February
2006
SPARTA
PresidentÕs Corner
by
It just seems like yesterday that we held our January meeting. I enjoyed our
visit from Bob Spitz of Vanguard software. Since our group at DHTS is
responsible for RACF, I would love to install some of their products (the
University has the Administrator product), but we all know what budgets are
like this time of year. With the HIPAA requirements we have to follow, security
is becoming more and more of our workload.
The DHTS systems group has been busy monitoring our z/890 and the users have
been very pleased with the results. One surprise was that Model-204 has been
running much better; some of their batch times have reduced by 40%. WeÕve also
been busy converting some of the temporary license keys to permanent ones now
that the contracts have been ironed out. Now IÕm installing the next set of
updates to the BMC MainView suite we are running. BMC has made a big number of
infrastructure improvements and the Web interface (called Host Explorer) looks
a lot better. These updates will have us ready to begin work on CICS/TS 3.1 and
z/OS 1.7 soon.
As I mentioned during the last meeting, we have completed another DR test using
IBM BCRS in
Over at DDA IÕve been busy getting IBMÕs Fault Analyzer running on both of
their systems and in all the CICS regions. It has become quite handy along with
the Debug Tool for the developers when they are testing changes to the DDA code
or trying to debug problems with client modifications to their code. Since all
these are supplied on the ADCD built system, they might as well use them. On
another front IÕve setup two CICS regions for them to start development on
using the CICS WEB interface for their applications. Since the applications use
a VSAM file to store 3270 screens, it should not be too difficult to setup a
file/database to store a webpage instead. WeÕll see how this moves forward.
This month our speaker (and meal) will be supplied by Bill Peiffer from LRS. I
look forward to seeing you all at LabCorp on the 28th.
P.S. Subs, drinks, and dessert will be provided.
Time to pay your $20 annual dues!
Future Speakers
(subject to change)
Feb. 28 - Using LRS Output Management Products by Tammy Power of LRS
Mar. 28 - SHARE Conference Reports by Ed Webb of SAS and Duane Reaugh of
DTS
We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations donÕt have to
be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can
start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.
2005-2006
SPARTA
Board of Directors
Duke Health Technology Solutions 919-668-0545
2424 Ervin Road, Suite 9000
Durham, NC 27710
Ron Pimblett - Vice President
Dignus, LLC 919-676-0847
8354 Six Forks Road
Raleigh, NC 27615
Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-641-6235
201 N. Eugene St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
231 Maple Ave, Koury Ctr 3rd Fl. 919-361-7267
Burlington, NC 27215
Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive
Cary, NC 27513
Meetings
Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except
no meeting in December), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting
beginning at 7:00 p.m.
These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorpÕs Center for Molecular
Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the
Call for Articles
If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are
interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of
Directors with your suggestions.
Newsletter Mailings
The
July 2005 CBT Tape Online
The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V469 (dated July 17, 2005) are
available from www.cbttape.org.
If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact
Minutes of the January 31st, 2006 Meeting
¥Meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by
¥Fifteen (15) people were present; twelve (12) were members.
¥Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and
briefly described their job function.
¥The minutes of November 2005 meeting were accepted as published in the January
2006 newsletter.
¥Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of
January 16, 2006, the balance is $1502.41. Motion was made and approved to
accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the January 2006 newsletter.
OLD BUSINESS
¥Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article
for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really
need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would
like to share with the membership.
¥The SPARTA Web site is available. To access the SPARTA Web site, point your
Web browser to this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any
comments or suggestions about the Web site to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the
site every once in a while to see any new or changed information.
¥
NEW BUSINESS
¥Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)
February 2006 Bill Peiffer of LRS
March 2006 SHARE Conference overview
April 2006 Softbase
If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.
¥The February 28, 2006
¥Food for the February meeting will be subs, drinks and dessert
¥It is time to pay your annual dues. Annual dues are $20 and should be given to
Tommy Thomas.
¥The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:55 p.m.
¥Bob Spitz of Vanguard
spoke about using Vanguard products to manage compliance requirements.
Some of the topics discussed:
-Review business issues related to regulatory compliance.
Business realities
HIPAA background
HIPAA compliance requirements
SOX background
SOX compliance requirements
Information security compliance issues
-Clarify some of the IT Internal Controls necessary to meet HIPAA and SOX
requirements.
-Learn how to use Vanguard products to assist with meeting HIPAA and SOX
requirements.
The meeting ended at 9:30 p.m.
TreasurerÕs Report for February 2006
contributed by Tommy Thomas
The balance in the account is $ 1359.11 as of February 15, 2006.
Financial Report
3/01/2005 through 02/15/2006
|
INCOME |
|
|
Opening Balance |
1158.99 |
|
Dues |
860.00 |
|
Misc. |
0.00 |
|
TOTAL INCOME |
$2018.99 |
|
|
|
|
EXPENSES |
|
|
Food |
470.53 |
|
Petty Cash |
12.00 |
|
Bank Service Fees |
11.00 |
|
P.O. Box |
38.00 |
|
Web Site |
107.40 |
|
TOTAL EXPENSE |
$638.93 |
|
|
|
|
BANK BALANCE |
1380.06 |
|
PETTY CASH($175) |
(20.95) |
|
TOTAL CASH |
$1359.11 |
Items of Interest
contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire
Feb. 28 - Subs
Mar. 28 - BarBQ
Apr. 25 - Pizza
May 23 - Chicken
June - Subs
July - BarBQ
Aug. - Pizza
Sept. - Chicken
Oct. - Subs
Nov. - BarBQ
SHARE is Coming in Early March - Register
Now!
contributed by Ed Webb
SHARE comes to
BMC Mainview User Group Meeting in March
contributed by Ed Webb
North Carolina MAINVIEW Users' Group meeting (NC MUG)
Friday, March 24, 2006
8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Sheraton Raleigh Hotel
Go to http://www.bmc.com/ncmug
for agenda and to register. ThereÕs continental breakfast and a free lunch.
Recent Redbooks of Interest
contributed by Ed Webb
Redbooks
z/OS Distributed File Service zSeries File System Implementation z/OS
V1R7
Published: February 7, 2006 ISBN: 0738494135 316 pages Explore the book
online at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246580.html
The IBM TotalStorage DS8000 Series: Implementation
Revised: February 3, 2006 ISBN: 073849447X 370 pages Explore the book
online at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246786.html
System Programmer's Guide to: Workload Manager
Revised: February 1, 2006 ISBN: 0738494356 310 pages Explore the book
online at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246472.html
z/OS Version 1 Release 7 Implementation
Revised: February 1, 2006 ISBN: 0738494089 506 pages Explore the book online at
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246755.html
ABCs of z/OS System Programming Volume 2
Published: February 1, 2006 ISBN: 0738492965 450 pages Explore the book online
at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246982.html
z/OS 1.7 Breaks SAS IOM or Connect Spawner
Sessions
contributed by Ed Webb
An easily overlooked IBM change to the USS TSO command services environment
causes SAS Connect or IOM Spawned sessions to fail. See this TechNote for
details and resolution: http://support.sas.com/techsup/unotes/SN/016/016738.html
Humor
The Spanish Computer
contributed by Chris Blackshire
A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English,
nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male
and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether
"computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.
Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine
gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is
incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later
retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half
your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine
("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the
problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little
longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
It Was So Cold...
contributed by Ron Pimblett
These are bad but we might need them in a few weeks. Call it a premonition,
Ed.
It was so cold.
¥hitchhikers were holding up pictures of thumbs!
It was so cold
¥roosters were rushing into Kentucky Fried Chicken and begging to use the deep
fryer!
It was so cold
¥the dogs were wearing cats!
It was so cold
¥terrorists started to stockpile weapons-grade hot chocolate
It was so cold
¥the politicians had their hands in their OWN pockets!
DonÕt Forget the Next
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Location: LabCorp in the RTP
Take I-40 to
Free Food: Subs, Drinks, Dessert
Program:
Using LRS Output Management
Products
Speaker:
Tammy Power of LRS
First Class Postage
