CA Dispatch™ is an online, interactive report distribution management
and archive repository system designed to reduce paper consumption
and increase report distribution efficiency. Your organization’s data
center staff can limit report printing to the pages requested by the
end user and group smaller reports into bundles according to class
and/or destination. CA Dispatch also supports a comprehensive
online viewing facility that eliminates the need to print reports.
Business value
CA Dispatch addresses the challenge of tracking and managing primary information assets (published reports), providing a secure, recoverable and easily accessible host repository that services the entire enterprise. It offers end-to-end report and document management, greatly reduces printing-related costs, eliminates error-prone manual distribution processes, and provides robust security through automatic report-ownership assignments.
Product overview
Today’s businesses are being challenged to provide accurate and timely information to customers, partners, investors, employees, and other consumers. Many organizations are utilizing the mainframe to process thousands of enterprise reports on a daily basis. To help ensure optimal business operations, organizations like yours must automate and streamline the handling of these reports. CA Dispatch is a scalable, extensive product that can help you overcome these challenges and reduce the time associated with resource-intensive, manual document management.
Delivery approach
Product features
Mainframe 2.0
CA Dispatch has adopted key Mainframe 2.0 features that are designed to simplify your use of CA Dispatch and enable your staff to install, configure, and maintain it more effectively and quickly. • CA Mainframe Software Manager: The CA Mainframe Software Manager automates
CA Dispatch installation and maintenance and removes SMP/E complexities.
– The Software Acquisition Service enables you to easily move product installation
packages and maintenance from CA Support Online directly to your mainframe environment and prepare them for installation.
– The Software Installation Service standardizes CA Dispatch installation, which includes
a new, streamlined Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) method that allows you to install CA Dispatch using standard utilities. This service also provides standardized SMP/E product installation and maintenance via APARs and PTFs, and simplifies SMP/E processing through an intuitive graphical user interface and an intelligent Installation Wizard.
– The Software Deployment Service enables you to easily deploy CA Dispatch in your
mainframe environment.
– The Software Configuration Service enables you to more effectively configure
CA Dispatch if it has been acquired, installed, maintained and deployed using CA MSM. • Installation Verification Program (IVP) and Execution Verification Program (EVP): As part
of the qualification process for inclusion in the set of CA Technologies mainframe products released every May, CA Dispatch has passed stringent tests performed through the IVP and EVP to find and resolve interoperability problems prior to release. These programs are an extension of the CA Technologies ongoing interoperability certification initiative launched in May 2009.
• Best Practices Guide: This guide provides information on CA Dispatch installation, initial
configuration, and deployment to shorten the learning curve for staff responsible for the installation and management of this product.
• Health Checker: The Mainframe 2.0 Health Checker provides CA Dispatch Health Checks that
execute under the IBM Health Checker for z/OS. The CA Dispatch Health Checker is a valuable tool that helps identify potential problems before they impact your environment by:
– Checking to ensure CADDSPL is active so that new reports and MSGCLASS data can be processed by CA Dispatch
– Checking to ensure the CA Dispatch and the CADDSPL component are executing with the minimum subtasks to capture new reports or MSGCLASS data
– Checking to ensure that CA Dispatch has space in the CADDSPL repository to add new reports and MSGCLASS data
– Checking to ensure that encryption hardware is available for report encryption – Checking to ensure that CA Dispatch is using the best performing DIV option in the
problem determination, CA Dispatch has adopted the following serviceability enhancements: – Product description information: CA Dispatch provides a Product Description module that
contains the product name, version/release number and other useful information. To determine which CA Technologies products are installed within each z/OS environment, you can access and report on this module using the CA Common Services EXAMINE facility. – Module identification: Each object deck comprising CA Dispatch contains a copyright and
module identifier to assist with error analysis and debugging.
– Common dump title formatting: When applicable, CA Dispatch recovery routines use
standard formatting of dump titles to assist with problem identification.
• Integration with CA OPS/MVS® Event Management and Automation System State Manager: CA Dispatch integrates directly with CA OPS/MVS® Event Management and
Automation (CA OPS/MVS) to indicate programmatically its state and readiness in your environment.
What’s new in CA Dispatch r11.7
PAGE OUT Feature – Real Memory Storage Release for CADDSPL: Memory management
can be achieved with the new Page Out feature, which provides a more proactive approach to automatically triggering the release of real memory. In addition, you have the flexibility to set the frequency of how often to execute this process.
Key capabilities
CA Dispatch provides:
• Automatic Report Bundling CA Dispatch enables you to automatically bundle or collect
reports together based on recipient, location (mail drop), and common SYSOUT characteristics. These bundles can then be automatically or manually released to print anywhere within the enterprise. Additionally, recipient level page selection printing is fully supported, which drastically reduces the amount of physical paper output.
• Report Administration CA Dispatch provides a single point of management for all report
capture, distribution, archival management, and recipient access. This highly effective tool automates time-consuming manual tasks to help reduce document delivery costs.
• Report Information With this feature you can define specific distribution information for
each report, such as report name, SYSOUT class (if it is to be printed on a special form), and the recipients of the report. You can also send the report to an archive, online viewing file, or printer. On the recipient screens, you can define which pages of the report you wish to send to a recipient.
• Recipient Information The database allows you to store information on the recipient’s name,
mail drop, phone number, and account number to which reports are to be charged. It also keeps a list of all reports that are delivered to the recipient.
• Online Viewing Control Information Information specific to online viewing of reports allows
• Archive Control Information The archiving information includes the number of generations
or days for retention of reports, the media to which the reports are to be archived, and a list of volumes assigned to the archiving function.
• Report Data Encryption for PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliance and Privacy Protection: Protecting your data is of utmost importance. Customers who store credit card
data must abide by PCI compliance. One of the most important factors in this compliance is to provide optimum security—data at rest must be encrypted via strong encryption. CA Dispatch contains a new feature called PCI Level Strong Encryption. This new PCI compliance mandates that any data containing personal information is encrypted using strong algorithms such as AES (advanced Encryption Standard);we are integrating with the IBM CPACF and ICSF services for encryption.
• Administrative Report Planning CA Dispatch produces a set of management reports that
help you monitor the flow of documents through the system. The Planning Report provides details on every document, including whether it was produced on time. The Forecast Report can gather information from CA 7® Workload Automation or CA Scheduler Job Management to provide a list of report activities scheduled to take place at a destination within a given time frame. The Late Report lists every report that was late and the length of time by which it was late. • Activity Tracking Activity tracking can give you real-time information about who, what, where,
when, and how much information is being used via online access and printing. With this type of information, you can quickly identify utilization to make recommendations or changes that can improve performance and resource consumption.
• Event Processing This action is triggered based on the occurrence (or non-occurrence) of a
processing circumstance. Events can be defined for reports and report data, along with MSGCLASS (JCL) messages. These events can represent the presence (or absence) of a string of characters within a report or the presence of an entire report. Event processing allows you to send messages to the operator console and flag lines to be highlighted in online viewing. In addition, it can route job scheduling commands to your scheduling system.
• Report Status Tracking This feature enables you to track a report from the time it starts until
it is delivered to the end user. The administrator can display job start and end times, abend codes, and other information. Administrators can also inquire about reports, jobs, and
recipients’ reports, as well as modify the JES2 status of unprinted bundles. You may also track the status and priority of unprinted bundles and complete job/report status for all reports processed by CA Dispatch. In addition, you can inquire into the product’s own processing queues and print them immediately, if necessary, as well as proceed to the recipient’s report level of detail.
• Audit Trail/Unit Chargeback CA Dispatch maintains records of all report activity—including
• Online Viewing of Reports and MSGCLASS Data The online viewing feature of CA Dispatch
allows you to view reports and MSGCLASS messages online. Access to reports can be
controlled by external security, which provides the complete flexibility you need to effectively customize online viewing. You will see a list of only those reports that you are permitted to view, eliminating hard copy output in many situations. Recipient level page selection is also fully supported. This drastically reduces the need to physically deliver paper output and makes reports available on a more reliable and timely basis. You can also view the MSGCLASS system messages of a report or job from the Report Display Screen or branch to a print screen where you can print, archive, or delete the current report.
• Immediate Online Document Access You can immediately access a list of your own
documents by using the CA Output Management Web Viewer or through standard 3270 TSO/ ISPF panels. You can also enhance the online viewing experience by creating and saving customized profiles for viewing and printing documents.
• CADDSPL Replaces ENFSPL CADDSPL is a new component of CA Dispatch that replaces
ENFSPL and incorporates all of its related functionality into the base product. CADDSPL also supports up to 32 CADDSPL address spaces per system, effectively increasing the number of CA Dispatch address spaces to 32 on each LPAR.
• ENF Event Services The VCSS common component has been completely replaced by the ENF
Event Services. This enables CA Dispatch to eliminate the use of JES exits for this purpose and capture report information while consuming fewer CPU resources and reducing overhead. • Multiple Distribution Tasks CA Dispatch increases the internal distribution tasks, or RPI, from
one to three. Three different class and destination selections permit distribution of the reports based on your criteria, enabling each RPI to process a unique set of reports, with each task having its own start and end command.
• Multiple Archive Tasks CA Dispatch increases the number of archive tasks from one to three,
effectively providing increased processing power to keep up with an ever-demanding Archive workload. What’s more, each task can be independently started or stopped.
• SAPI Exploitation CADDSPL replaces the FSS Printer ENFFSS with a new SAPI interface task
that is responsible for processing all user non-intercepted input reports and MSGCLASS data from the JES Spool. A new SYSOUT Application Programming Interface (SAPI) task permits CADDSPL to reduce its sensitivity to JES version or release level. Reduced JES dependent code provides greater flexibility, scalability, and reliability.
• SMF Chargeback Several enhancements for user resource utilization tracking have been
made, including Online Viewing and Archive resource utilization, Online Viewing access audit tracking, SMF Type-6 processing for multi-pass reports, along with new SMF type-6 fields. • Batch Maintenance Jobs The administrator can now perform system maintenance on
CA Dispatch without having to stop subtasks such as RPI, RPO, MSG, STATUS and Archive, empowering your shop to run 24x7.
• Bundle Reprint This feature makes recreating and reprinting a bundle as simple as reprinting
a report from archive. Bundle Reprint uses the current Bundle Status information and recreates the bundle using reports that reside in the Online Viewing database and/or Archive.
• CA Service Desk Interface Sites running CA Service Desk can have CA Dispatch automatically
open CA Unicenter® Service Desk tickets for unexpected product abends within the CADDSPL component. This provides an immediately recorded event notification so the causes can be quickly identified and addressed before additional problems delay critical report processing within the system operations.
• Productivity Tools Several new online productivity tools have been added to increase user
productivity. Template features for the Report/Recipient and Sysgen User ID screens allow administrators to easily add new definitions based on existing definitions. In addition, the new Extract Priority feature permits reordering of extract requests as needed.
• Secured Document Access CA Dispatch interfaces with CA Technologies mainframe security
solutions—such as CA ACF2™ Security, CA Top Secret® Security, and IBM’s RACF—to help ensure that only authorized users gain access to sensitive reports and online documents.
• Report Management Integration CA Dispatch integrates with CA Technologies enterprise
report management tools, including CA Spool™, CA LPD Report Convergence, and CA Output Management Web Viewer, to form a comprehensive solution that automates the flow of reports from the mainframe to anywhere in the enterprise. CA Dispatch also interfaces to such tape management systems as CA 1® Tape Management and CA TLMS® Tape Management
Benefits
The CA Technologies mission for report management is to provide leading software for the capture, archival, distribution, viewing, and management of documents throughout your enterprise. CA Dispatch provides the following critical benefits that help deliver greater business value to your enterprise IT management infrastructure:
• A single point of access for enterprise documents provided by the online viewing system minimizes the costs associated with mass hard-copy report printing and distribution. • Powerful report and recipient administration tools lead to secure and efficient information
distribution, helping to ensure end users access only the information they need. • Automated storage management provides the ability to adhere to strict compliance
regulations by maintaining archived versions of controlled reports based on specified retention periods.
• Productivity tools and features—such as extract prioritization, bundle manipulation, and reusable templates for defining reports and recipients—lead to more efficient enterprise data management.
• A high-performance, stable, report-processing environment has been improved with the functionality provided by CADDSPL, SAPI exploitation, multiple distribution, and archival tasks, as well as batch maintenance utilities that allow 24x7 operation.
The CA Technologies advantage
A key component of both our Mainframe 2.0 initiative, CA Dispatch helps you unify and simplify IT and clearly illustrates these core principles in the following ways:
• Managing risk by providing a secure environment for the archival and viewing of controlled documents
• Improving service by delivering a reliable product that utilizes high-performance mainframe report management tools
• Managing costs by eliminating unnecessary report distribution and printing overhead and storing documents in a central repository
• Aligning IT investments by maintaining control of end-user report access to limit unnecessary printing and maximize efficiency
Used in conjunction with other Enterprise Report Management products, CA Dispatch provides a comprehensive solution that allows the automated flow of reports from the mainframe to anywhere in the enterprise. Distributed files of any type, from any platform, can be stored in CA Dispatch by using CA Spool. All documents stored in the CA Dispatch database can be made easily accessible on the web using CA Output Management Web Viewer.
Furthermore, CA Dispatch integrates with other important enterprise functions, including workload automation with CA 7® Workload Automation or CA Scheduler® Job Management, storage options, such as CA 1® Tape Management and CA TLMS® Tape Management, and such security products as CA Top Secret® and CA ACF2™.
Copyright © 2012 CA Technologies. All rights reserved. IBM, z/OS, z/VSE, TSO, ISPF, NJE and JES are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document “as is” without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised in advance of the possibility of such damages.. CA does not provide legal advice. Neither this document nor any CA software product referenced herein shall serve as a
