SPARTA News

March 2025

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Randy Springs

This month, we will again be holding our SPARTA meetings via Zoom. We might go back to our in-person meetings if we can find an appropriate venue. Let us know if you have any suggestions for a meeting location.

For our March meeting, join us for a presentation from Ed Webb, a retired senior systems programmer, and a participant of many SHARE and GUIDE activities for more than four decades. Ed recently attended SHARE in Washington, D.C. and will provide an overview of the conference and discuss the technical sessions he attended on current IT topics.

Invite your fellow systems programmers to join us for this informative and interesting online meeting.

We hope to see you online on Tuesday, March 4, on Zoom. Watch for meeting information coming your way soon.

Randy Springs
Retired (Truist)

[Editor's Note: My apologies for not publishing a February 2025 Newsletter; time just ran out. And an apology for the delay in sending out this March 2025 SPARTA Newsletter; there was not enough time between SHARE D.C. and the March meeting to create a presentation and a Newsletter. Thanks for your understanding.]

Future Speakers (subject to change)

March 4, 2025 - SHARE 2025 D.C. Report by Ed Webb of SPARTA

April 1, 2025 - TBA by TBD of Unknown

We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.

2024-2025 SPARTA

Board of Directors

Randy Springs - President

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Raleigh, NC 27604

Ron Pimblett - Vice President

MDI Data Systems

Land line 613 599 6970

Mobile 613 981 6919

190 Guelph Private

Kanata, ON K2T 0J7

Chris Blackshire - Secretary

Retired (Dell, Perot Systems, Nortel)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Durham, NC 27713

Randy Springs - (Acting) Treasurer

Retired (Truist)                  (919) nnn-nnnn

see Randy

Springs earlier

Ed Webb -  Communications Director

Retired (SAS Institute Inc.)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Apex, NC 27523

Mike Lockey -  Web Master

Guilford Co. Information Services  336-641-6235

201 N. Eugene St.

Greensboro, NC 27401

Meetings

Coronavirus Change: All meetings for the foreseeable future will be held online at 3 p.m. via the Zoom App. The link to meeting is sent to SPARTA Mailing list within 24 hours of the meeting time for security reasons. Stay safe.

Meetings are scheduled for the first Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in January), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto T.W. Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building (1912 T.W. Alexander Drive). In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Bill Johnson. Bill will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter e-Mailings

The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-RTP Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA distribution List is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.

December 2024 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V508 (dated December 19, 2024) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Ed Webb (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the February 4, 2025 Meeting

• The February 4, 2025 meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Randy Springs, the SPARTA President.

• The February 4, 2025 meeting was cancelled because of speaker availability issues.

• This Forty-sixth (April 2020 to February 2025) virtual SPARTA meeting was held via the Zoom Software.

• Thirteen (13) people were present at the virtual meeting.

• The business portion of the meeting followed the presentation.

• The meeting started at 3 PM to accommodate the speaker's availability.

OLD BUSINESS

• The minutes of the September 10, 2024 meeting as published in the October 2024 Newsletter were approved.

• The minutes of the September 10, 2024 meeting as published were approved.

• The October 31, 2024 Treasurer's report as published in the November 2024 Newsletter was approved. As of October 31, 2024, the current balance is $805.46.

• Call For Articles: Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you want to share with the membership.

• The SPARTA Web page is available at this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

• 2025 meeting dates, Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

• The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

• The annual dues have been suspended (motion passed in the March 2021 monthly meeting).

• Thanks to Randy Springs for hosting the February meeting online via Zoom.

• There are currently about 100 people on the SPARTA e-mail distribution list.

• Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA distribution List. The SPARTA meeting notices are being sent via a simple distribution list maintained by Chris.

• Randy Springs is looking for a new Treasurer volunteer. He projects about 2 hours per month is needed.
- Contact Randy if you are interested.

• Randy Springs has setup a SPARTA group on LinkedIn. Please join.

• There has been some discussion about a possible 2025 in-person meeting, depending on vaccinations and room availability. Stay tuned.
- Randy will contact Bill Johnson to determine the LabCorp meeting place status.
- Jay Hall will look into using a NCSU Centennial Campus room.

NEW BUSINESS

• None.

• There was significant discussion about how to increase attendance at SPARTA meetings. After discussing ending SPARTA given lack of participation, the attendees decided to keep trying for another six months.

• We will continue meeting virtually for now with a future in-person meeting date TBD. Stay tuned.

• The Presentation started at 3:05 PM.

• Presentation Topic: Problem Analysis and Performance Tuning for CICS

by Ezriel Gross of Rocket Software

• Agenda
• 1. Challenges facing CICS Customers across the Organization
- - - Complex Code
- - - Skills Shortage
- - - Where do we start and what is the focus?
• 2. Detect, Verify (analyze) and Solve Method (DVS)
• 3. IBM OMEGAMON for CICS (OM CICS)
• 4. CICS Performance Analyzer (CICS PA)
• 5. Rocket C\Prof
• 6. Summary

• Presentation Access - See Below for a full outline of the presentation.

See the SPARTA webpage for all recent presentations including this February one.

• Contact Info:
Speaker: Ezriel Gross
Principal Solutions Advisor, zSystems Center of Excellence (CICS)
Rocket Software, USA
T: +1 781 684 2672
C: +1 201 707 2786
Email: egross@RocketSoftware.com
Company: Rocketsoftware

• The presentation and questions/answers ended about 4:15 P.M.
• The February 4, 2025 monthly meeting ended about 4:30 P.M. after a short business meeting.

Treasurer’s Report for February 2025

contributed by Randy Springs

The balance in the account is $805.46 as of February 28, 2025.

SPARTA Financial Report
02/01/2025 through 02/28/2025

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2025

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Mar 4, 2025 Subs
Apr 1, 2025 BarBQ
May 6, 2025 Pizza
June 3, 2025 Chicken
July 8, 2025 Subs (Jul 4 holiday falls in the first meeting week date)
Aug 5, 2025 BarBQ
Sept 9, 2025 Pizza (Labor Day holiday is in first Tuesday meeting week)
Oct 7, 2025 Chicken
Nov 4, 2025 Subs
Dec 2, 2025 BarBQ

Register TODAY for IBM Z Day: Special Edition on April 8

contributed By Ed Webb

"The countdown is on... for something SO BIG it only happens every 3 years🔥🔥🔥! Don't miss our IBM Z Day: Special Edition 1 day virtual mega-event on April 8th and be one of the first to see the future of mainframes up close. Catch 150+ speakers | 3 tech tracks | hands-on demos. Go deeper with technical sessions designed for all levels to advance your expertise. Skill up, badge up & join thousands of participants from 165+ countries. 

🚀 🚀 Register now >> ibm.biz/ibmzday2025-se

Unveiling the Future of Mainframe Technologies:
✨ Experience the future of mainframes and get an exclusive look at the newest innovations from IBM Z.
✨ Connect with the experts behind these technologies & explore what’s possible with next generation capabilities."

OpenMainframe COBOL project for AI training

Contributed by Ed Webb

"Given that some 800 million lines of COBOL currently reside on production systems worldwide, the aims of the Open Mainframe Project's Zorse initiative may seem easily attainable. In reality though, it's not that simple. That's why the recently launched group is seeking volunteers to help with the time-consuming process of locating available COBOL code that can be used to train and calibrate large language models (LLMs).

AI researcher Gabriel Gordon-Hall describes the project as the product of a gradual realization. Over the past few months, as he and other members of the Zorse steering committee watched the years-old prediction that AI would evolve into the foundational layer for software come to fruition—and as they now watch AI eat everything — Gordon-Hall and his collaborators concluded that mainframe developers are, in some sense, missing out.”

Read the entire Tech Channel article for additional details.

SHARE Cleveland Call for Proposals Is Now Open!

Contributed by Ed Webb

"The opportunity to join a community of forward-thinkers and thought leaders shaping the future of the enterprise IT industry awaits you. SHARE's Program Committee is now accepting session proposals for SHARE Cleveland, taking place Aug. 17-21 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown.


Don't miss your chance to highlight your expertise and present your innovative ideas in front of hundreds of mainframers. Submit a session proposal by Friday, March 28."

"Speakers selected to present at SHARE Cleveland will receive a discounted speaker rate for the full conference week or a discounted one-day rate for the day they present. Please note if selected as a speaker you will be required to present in person at SHARE Cleveland."

Humor

Wit and Wisdom continued

contributed by Ed Webb

Life is like a dog sled team...if you aren’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
It’s possible that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you’re on.
If we didn’t have enemies how would we know who our friends are?
There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary and those who don’t.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Time: 3 p.m.

Location: Online

Information about access to our online meeting will be sent to our e-mail list by Tuesday, March 4.

Free Food before meeting: Your Food at Your Home

Program:

SHARE 2025 Washington, D.C. Conference Report

Speaker:

Ed Webb of SPARTA

SPARTA Corporate Sponsors:

February 2025 Presentation outline

• Presentation Topic: Problem Analysis and Performance Tuning for CICS

by Ezriel Gross of Rocket Software

• Agenda
• 1. Challenges facing CICS Customers across the Organization
- - - Complex Code
- - - Skills Shortage
- - - Where do we start and what is the focus?
• 2. Detect, Verify (analyze) and Solve Method (DVS)
• 3. IBM OMEGAMON for CICS (OM CICS)
• 4. CICS Performance Analyzer (CICS PA)
• 5. Rocket C\Prof
• 6. Summary

• Challenges Across the Organization
- For Application Developer, IT Manager, CICS Sysprog, LOB Manager, QA Manager
- CICS applications can be complex systems built on decades of continuous and incremental development

• CICS Problem Analysis / Performance and Tuning
- Where do I start?
- System Problems
- Application Issues
- CICS Terms Definitions

• Methodology for Solving Problems
- Detect, Verify, Solve

• CICS Performance / Problem Analysis Tasks
- Deep Dive Application Analysis
- Monitoring and alerting
- Problem Analysis

• Detect, Verify (Analyze) and Solve
- Detect – Requires some form of system monitoring.
- - IBM Z OMEGAMON for CICS
- Verify – Requires a tool that can review long term data.
- - IBM CICS Performance Analyzer
- Solve – Requires a tool that can forensically analyze application flow.
- - Rocket C\Prof

• IBM OMEGAMON for CICS
- CICS Performance and Problem Management Tools (Detect)
- IBM Z OMEGAMON for CICS Overview
- New Features to Date in V5.6.0

• Checking Overall System Health
- Drill down to see the system is operating as expected
- CICSplex Summary Screen
- CICSplex Regions Summary Screen
- Region Overview Screen

• Analyzing Individual Transactions
- Use Task History as Transactions run to quick to catch normally
- Task History Detail Screen - Tabs
- Program Tracking Feature - New
- Task Program Details
- Program Aggregation – Region Level
- Task History Collection - Timespan

• IBM CICS Performance Analyzer – CICS PA
- CICS Performance and Problem Management Tools (Verify)
- What is IBM CICS Performance Analyzer?
- CICS Monitoring Facility (CMF)
- CMF Data Types – Performance and Exception

• CICS Statistics
- When Does CICS Collect Statistics?
- Response Time Structure of CICS Transaction
- Response Time
- Suspend Time Breakdown

• Why Analyze SMF Data?
- Benefits of Using CICS PA
- Performance Summary Screen

• Visualize the Data Using an Analytics Engine
- SupportPac CA10 provides sample JSON Lines data output
- Visualization with Splunk or Elastic Dashboards

• Rocket C\Prof
- CICS Performance and Problem Management Tools (Solve)
- What is C\PROF?
- How Does it Work?
- Highlights: C\Prof
- Multiple Trace Capture Modes
- C\Prof Translates Example (Dump type data to Formatted Screens)

• Summary
- Questions?
- Thank you!

The presentation and questions ended about 4:15 PM and the meeting ended at 4:30 PM after a short business meeting.