Client Preparation Checklist for an Introduction to Telon Online Class

Because different companies allocate responsibilities differently, this list is not divided up by departmental responsibility. The responsibility for coordinating the activities of systems programmers, DBAs, and classroom coordinators to provide the environment for this class should be handed to one person who becomes the contact person with CASE Integrators for the class.

The majority of the required activities are described in CA’s CA-Telon MVS Installation Guide release 2.4, Document number IOO2TN24ONE. The dataset name on the CA Bookmanager Bookshelf is CATNMVS. All references here are to this manual unless explicitly stated otherwise. Although the class materials have been updated for subsequent Telon releases, these references have not, because these were the last manuals distributed as paper, so many Telon Coordinators still have their 2.4 manuals in their offices, including invaluable notes they made over the years. Subsequent releases came only with electronic manuals, so they can be searched automatically for the equivalent passages.

This task is much easier for someone who has a good understanding of Telon. (See the description of the Telon Coordinator in Chapter 1 of the Telon Implementation Guide.) If no such person is available, you might want to use our Telon installation and customization services.

Installing the Training Datasets

If you wish to conduct your class using DB2 databases, Chapter 6.4 describes installing them, and further information can be found in the various pdsqual.INSTALL(CTRDB2*) members. Otherwise, Chapter 5.3 describes installing the training datasets for your particular environment.

Chapter 1.8 describes the Data Sets themselves. For DB2, there are two possibilities: if your installation allows the training ids to easily set up DB2 tables with their own ids as creator-names, then it may be easiest to set up a procedure to enable each student to do so, and to set up the DCLGEN copybooks and import the tables into Telon with SYNONYM=Y. If in your installation it is easier to set up the tables in advance with a fixed creator-name (and SYNONYM=N) then the students must have full access to those tables.

In addition to the datasets described in Chapter 1.8, the online class requires an alternate index for the TRGEMPL dataset(s), indexed by ID within NAME. For DB2, this merely requires an additional TLNROW to be created within TDF option 2: for IMS/DB or VSAM it requires an alternate index be built and imported into Telon.

Once you have installed the training datasets themselves, it is important to set up a PSB (IMS/DC) or File Group (CICS) for each team as described in Chapter 3.10 of the Telon Design Facility Reference Guide. For CICS the File Groups need only contain the datasets required for that DBMS without the HOLD dataset. For IMS/DC, the PSBs must contain in addition an IOPCB and the HOLD dataset. The PSBs or File Groups should be named TRAIN# where # is the one-digit team number. For the batch class, there should also be an extra File Group containing REPORT1 through REPORT3 and TRANFILE. These SEQ files have to be defined appropriately in TDF option 2 including the record length and INPUT or OUTPUT, and the TRANFILE copybook referenced.

Installing the Telon Test Facility (TLTF)

Chapter 2.5 describes initializing the TLTF, and Chapter 5 describes installing it. This is required if this facility is to be part of the class. If it is not, then some other debugging facility must be provided, and all the students must be sufficiently familiar with it to be able to use it in the testing environment. The instructor may not be familiar with your particular non-TLTF testing tool, and is not responsible for guiding students in its use.

Make sure the release of Telon is compatible with the release of CICS. Many incompatibilities show up first in the Test Facility.

For the batch class, it is important that the TLTF REXX procedure include filedefs for REPORT1 through REPORT3 and TRANFILE.

Installing the Training Environment

Chapter 7 describes installing the Training Environment.

Chapter 7.5.2 describes installing the required CICS table entries. The PCT datasets include only the TLTF transaction. If there is any chance whatever that you will decide not to use the TLTF during the class, then it is imperative to add further PCT entries matching each PPT entry, and also matching the uncustomized PGMNAMES macro.

It is critical to the success of the class that the macro libraries used in program generation by the class be entirely uncustomized. Even unusual settings of PGMNAMES can make it impossible to execute programs successfully in the form the class materials describe. If the instructor has to spend class time devising ways to adapt the lab exercises to a customized environment, the quality of the course will inevitably suffer. In the same way, the Telon Directory (TDF) used by the class must not have had the installation defaults changed, particularly the header length.

Essentially, the class materials have been designed for Telon as delivered by CA. To make the class work, you must provide that environment.

Many installations have provided Telon programmers a ‘workbench’ to facilitate their work. If this workbench is to be used in the class, then it must be made to work successfully with the uncustomized Telon environment set up for the class. This can be done either by making a separate copy of the workbench for training purposes, by adding a training option to the workbench, or by making it switch to training mode whenever the header is TR.

Setting up the Classroom

The students will organize themselves into groups of two or three to conduct the lab exercises. Each group will need one (or preferably two) terminals for these exercises. It is best if during the lectures the students are seated away from the terminals, to remove the temptation to catch up on emails etc. during the lecture.

The presentation itself is written in Freelance Graphics (except the batch class which is in Powerpoint) which must be loaded onto the instructor’s PC. This must control a TV projector to display the presentation to the students. Alternatively, facilities for attaching the instructor’s Dell Latitude laptop to the TV projector must be provided.

Our instructors’ main way of communicating with each other to resolve any problems that might arise during the class is through email accounts accessed through www.gotomypc.com. Providing the instructor with access to this website will speed up any problem resolution.

The students’ must be provided with logon IDs and passwords which have all required authority over the datasets, CICS regions, DB2 tables etc. that the course requires.

Students’ understanding of Telon is substantially enhanced by printing out compile listings and comparing them to what the students did in the TDF. For this, student access to a nearby printer is required.

The Pre-Class Assignment

This section applies only to the online intro class.

Students in these classes increasingly tend to be mixed in their level of Telon experience. Those who have never heard the word Telon until they are told they will be attending the class need time to practice navigating around the TDF. Those who have spent the last few months trying to maintain a Telon application without knowing Telon would be bored by these exercises. They will spend time in class getting answers to their specific questions, initiating discussions that often go beyond the normal scope of the class, or possibly starting the habit of checking their email while the instructor is talking.

To address these discrepancies, the lab exercise in Chapter 1 of the student handout has been organized to be able to be done before the class starts. If those students with less than average Telon experience are assigned team numbers and asked to do this exercise the week before the class, this will tend to even out the effective experience level at the start of the class.

To allow the students to perform the pre-class assignment, instructions need to be prepared for them. These instructions should include directions on how to access the TDF, directions on how to generate and compile their programs, the CICS or IMS region which they should test in, and the team number assigned to the student. Team numbers for students who have not done the pre-class assignment will be assigned by the instructor. Sample instructions, including descriptions of non-standard Telon features for which the client, not CASE, is taking responsibility.

If the students can complete this exercise, and can test the program without getting a security violation (the program should invoke the Telon Abend Handler with a notfound condition) this is strong evidence that the client preparations for the class have been completed successfully.

To all those system programmers, DBAs, security personnel and others who are working through this checklist: thanks for your part in making this class a success.

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