for data access only and move formatting to a less-expensive platform with WebFOCUS

•Fully optimize relational queries

•Generate, store and make available reports that are run repetitively on a daily basis with WebFOCUS Reportcaster and Report Library

Leveraging Data AccessFOCUS 7.6 CPU Usage Reduction

TestsLarge MODIFY Load

Large MODIFY UPDATE

REBUILD

Large TABLE SUM

Large TABLE WHERE

JOIN TABLE

MATCH

HOLD OUTPUT

MAINTAIN

TestsLarge MODIFY Load

Large MODIFY UPDATE

REBUILD

Large TABLE SUM

Large TABLE WHERE

JOIN TABLE

MATCH

HOLD OUTPUT

MAINTAIN

CPU Benchmark % of 7.6 Improvement

7.3.6 22%

30%

39%

7%

8%

18%

8%

44%

38%

7.3.6 22%

30%

39%

7%

8%

18%

8%

44%

38%

7.1.1 11%

23%

45%

16%

9%

13%

19%

47%

30%

7.1.1 11%

23%

45%

16%

9%

13%

19%

47%

30%

7.2.11 16%

26%

53%

16%

7%

10%

37%

37%

29%

7.2.11 16%

26%

53%

16%

7%

10%

37%

37%

29%

See White Paper for performance details

Copyright 2007, Information Builders. Slide 14

Leveraging Data AccessIBM zIIP

No IBM charges for eligible workload CPU utilization on zIIP

zIIP does not count toward overall MIPS rating of the machine

May avoid/delay Central Processor (CP) or machine upgrade

Improves resource optimization by reducing latent workload demand which the CP can now absorb

May stimulate some visible performance improvement

“zIIP”: System z Integrated Information Processor

Leveraging Data AccessData Access

FOCUS access to mainframe data

• Eliminate duplicated mainframe workload

•Generate, store and make available subsets of data that handle 80% of your requests.

•Control duplicate data

•Database fields – Site Analyzer

•Hold and intermediate files

Leveraging Outputs

Screen based applicationsPaper basedIntermediate outputs

OUTPUTS

Leveraging OutputsWhere’s the Value…

Leveraging FOCUS output

•Current output – portable or not portable?

•Data target – ascii vs ebcdic?

•Accessibility – paper, screen, mobile device?

Leveraging OutputsOutputs

Leveraging FOCUS output

• Use existing procedures with possible updates

•For portability:

•PDF, Postscript, Excel, Lotus

•For data transport

•ALPHA, XML

•DFIX with delimiter

•EXTRACT – Structured HOLD files

Leveraging ApplicationsStructured HOLD FiIes

Retains knowledge of one-to-many relationships of original fileStructured data easily downloads off mainframe to WebFOCUS

* More extensive syntax/options documented

TABLE FILE PRINT A B C DIF C EQ 5ON TABLE HOLD [ FORMAT EXTRACT ] *END

TABLE FILE PRINT A B C DIF C EQ 5ON TABLE HOLD [ FORMAT EXTRACT ] *END

FOCUS Database

Plain HOLD File

A B C D

HOLD EXTRACT optionsALPHA, FOCUS, binary

StructuredHOLD FileA

CB

D

C=5

A

CB

DE

Leveraging Performance

User volumeData volumeApplication requirements vs costsSecurity issuesAllowable downtime

PERFORMANCE

Leveraging PerformanceConsiderations

Retain the cost-effective performance

Analyse existing mainframe applications for functionality involving data best retained on mainframe for performance:

•Legacy database access especially those with JOINs

•Data access that can be re-used by many users

•Large volumes of historical data

•Security sensitive data

Move/rewrite other parts of application

Balance cost of move vs cost of Mainframe Use

Leveraging Your FOCUS AssetsQuestions?