Information Center Facility standard services

The standard services offered by the Information Center Facility are:

0. Describe

The describe option gives you a short description of each option on the menu. If the descriptions extend to more than one panel, you can scroll down and up through the descriptions.

1. News Service

The news service lets you view on-line news that an Information Center Facility administrator maintains. For example, you might see news items about the status of the computer, schedules, course information, or people to contact if you have problems. You can choose to see any news items that are available or only the news items that were added since you last viewed a list of news items. You can also print news items.

2. Names Directory

The names directory is like an on-line telephone book. In addition to names, telephone numbers, and addresses, it can contain other information about an individual, such as department name and number, user ID, and system node.

The names directory can also contain frequently used combinations of names related by a group name, for example, DEPT58 to identify all the people in Department 58.

An administrator maintains a master copy of the directory for everyone. You have a private directory in which you can add, modify, and delete entries. You can also request that the administrator copy the changes you make in your private directory into the master directory.

3. Office Products

You can use Personal Services/TSO to send and receive mail, documents, and data. For more information about Personal Services/TSO, see Getting Started with Personal Services/TSO

4. Program Creation and Execution Program Products

The Information Center Facility lets you use the following program products to create and execute programs in several programming languages. These products, which must be purchased separately, may or may not be installed on your system.

IBM® BASIC/MVS
A Programming Language 2 (APL2®)
Virtual Storage A Programming Language (VS APL)
The Information Facility (TIF)
MVS/Application System (MVS/AS).

5. Data Analysis, Report Creation, and Decision Support Program Products

The Information Center Facility lets you use the following program products to build, update, analyze, query, and maintain data, design reports, or create charts and graphs. These products, which must be purchased separately, may or may not be installed on your system.

APL Data Interface Version II (APLDI-II)
A Departmental Reporting System Version II (ADRS-II)
Graphical Data Display Manager Presentation Graphics Feature (GDDM/PGF)
Query Management Facility™ (QMF™)
The Information Facility (TIF)
Information Center/1
MVS/Application System (MVS/AS)

6. Charts and Graphs Program Products

To create charts and graphs in the Information Center Facility, you can use the Graphical Data Display Manager/Presentation Graphics Feature (GDDM/PGF). GDDM/PGF displays text and diagrams on terminal screens and printers.

7. Education Services

The education services let you access courses or information about courses available at your installation. These courses can be either on- line or taught in a classroom. Using the education services, you can:

View or print the description of a course
Register for a course
Take a course
Audit a course (take the course without being registered in it)
Produce (write) a course (create a new course or modify an existing one)

Two products used with the education services are:

Interactive Instructional Presentation System (IIPS), 5668-0128
Interactive Instructional Authoring System (IIAS), 5668-0111

8. Interactive System Productivity Facility/Program Development Facility (ISPF/PDF)

ISPF/PDF is not part of TSO/E, but is part of z/OS. More information about ISPF/PDF is in Using ISPF/PDF.

9. Problem Reporting Service

IBM does not supply program products for this service, but your installation may have installed other products for this option.

10. Utility Service

The Utility Service provides the HARDCOPY option that you use to print data sets. The option is a graphical interface to the Information Center Facility print services. In addition, your installation may have installed other products for the utility service.

I. Introductory information

If you are new to the Information Center Facility, you can read an introduction to help you use the services. You can read the entire introduction or select parts of it.

T. Tutorial and Help Information

When using the Information Center Facility, you can read an on-line tutorial that presents an overview of the standard services and explains how to use each service. You can read the entire tutorial or just the information related to a particular service.

You can get more detailed information for a panel while you are using a service by typing help on the Command or Option line of the panel, or by pressing the HELP PF key.

12. Exit

The exit option provides a way for you to exit from the Information Center Facility.