Introduction › Preparing the Tape Library › Data Set Naming Standards

Data Set Naming Standards

Data set naming standards will allow you to define groups of data sets, rather than defining each data set individually. One recommended standard is the z/OS tree structure. This structure uses levels of qualifiers. Each level allows you to divide data sets into smaller and smaller groups. You can use these levels to establish data set naming standards that correspond to the organization of your company.

This figure illustrates how qualified data set names can relate directly to the organization chart:

The naming standards could specify that every data set that relates to Product A Division begin with the high-level qualifier PDA.

The second level of qualifiers could identify the department. For example, you could identify all data sets that relate to the manufacturing department by starting their names with the qualifiers PDA.MAN.

The third level of qualifiers could identify the name of a group, a product, or a function. For example, you could identify all data sets that relate to Product A's manufacturing inventory by starting their names with the qualifiers PDA.MAN.INV.

The fourth level of qualifiers could identify the type of activity the data set was used for. For example, you could identify all data sets that are used for Product A's manufacturing inventory year-end reports by starting their names with the qualifiers PDA.MAN.INV.YEAREND.