Maintenance Requests

Maintenance requests track problems within the PAC system and extend the usability of external problem-tracking systems:

• User exits can be used to establish user-defined rules and standards.

• Application Program Interfaces (APIs) can be used to reflect problems from external problem-tracking systems in PAC.

• The user who identified a problem in an external problem-tracking system can be reflected in the PAC maintenance request.

• A list of all objects required to resolve the problem can be obtained.

• A list of the objects involved in the generated maintenance is provided.

Maintenance requests can be defined when maintenance is required for an application. The information returned by the maintenance request can be maintained entirely by the user.

Once defined, a maintenance request can be assigned to a migration event. This enhances check-out/check-in tracking, and allows the user to review all events, created or completed, for a particular request.

For detailed information about maintenance requests, refer to Maintaining Natural Objects in PAC.

This document covers the following topics:

• Generating Maintenance Requests

• Accessing the Maintenance Request Sub-Functions

• Adding a Maintenance Request

• Selecting a Maintenance Request

• Modifying/Displaying a Maintenance Request

• Copying a Maintenance Request

• Purging a Maintenance Request

Generating Maintenance Requests

You may generate unique maintenance requests using the "@GEN" string in the maintenance request name. See page Generating a Name Automatically.

If a duplicate number is encountered, PAC issues an error and a request that the user enter a unique value for the maintenance request name.

The maintenance request number is maintained as a system default. The generated number may be reset or changed at any time by the PAC administrator.

Accessing the Maintenance Request Sub-Functions

From the PAC Main Menu, enter Code M (Maintenance Requests).

The menu that appears depends on your user profile. The Maintenance Request Menu, which combines both reporting and maintenance functions, is used for discussions in this section:

 15:30:03          ***** PREDICT APPLICATION CONTROL *****           2000-02-09
  User PACUSR            - Maintenance Request Menu -

                    Code  Sub-Function
                    ----  ---------------------
                      A   Add Request ID
                      C   Copy Request ID
                      D   Display Request ID
                      M   Modify Request ID
                      P   Purge Request ID
                      S   Select Request ID
                      ?   Help
                      .   Exit
                    ----  ---------------------

    Code ............ _   Select Type .. _
    Request ID ...... ____________________
    New Request ID .. ____________________
    Assigned To ..... ________


 Command ===>
 Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
       Help  Menu  Exit                                                  Canc

Note:
All of the sub-functions on this screen except Add may be processed directly from the Maintenance Request Selection List that is accessed using the Select Request ID sub-function.

Select Type Field

When you are selecting maintenance requests from a list, this field allows you to identify how you want the maintenance requests to be listed:

Request ID and New Request ID Fields

These fields are used to identify new and existing request IDs. The New Request ID field is used for the name of the event created when an existing event is copied.

Assigned To Field

The value in this field specifies the ID of the user to whom the maintenance request is assigned.

Adding a Maintenance Request

Note:
Edit all other values on the Add Request screen before you access the Additional Options. Once you access Additional Options, all other fields on the screen are protected.

Step 1. Accessing the Add Request Screen

From the Maintenance Request Menu, enter Code A and a unique maintenance request name in one of the following ways:

• Enter a unique name.
  The name may be numeric and/or alphabetic and up to 20 characters in length. Embedded blanks are allowed, but are automatically changed to the underscore ( ) character. If a duplicate maintenance request ID is entered, an error message is displayed.

• Use the @GEN string in the name.
  The name must begin with an alphabetic character and may be up to 19 characters in length including the resolution of the @GEN string. Do not use all 20 characters of the Request ID field because the @GEN string will be expanded from 4 to 5 characters, which could jeopardize the uniqueness of the maintenance request ID. Embedded blanks are allowed, but will be translated automatically to the underscore (_) character.

Alternatively, enter ADD REQUEST on the command line. Refer to the PAC Reference documentation for the correct command syntax.

The Add Request screen is displayed:

09:13:54          ***** PREDICT APPLICATION CONTROL *****           2000-01-01
User PACUSR                   - Add Request -

Request Id .... NEW@GENREQ                       Modified:          by
Problem Subj .. ____________________________________________________________
Problem Type .. ________
Priority ...... ___
Status ........ ____________     Action ..... ________
Assigned to ... ____________     User Name .. **Unassigned**
Contact Name .. ________________________________  Tel .. ____________________
Closed ........                   By ..           Tid ..
Related Prob .. _____________________________________________________________
  
Notes ......... ____________________________________________________________
                  ____________________________________________________________
                  ____________________________________________________________
  
Additional Options ... N


Command ===>
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
      Help        Exit  Opts                                            Canc

If you used the @GEN string in the maintenance request name, the string remains until you edit the fields and confirm by pressing ENTER.

Step 2. Enter Information in the Add Request Screen Fields

Step 3. (Optional) Accessing the Additional Options

Notes:

1. Edit all other values on the Add Request screen before you access the Additional Options. Once you access Additional Options, all other fields on the screen are protected.
2. When you leave the Add Request screen, PAC substitutes a 5-digit number for the @GEN string in the maintenance request name.

Access Additional Options by pressing PF4 (Opts), or typing over the default in the Additional Options field with Y (yes).

The following additional options may be edited:

When you have completed editing the options, press ENTER to confirm the edits and return to the Add Request screen.

Step 4. Adding the Maintenance Request

Press ENTER again on the Add Request screen to display the Maintenance Request Menu with the message that the maintenance request has been added successfully.

Selecting a Maintenance Request

From the Maintenance Request Menu, enter Code S (Select by Request ID) and the type of list as described in the section Select Type Field.

The Maintenance Request Selection List screen appears listing maintenance requests in the order you specified. The columns on all screens are exactly the same. The sub-function information also applies to all screens. The only difference is the sequence in which the maintenance requests are listed.

The following screen is an example of a listing by status, priority, and maintenance request ID:

09:20:51          ***** PREDICT APPLICATION CONTROL *****           2000-07-01
User PACUSR        - Maintenance Request Selection List -
SELECT  Request *
C Nr Request              Sta Pri Act Assigned Subject
- -- -------------------- --- --- --- -------- -------------------------------
_  1 NEWREQ               PEN   8 INF SAGVJ    Change Control Log testing
_  2 RQ_0002              INV   8 INF SAHLM    Change Control Log testing
_  3 RQ_0001              OPN  70 CST PACUSR   testing CCL
_  4 MREQ3                CLO  15 CST SAGLHA   testing CCL









                 Mark Selection, Enter Number or 'T' (Top) __

Command ===>
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
      Help  Menu  Exit              --          +                       Canc

The sub-function displayed on the status line directly under the User field indicates whether you accessed this screen using

• the Select sub-function (Code S);

• range notation in the Request ID field along with the Display, Modify, Copy, Purge, or Select sub-function;

• the SELECT direct command. Refer to the PAC Reference documentation for more information about PAC commands.

If you accessed the screen with the Select (S) sub-function, you may invoke the following sub-functions for one or more of the listed requests by entering the appropriate code in the "C" column: D (Display); M (Modify); P (Purge); S (Select).

If you mark the maintenance request with the cursor, or enter an X or an S in the "C" column, or if you enter the request number (from the "Nr" column) in the Mark Selection... field, you are returned to the Maintenance Request Menu where the specified request is displayed in the Request ID field.

Modifying/Displaying a Maintenance Request

You may modify or display a maintenance request on the Modify Request or Display Request screens. These screens are similar to the Add Request screen. Maintenance may not be performed on the Display Request ID screen.

All of the attributes are modifiable, except the Closed/By/TID, and Related Problem fields. Refer to Adding a Maintenance Request for more information.

To modify or display a maintenance request, enter Code M (Modify...) or D (Display...) and the name of the maintenance request in the Request ID field of the Maintenance Request Menu.

This section covers the following topics:

• Modifying/Displaying Additional Options

• Displaying Related Object Versions

Modifying/Displaying Additional Options

To modify or display the additional options for a maintenance request, press PF4 (Opts), or type over the default in the Additional Options field with Y (Yes) on the Modify or Display Maintenance Request screens.

• You may modify/display migration events used in conjunction with the maintenance request.

• You may display related object versions.

Refer to Additional Options for maintenance requests for more information.

Displaying Related Object Versions

09:20:51          ***** PREDICT APPLICATION CONTROL *****           2000-07-01
User PACUSR     - Related Objects for Maintenance Request -
Display Object * for Request NEWREQ
C Nr Object    Library  Out Ver Out Date Out User In Ver In Date In User   Ty
- -- -------- --------  ------- -------- -------- ------ -------- -------- --
_  1 PACN0001 MIG122         1  2000-05-10 SAGNABAT     2  2000-05-10 SAGNABAT  U
_  2 PACN0001 MIG122         2  2000-06-23 SAGNA        3  2000-06-24 SAGNA     U
_  3 PACN0008 MIG122         1  1995-06-10 SAGNABAT     2  2000-05-10 SAGNABAT  U
_  4 PACN0008 MIG122         2  1995-06-23 SAGNA        3  2000-06-24 SAGNA     U
_  5 EXPPMAIN PAC122                                    4  1995-07-23 SAGXXBAT  U
_  6 EXPPSEL  PAC122                                    2  2000-07-23 SAGXXBAT  U 
_  7 PACINIT  PAC122         1  1995-05-10 SAGNABAT     2  2000-05-10 SAGNABAT  U 
_  8 PFV02ON  PAC12          1  1995-05-10 SAGNABAT     2  2000-05-10 SAGNABAT  U







                 
                       Mark Selection, Enter Number or 'T' (Top) __

Command ===>
Enter-PF1---PF2---PF3---PF4---PF5---PF6---PF7---PF8---PF9---PF10--PF11--PF12---
      Help  Menu  Exit              --          +                       Canc

This screen displays the Natural object versions related to the specified maintenance request. These object versions are retrieved from the associated migration event(s).

In this example, objects EXPPMAIN and EXPPSEL were checked in although the user did not first check the objects out to maintenance. This may indicate that the source form of the objects was checked in from a development status to the maintenance library using the Natural SYSMAIN function.

Information on this screen is described in the following table:

Press PF3 to close the window.

Copying a Maintenance Request

1. To copy a maintenance request, enter Code C (Copy Request ID) on the Maintenance Request Menu along with the name of the maintenance request to be copied and a new name for the maintenance request copy.

   The resulting Copy Request screen is similar to the Add Request ID screen and displays the new name of the maintenance request and the attributes of the original (copied) maintenance request.

2. Modify the attributes on the Copy Request screen, if required.

3. Press ENTER to confirm your modifications and return to the Maintenance Request Menu.

Purging a Maintenance Request

From the Maintenance Request Menu, enter Code P (Purge Request ID) and the request ID name. Alternatively, enter PURGE REQUEST on the command line.

If migration events exist for the maintenance request you wish to purge, a warning message appears telling you that the events existing for the maintenance request must be deleted or the maintenance request removed from the events before the maintenance request can be purged.

Otherwise, the Purge Confirmation window appears reminding you that the maintenance request will be purged.

• Press PF5 or type Confirm to purge the request.

• Press PF3 or type a period (.) to return to the Maintenance Request Menu without purging the request.