4. EXCEPTION REPORTING › 4.4 Identification and Qualification

4.4 Identification and Qualification

When a CA MICS product is developed, a set of exception
conditions is defined to help management analyze the site's
performance.  Because the exceptions that CA MICS identifies
are often voluminous, they require further qualifying so that
the reports of exception items are organized and usable.

The exceptions that an installation can use are a standard
part of CA MICS. The installation chooses the exceptions that
it feels merit visibility and attention.  This selection of
pertinent exceptions is referred to as exception analysis.
You may tailor the standard exceptions as explained in
Chapter 2 of the Standard Reports Guide.  CA MICS has a
facility to assist you in determining the threshold values to
use in the exceptions.  This facility, the Exception Value
Analysis process, is also explained in Chapter 2 of the
Standard Reports Guide.

Each exception test may be identified within the source
module by its assigned exception number.  The test condition
and its definition are written in SAS statements and
consequently may be easily modified by the CA MICS System
Administrator.  The exception test condition also sets the
exception number, defines the severity, assigns the exception
to a management area, defines the appropriate text message to
explain the exception, and establishes the necessary tests to
identify the exception condition.

Each product's exception tests are identified and qualified
in the following ways:

o  By exception number, for unique identification

o  By severity level, to signify degree of importance

o  By management area, to identify area of responsibility

The following sections discuss these topics:

   1 - SNA Exception Number Assignment
   2 - Severity Level Definition
   3 - Management Area Definition