6. DATA SOURCES › 6.2 Data Collector and Processing Considerations › 6.2.1 SMF Recording Options › 6.2.1.4 Operator Prompt Parameter

6.2.1.4 Operator Prompt Parameter

The PROMPT parameter may be specified in the SMFPRMxx member
of SYS1.PARMLIB.  If coded with option IPLR or ALL, it will
make the system issue a message to the operator when an IPL
occurs.  The message, IEE956A, prompts the operator to reply
with the time of the system failure, the operator's name, and
the reason for the IPL.  The operator's responses will be
recorded in SMF record type 90 subtype 8.  To assure that
record type 90 is collected at your site, make sure that it
is specified in the TYPE option of the SYS parameter as
described in Sections 6.2.1.1 and 6.2.1.2.

Examples of how to use the PROMPT parameter may be found in
the System Management Facilities (SMF) manual for the MVS
version running at your site.

Invoking operator prompt and using structured reason codes to
describe why the IPL occurred is an excellent way to track
system failures over time.  A list of suggested system
failure reason codes is given in Section 6.3.5.