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Developing Skeletons With File Tailoring Assistance

We recommend that you use ChangeMan ZMF to manage ChangeMan ZMF components. See Using ChangeMan ZMF To Manage ChangeMan ZMF Components. However, early in the initial implementation of ChangeMan ZMF, there may be justification for using the File Tailoring Assistance facility in ChangeMan ZMF global administration to modify skeletons.

File Tailoring Assistance automatically obtains a skeleton you want to edit or validate from the first occurrence of the skeleton in the ISPSLIB concatenation of the SERNET started task. Editing is performed in an ISPF edit session running under ChangeMan ZMF. When edit changes are saved, ChangeMan ZMF saves the customized skeleton back into the top library in the ISPSLIB concatenation. The top library in the ISPSLIB concatenation should be your custom skeleton library.

Advantages of Using File Tailoring Assistance

The advantages of using File Tailoring Assistance include:

  • Rapid editing of skeletons.

  • Automatic preservation of vendor versions of skeletons (if you properly allocate a custom skeleton library and concatenate it at the top of the ISPSLIB libraries in your started task JCL).

  • Syntax checking of complex skeleton logic without creating application, component, and user conditions that will create variable values to exercise that logic.

  • Rapid testing of skeletons from the same ChangeMan ZMF instance where they were edited.

Disadvantages of File Using Tailoring Assistance

The disadvantages of using File Tailoring Assistance include:

  • No skeleton versions are preserved between the original vendor version and the current custom version that is running the ChangeMan ZMF instance.

  • There is no audit trail of skeleton changes.

  • There is no guarantee that variable values assigned in File Tailoring Assistance are available in the ChangeMan ZMF function where the file tailoring is actually performed.

  • All libraries in the ISPSLIB concatenation are enqueued while File Tailoring Assistance facility is in use. Execution of batch functions on this ChangeMan ZMF instance are blocked.

    Caution

    For this reason, never use File Tailoring Assistance on a production ChangeMan ZMF instance.

  • Skeleton developers must be granted update access to the custom skeleton library. This is not acceptable if the library is used to run production ChangeMan ZMF instances.

  • When skeleton changes are saved, the changes are effective immediately. There is no promotion facility to test the skeleton outside of File Tailoring Assistance.

The disadvantages listed above make the use of File Tailoring Assistance inappropriate in a ChangeMan ZMF instance that manages production components.

File Tailoring Assistance may be used in an initial implementation of ZMF:

  1. Bring up the new ChangeMan ZMF instance

  2. Use File Tailoring Assistance to perform initial skeleton modifications to get ESSENTIAL batch jobs to run successfully.

  3. Create a ChangeMan ZMF application, and continue development of custom components under ChangeMan ZMF supervision.