5. FILES › 5.4 WLM Information Area Files › 5.4.13 Report Class Subsystem Delay States (WLM_EW) › 5.4.13.3 Usage Considerations

5.4.13.3 Usage Considerations

Special considerations or techniques related to using the
WLM_EW file are provided below.

1.  Care must be exercised in using the special date and time
    data elements contained in each CA MICS file.  As the
    file's granularity increases in higher timespans,
    certain fields lose significance and should not be used
    in those cases.

    o  HOUR should not be used in MONTHS.

    o  DAY and DAYNAME should not be used in WEEKS or MONTHS.

    o  WEEK should not be used in MONTHS.


2.  ENDTS and STARTTS, when appearing in the DAYS, WEEKS, or
    MONTHS timespans, bound the span of time over which the
    data has been summarized.  STARTTS is the lowest date and
    time, and ENDTS is the highest date and time for the data
    summarized.  These data elements have different meanings
    when used in the DETAIL timespan versus the DAYS, WEEKS,
    and MONTHS timespans.   Their purpose in DETAIL is
    described below:

    o  STARTTS represents RMF recording interval start time.

    o  ENDTS represents RMF recording interval end time.


More About the WLM_EW File
--------------------------

As stated earlier, the WLM_EW file contains information
characterizing the effect of sampled subsystem server address
space status on client work requests and transactions,
organized by report class period.  Execution and delay states
are reported by transaction class even though the information
comes from sampling the server address space states.

The life span of a transaction is divided into two phases,
the begin-to-end phase and the execution phase:

    o  The begin-to-end phase encompasses all states from the
       time the transaction is received by a subsystem work
       manager until the transaction is executed and
       terminated.

    o  The execution phase comprises the states experienced
       by the transaction only during the time the subsystem
       processes the transaction.

For example, a CICS transaction is received by the terminal-
owning region (TOR), begins processing, is sent to an
application-owning region (AOR) for execution, and then is
served by a database-owning region (DOR), which in turn calls
on the DB2 subsystem for service.  The transaction is then
returned to the TOR and terminated.  The phase in which the
TOR receives the transaction and subsequently ends it is the
begin-to-end phase.  The phase in which the transaction is in
the AOR, DOR or elsewhere is the execution phase.

In the begin-to-end phase samples, a transaction in its
execution phase is characterized as "continued."  Three
scopes of continuation are recognized depending on where the
execution takes place:

o  Within the same system as the begin-to-end phase

o  On another system in the sysplex

o  Elsewhere in the network

In our example, the begin-to-end phase is associated with the
CICS subsystem.  Once the transaction is passed to the AOR,
it is shown as continued.  In the execution phase, the
various states of the transaction are associated with the
CICS subsystem until the time DB2 begins its services.  The
transaction is then continued a second time and additional
execution phase information is collected under the DB2
subsystem.  When DB2 services complete, the execution phase
continues in CICS until the transaction passes back to the
TOR, when the execution phase ends.  When the response is
made to the terminal and the transaction ends, the
begin-to-end phase completes.

The information in the WLM_EW file makes it possible to
analyze the complex relationships between client transactions
and multiple subsystem server address spaces.