IPCS is a problem-state, key 8 program that runs in a TSO/E user's address space. IPCS operates in interactive and batch environments supported by TSO/E.

The base of IPCS is a TSO/E command processor. The TSO/E command “IPCS” activates the IPCS command processor. All commands used to perform IPCS functions are “subcommands” of the IPCS command. You can use IPCS functions from any TSO/E line mode session.

For interactive use, the IPCS dialog uses ISPF dialog support to run as an interactive, full-screen application. This application uses the IPCS command processor. z/OS® R2 IPCS exploits data spaces, if permitted, to free virtual storage to allow large, complex analysis routines to function.

Figure 1 shows where the IPCS command processor and IPCS dialog fit in the system. Note that the IPCS command processor environment is not available from ISPF; you cannot invoke IPCS subcommands directly from the ISPF dialog.

Figure 1. IPCS as a TSO/E Application

A set of data set libraries contain the code to run IPCS. Table 1 lists these data sets.