Same here. Our 'operators' do have some such residual duties such as rotating tapes in and out of the robot. But mostly they deal with telecom issues and monitor our most loved online. The console are ignored for the most part.
Our primary software vendor once 'fixed' a problem with a console display. They eventually got tired of us ignoring the display and reopening problem records. I have to confess I once was a programmer myself. As I gained experience, I often marveled how easy it was to miss some really simple ideas/solutions. When I have the time, I like to gnaw on a problem until the 'AHA' moment. Nowadays I'd rather educate programmers instead of second guessing them. I fondly remember a large meeting with the most senior and smartest programmers in the company. The meeting was one of many called to address a system design issue where the daily run was not scaling well and taking almost all day to run. Hundreds of analysis hours had been expended to no avail so far, and the meeting dragged on. Someone cracked a joke about a 'fuzzy' bit, but the joke lit a fuse. Within seconds, a really simple plan was hatched to add a single status bit to a root segment. Within hours, the dozen or so lines of code were added and tested. The results were stunning. Watching the idea evolve from a joke to a major business solution in seconds was awesome. Being a part of that was nearly a religious experience. The solution was so simple that it was almost embarrassing. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of McKown, John Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 7:53 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Controlling COBOL DDs named SYSOUT What is an operator? We don't have any such people here anymore. We have "help desk" people. They don't even look at the z/OS console. Most messages which require action are now automated. The ones which cannot be are actually "transformed" by a CA-OPS/MVS rule to a TSO message sent to all logged on production control / "help desk" users (their TSO userids have a unique prefix). The console, per se, is an archaic link to a dead past around here. It is only used during IPL. And there is only one person outside of Tech Services who is assigned the task of IPL'ing z/OS on the rare occassions we do IPL. Nobody else in the "help desk" (aka NOC) area wants anything to do with it at all. -- John McKown Senior Systems Programmer HealthMarkets Keeping the Promise of Affordable Coverage Administrative Services Group Information Technology NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message, together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
