ISPW
Locked in to your change management solution?
No alternative ?
Many users of long established software change management (SCM) products for the IBM Mainframe believe that there is no real alternative to the continued use of their incumbent products. Whole IT development strategies are often built around those technologies rendering them apparently “indispensable”.
Truly there is
TSG Software has a proven automated migration capability to a new SCM product which can negate those arguments. TSG can provide a comprehensive replacement which provides all the features and functions of the long established products at much reduced licence cost and which can be fully integrated with distributed versioning tools. All the investment in the previous technology is protected as SCM structures and code are smoothly migrated to the replacement, ISPW.
ISPW
ISPW can replace CA SCM for Mainframe (formerly CA-Endevor) and Serena ChangeMan ZMF, as well as older products like CA-Librarian, CA-Panvalet and IBM's SCLM. It will provide both mainframe and distributed cross-platform application deployment and cooperates with local tools like Subversion, CVS and PVCS.
Benefits
Increased functionality
ISPW delivers in one product what other suppliers offer in three:
- A Software Change Management (SCM) product
- A Version and Release Management tool for the Enterprise
- An Application Deployment tool for mainframe and distributed platforms
Reduced Software costs
With no MIPS-based upgrade fees, ISPW costs are low from the offset. CA-Endevor and ChangeMan ZMF customers can typically save 30% and often more.
Reduced admin costs
Typically ISPW requires 50% less human resource than the product it replaces. The need for external consulting can be eliminated while meetings and manual procedures are replaced with automation.
Migration
High speed conversion
Typically migrations will take between 3 and 6 months depending on complexity but a full analysis of the existing environment will be done prior to any dates or pricing being agreed.
To eliminate risk to either customer or themselves, TSG will always provide:
- A fixed price for the conversion
- Automated conversion tools
- A step by step conversion plan
- Experienced conversion staff on site
Key facts
- Built on an n-tier architecture structure with several client and server components, the Master ISPW server is z/OS based.
- There is only one ISPW product to install, learn and support with three main user interfaces – a TSO 3270 interface, a Web Browser and an Eclipse-based GUI (plus an SCC plug-in).
- All the information about the way Applications are built and managed is held in an underlying DB2 database of 75+ DB2 tables. ISPW’s Master server accesses DB2 via CAF so no DB2 knowledge or direct user access is required.
- No predefined activity for any given component type and as all of the processing is table driven the customer can define all/any actions for the component type.
- Versions of application source and executables stored in the ISPW Component Warehouse.
- Authorised Started Task implementation, – performs security checks and both cross-memory and cross-system services.
- Written in Assembler, C and Java, with some Rexx.
- All security is handled outside of the product by RACF, ACF2 or Top Secret.
- Shipped with a pre-populated fully customisable set of 4 character alpha-numeric Component types , such as ASM for Assembler programs.
- 4 character alpha-numeric Application codes are the acronym for an application or system.
- Change impacts are determined by the product and updated as components are added or changed
- Does not carry out "delta-ing", the complete component is stored each time.
Executables can be created for any type of module, even Natural programs, CA-Telon code, third party software, and so on. - The fully non-proprietaary compile routine reads each module’s specific compile parameters (e.g. compiler version, additional parameters), from the DB2 repository and builds and submits job. Typical customers have only 20-30 compile stubs which require almost no maintenance.
- Unique 'containers' concept gives developers a more productive teamware environment.
For further information on any or all of these points, please download the ISPW Crash course document here or contact TSG Software.