Appendix A - PAC Activities Checklist

This appendix lists a series of actions for using PAC as follows:

  • Setting up the PAC system in your environment;

  • Setting up the PAC environment for an application; and

  • Moving an application through its life-cycle, and ultimately into production.

Change control activities, reporting activities, and PAC administrator functions are also included.

These actions are not necessarily listed in the sequence in which they are to be accomplished; however, any prerequisites to a particular action or step are indicated. Note the following:

  • Applications and statuses must be defined before application status links can be defined.

  • Some steps are optional and/or can be performed at any time. For example, keywords can be defined to PAC at any time; however, they must be defined to PAC before they can be assigned to PAC entities.

  • Authorization suggests the users who may be authorized to perform these functions, for example:

    • PAC configurator (PC);

    • Administrator (ADM);

    • Project leader (PL);

    • Authorized user (AUTH);

    • Database administrator (DBA);

    • Natural Security administrator (NSA);

    • User (USER). Users may be developers, quality assurance personnel, or coordinators; however, authorization requirements are specific to individual environments.

    • Reference indicates the location in this documentation or in another PAC documentation where you can find detailed instructions for the particular step.

The following sections summarize the actions used to set up PAC in your environment.

This document covers the following topics:


Setting Up the Application Environment

Define the Application to PAC

Authorization: PC
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Define and Locate the Statuses and Associated Predict Files

Define and locate the statuses and associated Predict files from/to which the application can be migrated. The following status types have the specified location considerations:

Authorization: PC/PL
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Define the Application Status Links

Note:
The application and statuses must be defined to PAC first.

Authorization: PC/PL
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Define a File Translation Table as Required

Authorization: PC
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Define a Migration Path (Select Migration (Jobs)

Define the origin and destination statuses for the application. The migration path must be set up before you can set up a migration event.

Authorization: PC
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Set Up a Migration Authorization

Specify the user(s) who may authorize a migration; that is, someone who may be identifies as "AUTH".

Authorization: PC
Reference: Configuring a PAC Environment

Incorporate an Application

Bring an application already implemented in a production status type into PAC.

Authorization: USER
Reference: Migrations, andMigrations Into, Within, and Out of PAC

Setting Up the Environment for Processing Applications

The following actions are performed in sequence:

  1. Create the migration event to move the application from one status to another (migration path). Identify the activities that must take place during the migration of the objects of an application.

    Note:
    The event that moves Predict objects must be run before the event that moves/copies the Natural application objects.

    Authorization: USER
    Reference: Migration Events
  2. Build the object list. The object list identifies the objects of an application to be migrated.

    The expand status option may be used to specify the status from which subordinate objects are to be compiled.

    Authorization: USER
    Reference: Creating and Validating an Object List
  3. Validate the object list. PAC checks the list of objects to be migrated.

    Authorization: USER
    Reference: Creating and Validating an Object List
  4. Authorize the event. Permission is given to execute the migration.

    Authorization: AUTH
    Reference: Authorizing and Submitting Migration Events
  5. Submit the event; this activates the job that runs the migration event.

    Authorizer: USER
    Reference: Authorizing and Submitting Migration Events
  6. Monitor the processing of the migration event. The Audit Report and the Job Information screens show the progress of the migration.

    Authorizer: USER
    Reference: Authorizing and Submitting Migration Events

Using the Change Control Facilities

The following change control facilities are used to track and maintain application objects.

Maintain Table Entries

Maintenance request table entries are maintained by the PAC administrator.

Authorizer: ADM
Reference: Assigning and Maintaining Object Versions; Administration documentation section Object Version Maintenance

Define Maintenance Requests

Integrates PAC with problem-tracking systems so that maintenance of objects can be monitored by PAC.

Authorizer: USER
Reference: Assigning and Maintaining Object Versions and Maintenance Requests

Track the Maintenance Activities of Application Objects

Change control logs can be reviewed for check-out/check-in information.

Authorizer: USER
Reference: Assigning and Maintaining Object Versions and Changing Control Logs

Compare Versioned Objects

Use this PAC-related utility for comparing objects both inside and outside the PAC environment.

Authorizer: USER
Reference: Reference documentation section Compare Utility

Retrieve Information About Versioned Objects

Retrieve information about objects that have been moved into the PAC environment and assigned a version number.

Authorizer: USER
Reference: Assigning and Maintaining Object Versions

The PAC Administrator Functions

The following functions are available to the PAC administrator.

Maintain Archive Events

  • Remove objects from the PAC environment;

  • Restore archived objects to the PAC environment.

Authorization: ADM/DBA
Reference: Chapter , Migration Into, Within, and Out of PAC; Administration documentation chapter Archive Event Maintenance

Maintain General Defaults

Modify the following:

  • Application defaults to generate migration event names automatically;

  • Applymods to override selected PAC defaults;

  • Profile defaults, such as screen header, number of transactions performed before an ET is issued, number of transactions before a Natural rollout;

  • Extended Descriptions ( textual attributes) of applications, job JCL/JCS, and migration events;

  • JCL for jobs;

  • Predict generation defaults may be copied to the Predict Control File (PCF).

Authorization: ADM/DBA
Reference: Administration documentation chapter General Defaults Maintenance

Maintain View Security

Identify and assign protection levels for view usage by objects.

Authorization: ADM/DBA
Reference: Administration documentation chapter View Security Maintenance

Verify Locked Data

Display or release data currently being processed or locked due to incomplete processing.

Authorization: ADM/DBA
Reference: Administration documentation chapter Locked Data Maintenance

Maintain User Profiles

Add or modify profiles of users of the PAC system.

Authorization: ADM/DBA
Reference: Administration documentation chapter User Profile Maintenance

Maintain Versioned Objects

Maintain versioned objects; purging object versions, archived objects, change control logs.

Authorization: ADM
Reference: Administration documentation chapter Object Version Maintenance

Define and Maintain Maintenance Requests: Customize Tables Defined to PAC

Maintain the status and action tables used when maintenance requests are defined to PAC.

Authorization: ADM
Reference: Chapter , Assigning and Maintaining Object Versions; Administration documentation chapter Table Maintenance

Maintain User Exits

User exits provide facilities that allow control to be passed to a user-written Natural program (user exit routine).

Authorization: ADM/NSA/PC
Reference: Reference documentation chapter User Exits

Maintain Application Program Interface (API) Facilities

Maintain the Natural facilities that allow the user to call PAC directly from within a user-written program outside the control of PAC.

Authorization: ADM/NSA/PC
Reference: Reference documentation chapter Application Programming Interface

Maintain System Applymods (System Defaults)

Switch on/off the applymods currently used by PAC.

Authorization: ADM
Reference: Reference documentation chapter System Applymods

Checklist for Setting Up Applications in PAC

Application setup activities for PAC are summarized below. The overall environment can be modified at any time; applications can be defined to PAC at any time.

Define the Overall Environment

  • Identify your application life-cycle environments: development, maintenance, test, and production

  • Identify the type(s) of status(es) applicable for each environment;

  • Identify the typical flow of an application through the identified environments;

  • Identify the Predict usage for each environment.

Define the Application

  • Identify the application and application subsystems, if applicable.

  • Identify the application library usage.

  • Map the application, subsystems, and library to a PAC application.

  • Define the application to PAC.

Review the Application Statuses

  • Identify the development, test, maintenance, and production locations of each application.

  • Verify the type of status in terms of the behavior of the application attributes as defined by PAC.

  • Identify the Predict location of each environment.

  • Modify the supplied PAC statuses as required.

  • If any new status is identified at this time, add it to the PAC configuration.

Overview of PAC Activities

PAC controls the movement of your application through its life-cycle by prescribing the procedures described in the following paragraphs.

Define and Maintain the Application Environment

  • Identify and predefine the development, test, production, and maintenance environments for an application.

  • Identify the physical library, database and file numbers of the Natural and Predict system files; identify the foreign nodes and datasets.

Migrate Application Objects

  • Define test plans (migration paths) for the secured movement of objects.

  • Use automated online/batch migration facilities to migrate objects.

  • Document the movement of objects from one status to another.

Maintain Application Objects

  • Version each new instance of an object migrated into PAC.

  • Track the movement of objects to different maintenance, test, and production libraries; check-out and check-in objects for maintenance.

Audit and Report

  • Audit activities performed on an application including compilation and migration of its objects.

  • Audit the activities of an application in the production environment.

  • Retrieve information about application and object history and status.

Archive and Retire Application Objects

  • Remove objects from PAC either temporarily or permanently using the off-line archiving facility.

  • Purge objects permanently from PAC or from an application status.