Features and Benefits
IMS Database Administrators (DBAs) are responsible for the availability and maintenance of many hundreds or thousands of databases. This requires the services of many tools to perform backup, reorganization, and analysis operations. The reports produced during these operations provide valuable information, such as documenting the success of tool execution or reporting statistics on the state of the database at that time. Most of these reports are valuable long after they are generated. Typically, however, most reports are deleted because there is no useful way to save and organize them.
IMS Tools Knowledge Base for z/OS allows DBAs to store, manage, and access reports from a single platform. The reports, which can be generated by any IMS tool enabled for the IMS Tools Knowledge Base environment, can help improve decision making and accuracy by allowing better utilization of the rich historical report data.
Capture and retain reports automatically
With a central facility for capturing and retaining IMS Tools reports, IMS Tools Knowledge Base transforms islands of data into an important information resource. For example, DBAs using IMS High Performance Pointer Checker can quickly and easily access critical database statistics using the IMS Tools Knowledge Base. The ability to automatically capture and retain reports promotes more efficient and effective database management. Non-IMS Tools reports can also be retained in the repository. A DBRC report for example, can be retained using the IMPORT facility.
Establish customized retention policies
IMS Tools Knowledge Base allows you to establish specific retention policies and customize them for individual tools or reports, controlling the number of days and the number of report versions that are retained. Once a report expires, report deletion is automatic. You can also archive a report, taking it out of the retention cycle altogether.
Find and view reports quickly
An interactive interface available anywhere in the sysplex provides extensive search capabilities to help you quickly locate the reports you need. In addition, IMS Tools Knowledge Base has a quick index feature that provides a short key that you can e-mail to a co-worker or save for future reference Designed for ease of use, IMS Tools Knowledge Base keeps track of your most recently viewed reports.
