The IMS Interface › Executing the Wizard Report Writer › Control Statements › GROUP Statement

GROUP Statement

This statement, identified by the statement type GROUP, is optional. The GROUP statement in conjunction with GROUPC statements identifies or qualifies accounting records based on values in defined positions of the record. Once an accounting record has been qualified, you may:

• select or reject the record for further processing
• assign the record a unique group code that can subsequently be used as a sort control field
• assign the record a unique CPU identification code so that a specific billing algorithm can be applied

The grouping feature can typically be used to:

• expand the criteria base for record selection/rejection
• summarize records that do not have common characteristics
• apply different billing algorithms to selected accounts
• report on an charge users according to shift differentials

There are six different levels of tests that can be defined on the GROUP statement in the format ppplfi,

ppp

is a three-digit number defining the starting position (character) in the Basic Accounting Table used to set up a qualifier for the grouping feature.

l

is a one-digit number defining the number of characters (beginning with and including the starting position) in the Basic Accounting Table used to construct the length of the qualifier for the grouping feature.

f

is a one-character code specifying the data format of the field in the Basic Accounting Table being used as the qualifier for the grouping feature. A blank format indicator is used for EBCDIC, a P for packed decimal, and an X for binary or the hexadecimal portion of a packed decimal field.

i

is a one-character code specifying whether qualified records should be selected or rejected.

An S causes all identified record groups to be selected for further processing and all unidentified record groups to be automatically rejected. An R causes the reverse effect to allow you to reject identified record groups.

If the indicator is left blank, no record rejection occurs and all record groups are selected for further processing. This is particularly useful when all records are to be grouped for display purposes without dropping any information, as in computer time shift reporting.

The process of identifying records starts with the group one definition. If the record is qualified and selected, the process continues to the group two definition and so on to the group six definition in a similar manner. If a record is selected based on all definitions, then the record is considered selected for further processing. If a record is rejected based on any single definition, then the record is considered rejected from further processing.