RELEASING LATENT VALUE DOCUMENT: CA SPOOL™ R2.0
Releasing the Latent
Value of CA Spool r2.0
Table of Contents
Product Situation Analysis
3
Analysis of Problems You May Be
Experiencing Today
4
PROBLEM 1
5
We can’t afford the time and resources to give a
mainframe account to everyone who needs to
view important business reports from that
platform, but we don’t want to waste paper
either.
PROBLEM 2
6
Our new non-technical staff shouldn’t have to
learn complicated text-based interfaces just to
print their documents.
PROBLEM 3
7
I expect the business reports I receive by email
to arrive in a quality, easy-to-review format, not
plain text.
PROBLEM 4
8
Regardless of which computer generated a
business report, I should be able to receive,
retrieve or review it easily and reliably from a
single point of access.
PROBLEM 5
9
Our business reports are a key resource that
should always be available whenever we need
them. System outages or delayed delivery are not
acceptable reasons for these reports to be
unavailable when needed.
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Product Situation Analysis
When CA Spool r2.0 was made generally available, it was
designed to provide optimum report and print management
for the platforms that were current and supported at that
time. Since then the mainframe has advanced with new
hardware, operating system and applications, and we have
provided later releases of CA Spool to provide optimum
support for these newer platforms and applications.
We have also implemented a series of new features and
enhanced a number of the already implemented features to
provide even greater levels of Enterprise Report
Management.
CA’s Enterprise Report and Print Management
Technologies mission is to provide the leading software for
the capture, archival, distribution, printing, viewing, and
management of documents throughout the enterprise by
employing a scalable and reliable solution that protects
current IT investments.
This document is designed to help you evaluate the
enhancements of CA Spool against your needs and
provide you with information to help you consider if and
when you should upgrade and weigh the effort required
against the benefits.
Analysis of Problems You May Be Experiencing Today
We hope to be able to help you make educated decisions on the right time to be able to
upgrade to the latest version of CA Spool. For the vast majority of our customers there is
no cost to the upgrade as it is provided as part of the maintenance contract for the product.
We recognize that the time and effort that is required to perform an upgrade needs to be
justified, and so we have outlined the most common business issues that customers like
yourself have faced and how they can be alleviated by either upgrading to a later release or
implementing features already in place in your current solution.
We’ve made this as prescriptive as possible, outlining the following information
1.
The Symptom A simple description of the problem statement
2.
The Diagnosis The underlying technical difficulty that leads to the symptom
3.
The Cure The route to fix the problem
4.
The Treatment The actual actions that need to be taken to implement the cure
5.
The Cost/Benefit Analysis A plain and simple explanation of the time and effort that
will be involved and the savings that will be made by releasing this latent value.
We hope you find this approach both refreshing and valuable and that it helps you better
prioritize your time and effort.
PROBLEM 1
We can’t afford the time and resources to give a mainframe
account to everyone who needs to view important business
reports from that platform, but we don’t want to waste paper
either.
Symptom
The overhead on the network and mainframe resources is much higher because of all the
extra activity from users logging on regularly to view their reports. Also, the security
administrator is challenged to define and maintain the security IDs that are required for
each user.
Diagnosis
The overhead on the network causes slower response times and increased resource
utilization.
Cure
Added, in CA Spool r11, are automatic distribution of CA Spool print files as text, PDF,
PCL, MS Word, MS Excel, etc. email attachments to user’s email mailboxes for viewing and
printing. CA View, CA Deliver and CA Dispatch may pass email addressing, file type and
other information as inline data automatically by use of customized banner pages.
Treatment
After upgrading to CA Spool r11 with normal maintenance, you may assign email
addressing, file type and other information through the use of the CA Spool DESTID
parameter statement, JCL changes to the OUTPUT statement user data parameter and/or
as inline data.
Cost / Benefit Analysis
With the additional normal maintenance effort of upgrading to CA Spool r11, files will now
be able to be distributed to users who have no direct connection to the system. Clearly,
the benefit is freeing up valuable resources and allows a greater flexibility in delivering
critical information directly to the appropriate person.
PROBLEM 2
Our new non-technical staff shouldn’t have to learn
complicated text-based interfaces just to print their
documents.
Symptom
It takes more time for users to find their reports due to the fact that they are not familiar
with the 3270-based user interface.
Diagnosis
The need for training delays the staff from being more productive - takes away from the
time they have to learn other aspects of their job.
Cure
CA Spool r11 directly enables end-content consumer with desktop browser control that is
intuitive, powerful, minimal desktop footprint, and minimal training by implementing a
user friendly web interface.
Treatment
Simply perform a normal maintenance upgrade to CA Spool r11 and use the integrated
HTML presentation layer which directly leverages the CA Spool Menu System kernel,
converting 3270 the interface into HTML on the fly. The Web-deployed Report
Management is a native CGI gateway under a z/OS HTTP server (which is part of the z/OS
base product).
Cost / Benefit Analysis
The cost for not having simple access to the most current reports can impact an
organization in multiple costly ways. Upgrading to CA Spool r11 with a normal
maintenance routine removes these risks and gets the reports directly to the end
consumer in a way that is familiar to them with no learning curve. This will significantly
improve the success of your business continuation plan.
PROBLEM 3
I expect the business reports I receive by email to arrive in a
quality, easy-to-review format, not plain text.
Symptom
Users are not able to use standard readers to open and print their reports in a familiar
format.
Diagnosis
Users have to login to CA Spool and use 3270-based display to view their reports. Users
are unable to receive/view in their favored format.
Cure
CA Spool r11 provided automatic formatting and conversion of text files to PDF, HTML and
RTF files on the fly. The files can be sent as email attachments directly to the end-users
to receive and view the reports using their favorite PC viewer or passed to CA View or CA
Dispatch for archiving and viewing.
Treatment
All you need to do is upgrade to CA Spool r11, automatic formatting of text files that are
processed with filename extension equal to PDF, HTML or RTF, are converted into the
specified format during transmission. The formatting and paper size, orientation, line
spacing and font style (family, pitch, style, stroke) are controlled by actual file’s Form,
FCB, Line count, Chars, channel skips and max record length written.
Cost / Benefit Analysis
Just by performing a routine maintenance upgrade to CA Spool, there is automatic
formatting and conversion of text files to more familiar formats. This is a much simpler
method for users to access their reports, thus creating a more productive user community.
Getting the information you need quickly and easily will increase communication across
the organization helping users make quicker decisions.
PROBLEM 4
Regardless of which computer generated a business report, I
should be able to receive, retrieve or review it easily and
reliably from a single point of access.
Symptom
Reports generated on distributed platforms had no easy path to reach any central
repository on the mainframe.
Diagnosis
Have to maintain different distributed repositories on other platforms because there is no
integration with the mainframe repository.
Cure
After upgrading to CA Spool r11, you can use the TCP/IP LPD Interface that was created
and allows CA Spool to receive print requests directly from other platforms like OpenVMS,
HP-UX, AIX, Sun Solaris, OS/400, NetWare, OS/2, and Windows. You can transport any
document type from any platform directly into CA Spool.
Treatment
By simply upgrading to CA Spool r11 using routine maintenance procedures, you can
direct reports created on distributed platforms using standard LPR/LPD protocol to CA
Spool.
Cost / Benefit Analysis
While the cost is minimal to upgrade to CA Spool r11, the benefits are immediate and
significant. You now have a real Enterprise Print Management solution for all your
platforms, both distributed and mainframe and they are truly integrated. You will see
immediate improvement in productivity just by quicker and more efficient delivery and
management of reports across platforms.
PROBLEM 5
Our business reports are a key resource that should always be
available whenever we need them. System outages or delayed
delivery are not acceptable reasons for these reports to be
unavailable when needed.
Symptom
Reports need to be routed from a machine in our mainframe Sysplex that is not running
CA Spool. NJE is needed to pass reports from one Sysplex to another.
Diagnosis
There is a single point of failure if the Sysplex member that is running CA Spool shuts
down.
Cure
CA Spool r11 fully supports and exploits Parallel Sysplex configurations to improve
availability and scalability through single system image, single point of control and
common administration. It support up to 32 members in an EMAS complex.
Treatment
In addition to installing CA Spool r11 or above, you will need to implement the CA Spool
EMAS/NJE Interfaces to fully exploit Parallel Sysplex environment. The CA Spool Dataset
and the Checkpoint dataset need to be on a shared DASD. In addition, some of the
parameters need to be tailored.
Cost / Benefit Analysis
CA Spool r11 fully exploits z/OS Sysplex environments and keeps up with current z/OS
operating system enhancements making your organization fully current with technology
and that is invaluable. The relatively small effort to upgrade to the current release of CA
Spool is paid back immediately by the assurance of availability and reliability for key
business reporting and printing.
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