Appendix A. Special CA MICS Processing › A.2 File Tailoring for the SPECIAL Database › A.2.2 Generate Tailored File Descriptions

A.2.2 Generate Tailored File Descriptions

The SPECIAL database is tailored by user specifications in
prefix.MICS.PARMS(SELFILES).  The specifications are put into
effect by running the SELFILES job.

The prefix.MICS.CNTL library for the SPECIAL database
contains a member called SELFILES.  The job contained in
this member generates executable code from the SELFILES
member of the PARMS library.  This code causes files to be
activated or deactivated, and causes the specified number of
cycles of each file to be aged.
The SELFILES job occupies a unique spot in CA MICS.  The job
is not part of the database unit's generation, and thus is
not one of the jobs run during initial database unit
installation.  It is not associated with changes made to any
particular component, so it is not part of the ALLPGEN
parameter generation process.  It does not depend on the file
timespan specifications in the generation library, and thus
is not connected with the component generation process (jobs
called cccCGEN, where ccc is a component ID).  And SELFILES
is not necessarily run with each detailed run of input data,
the DAILY job, of the SPECIAL database unit.
The purpose of the SPECIAL database at your site will
determine how often the SELFILES member of the PARMS library
must be modified, and how often the SELFILES job will be run.

    - Backloading applications may execute the SELFILES job
      to set up a backload configuration.  After the SELFILES
      job sets up a backload process, the database unit's
      DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and YEARLY processes are run as
      many times as necessary to produce the backloaded data
      desired.  The backloaded data is then moved to the
      production database.  The SPECIAL database unit's
      database may be scratched and reallocated, and the
      entire SELFILES and backload process may be repeated as
      many times as necessary to accomplish the backloading
      goals.
    - Special studies of unarchived data typically involve
      running a SELFILES job to set up the desired component
      and files.  Usually, one or two files per component
      suffice.  A few daily runs may be made to satisfy the
      study requirements, and reports may be produced from
      the data.  The SPECIAL database unit's database may
      be scratched and reallocated, and at some later time
      the entire SELFILES and load process may be repeated to
      accomplish new ad hoc study goals.