3. REPORTS › 3.1 Tabular Reports Overview

3.1 Tabular Reports Overview

The standard tabular reports display the numeric values of
key data elements collected and recorded in the CA MICS Data
Base by the CA MICS DB2 Analyzer. Tabular reports can be
categorized as:

  o  Tracking Reports
  o  Analysis Reports

TRACKING REPORTS

Tracking reports present key data elements related to
service, workload, capacity, and performance.  Tracking
reports are designed to indicate operating conditions or
symptoms of problems; they do not pinpoint causes.  In
that respect they are overview reports despite their
extensive level of detail.

There are two types of tracking reports:

  o  Profiles
  o  Trends

Profiles present data as groups of individual summary values
(averages, minimums and maximums, etc.) over a given period
of time (day, week, month, etc.).  Profile reports give a
snapshot of a specific area of operation and are employed
when a specific value of a measured element indicates a
desirable or undesirable condition.  Thus, profiles are
generally used in conjunction with a set of threshold values
which may be either implicitly understood or explicitly
stated on the report.

Trends present data as a series of measured values displayed
together to show the nature of the change of a condition over
a period of time.  Profiles, by the very nature of their
presentation, tend to show more measured values and fewer
data elements than profiles.  Trends are used when rate of
change of a measure or the exact time at which a given
measured value was reached is more important than the actual
measure of the value itself.

ANALYSIS REPORTS

Analysis reports are designed to test hypotheses about the
causes of specific symptoms observed in some area of
operation.  For instance, an analysis report might be
designed to test the hypothesis that poor TSO end-user
response time is caused by contention for the data path to
the TSO work packs.  Thus, analysis reports tend to display
the relationships between the values of two or more data
elements, one or more of which is symptomatic and one or
more of which is causal.

The symptomatic element may be an arbitrary limit, such as a
response time objective; the specific time or period of time
when other symptomatic measures passed a threshold value,
such as the time when utilization exceeded the maximum
allowable; or it may be the actual measured value of a data
element, such as the value of the free buffer "high-water"
mark.

Because they are highly specific both to an area of operation
and a condition of operation, the formats of analysis reports
tend to vary greatly with their intended use.  The key to
using an analysis report is the understanding of the usage
for which it was developed.

Descriptions of the reports, sample report formats, and
instructions on how to produce them are given in the
following sections:

   1 - Producing Tabular Reports
   2 - System Services Report
   3 - Data Base Services Report
   4 - Accounting Report
   5 - Calendar Report
   6 - Plan Performance Summary Report
   7 - Plan Performance Report