3. CUSTOMIZING CA MICS StorageMate › 3.5 Data Set Group Tables

3.5 Data Set Group Tables

While many reports within the StorageMate product deal with
data sets on an individual basis, others summarize the use of
your storage by groups of data sets.  While individual data
set reporting is valuable for detecting specific performance
or usage problems, grouping is more valuable for detecting
trends.  In order for these data set grouping reports to
provide you with usable information, the data set grouping
must accurately reflect how your storage is used by each
group.

When you request a CA MICS StorageMate report that does data
set grouping, the report options screen allows you to specify
that the grouping be done in one of three ways:

 1) Grouping is to be done using combinations of the VCA
    account codes (VCAACT1 - VCAACT9) that exist within your
    data.  Each day, as part of VCA daily processing, an exit
    is called for each data set processed.  This exit, which
    is written by your installation, examines various
    characteristics about the data set and then sets one or
    more account fields that are retained with the data.  One
    of these codes might identify the division, while a
    second identifies the department, and a third identifies
    the individual within the department.

    Of the three summarization methods, this one is probably
    the easiest to maintain, and provides the most useful
    information.  You may want to review or modify the
    current structure or content of your account codes to
    make them more meaningful for StorageMate reporting.

 2) Another way to group data sets is by using one or more of
    the nodes that compose each data set name.  This grouping
    method is valuable if you have accurate data set naming
    standards in place.  For example, if all data sets have a
    first node identifying the department or group that owns
    them, such as PAYROLL or SALES, you will have an accurate
    grouping system already in place by using the first node
    of the data set name.

 3) The final data set grouping method supported by CA MICS
    StorageMate is the Data Set Group Table.  This table
    allows you to associate meaningful labels with different
    combinations of data set name prefixes.  For example,
    PAY.SITE1.* data sets could be labeled "Miami-Payroll"
    and PAY.SITE2.* data sets could be labeled
    "New-York-Payroll".  Facilities accessed through the
    CA MICS StorageMate and MICF options menu assist you in
    creating and maintaining Data Set Group Tables.

Choosing the method of data set grouping is not a global
decision.  You can choose from the three methods described
above each time you execute a StorageMate report.  You can
also alternate between methods, depending on the situation.
For example, you can run a report using the first accounting
field and detect a problem with the data sets in the payroll
department.  You might then run the report a second time,
selecting only payroll data sets and using a Data Set Group
Table to further identify each payroll data set at the owner
level.

After you have defined your Work Data Set, you can use
options from the CA MICS StorageMate options menu to create
and maintain your Data Set Group Tables.

As with Volume Group Tables, you can create as many Data Set
Group Tables as desired, either to represent data from
multiple sites or to provide different levels of detail for
the same data.  For example, one table can assign ownership
at a very high level, such as division, while others could
show ownership at lower levels, even down to the individual
user.

Detailed information about Data Set Group Tables is available
in the following subsections:

 1 - Creating a Data Set Group Table
 2 - Modifying a Data Set Group Table