GSE UK IMS Working Group

Region: UK Division: B DB/DC
Name of Group: IMS Code: IMSU
Number of members/installations: 40+ Active installations
Number of meetings within 12 months: 3 or 4
Average number of participants per meeting: 30
Web Site: web.ukonline.co.uk/dougie.lawson/gse/
Name of Chairman: Frank Fleming
Company: Barclays Bank plc
Address: Radbroke Hall, Tel: 01565-613581
Knutsford, Fax: 01565-613582
WA16 9EU e-mail: Frank.Fleming@barclays.co.uk

Description

The IMS working group is an active group that meets roughly quarterly to discuss the latest developments in IMS and related products, be they IBM or third party vendor, and other items of interest to users of these products.

We welcome all users of IMS, including those using CICS/DBCTL or batch DL/I as well as IMS DB/DC users.

A typical meeting will consist of

The main audience consists of IMS Systems Programmers and Database Administrators, although there are sometimes topics of interest to IMS application developers.

We also have a Christmas quiz, generally with an IMS theme.

General Objectives

  1. To encourage information exchange amongst IMS DC, DB, DLI & DBCTL users
  2. To act as a forum for IBM announcements and information on IMS and related products from both IBM and third party vendors
  3. To act as the formal requirements submittal point for IBM and other vendors
  4. To encourage participation from third party vendors
  5. To encourage active participation by members
  6. To foster relationships with groups in related topics and from other countries
  7. To encourage the development of IMS education programmes
  8. To form subgroups as necessary to investigate specific areas of interest
  9. To continue the DBCTL subgroup as long as interest remains.

Specific Objectives for 1999

  1. To continue to increase membership participation (encourage contributions from members).
  2. To encourage rarely attending member installations to attend more frequently or to ascertain why they do not.

Meetings for 1999

Main Group

Friday April 9th IBM South Bank
Thursday July 1st Manchester University
Joint with DBCTL Subgroup
Thursday October 28th IBM South Bank

DBCTL Subgroup

Thursday March 4th Bournville, Birmingham
Cancelled

Steering Committee Members

Chairman: Frank Fleming Phone: 01565-613581
email: Frank.Fleming@barclays.co.uk
Meeting Organiser: Ian Tyson Phone: 01403-232329
email: Ian_Tyson@uk.ibm.com
Treasurer: Dougie Lawson Phone: 01256-341061
email: Dougie.Lawson@uk.ibm.com
Minutes Secretary: Peter Armstrong Phone: 01276-419835
email: Peter_Armstrong@bmc.com
Membership Secretary: Andrew Jack Phone: 0131-245-7783
email: andrew_a_jack@standardlife.com
Requirements: Neil Price Phone: 01827 710702
email: Neil.Price@notes.tntew.com
IBM Representative: Alan Cooper Phone: 0161-905-6134
email: alan_cooper@uk.ibm.com
IBM Rep (DBCTL): Pete Sadler Phone: 0171-202-5635
email: pete_sadler@uk.ibm.com

Further Information

We decided to hold three meetings of the full IMS Working Group this year (April, July & October) and one separate meeting of the DBCTL subgroup (March - unfortunately this was cancelled due to illness). The April meeting (9th in London) was timed in conjunction with the IBM IMS & DB2 Technical conference to be held in Paris in the hope that we may once again have attracted an IBM speaker from either Santa Teresa Labs or the Dallas Systems Center. The July meeting (1st in Manchester) will be joint with the DBCTL subgroup (i.e. we will focus on DB & DBCTL issues). At the final meeting of the year (28th October in London) we plan to focus on issues relating to connecting IMS to the Internet etc. If any IMS users have any experiences in this area we would dearly love to hear from them.

At the 1998/9 Steering Committee Meeting we decided to reduce our mailing workload and in future the minutes of our meetings will be posted on our web site. Paper copies will be available on request. Presentation handouts will also be posted on the web if possible - they will only be available after the meeting on specific request.

We have been once again fortunate to have a full complement of volunteers on the Steering Committee with no changes from 1998. Unfortunately our secretary, Peter Armstrong of BMC Software, is moving to the BMC office in France and will therefore be unable to continue his duties. A volunteer is required.

The DBCTL subgroup had mixed fortunes through the year as far as attendance is concerned but will continue into the next year. The current organiser of the DBCTL group is Ian Tyson. Ian no longer works with DBCTL so would like to be replaced in this role. Any volunteer will be heartily welcomed.