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Status Future consideration
Workspace IBM Z Software Asset Management
Created by Guest
Created on Jul 8, 2013

RELATED IDEAS

Additional functionality required for tagging products using "user defined fields" to be extracted by the Inquisitor

Most companies install IBM and ISV products on a single system in their environment (a product install and maintenance system). Then, using some process, propagate the product(s) on Sysres or program product volumes to other systems. Most companies have some way of uniquely identifying these products within their own environment (unique product identifier) and also the maintenance level of the product package being propagated around their environment (unique maintenance level identifier).

The current tagging in TAD4z supersedes the Global Knowledge Base (GKB) with a Local Knowledge Base as an override. We'd like to use the Global Knowledge Base entries (for product name, vendor, etc) but have the ability to add a tag with "user defined fields" that can be inserted into a product's LOADLIB so the TAD4z Inquisitor can read and report on, and associate it with the specific GKB entry found. The important thing would be for the tag to be transported with the product no mater what system it's copied to. The ability to have the tag member (module) a variable name would be a benefit just in case product data sets are merged on some systems.

Reporting would include additional "user defined field" columns in appropriate reports, like the "Discovered Product by System" and the "Product Libraries" reports.

Idea priority Medium
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jun 19, 2015

    Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - zSeries Software
    Product - Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS (TADz)

    For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
    Brand - Tivoli
    Product family - Asset Management
    Product - Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS (TADz)

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Oct 14, 2013

    This is under planning review for the next Version development cycle.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Oct 11, 2013

    My name is Hermann Faber, I succeeded Bruno Papenheim as team lead of the european GSD Platform Team and member of the GSD Platform Technical Architecture Committee. Together with our colleagues in Asia/Pacific and in the US we build a world wide organization to provide z/OS software management for all IBM SO customers in the world. The EMEA group provides central software maintenance for all z/OS products (IBM products and ISV products) for all z/OS SO customer systems in Europe.
    In Europe the implementation of TADz is running since more than 2 years and TADz is running on a lot of systems in Europe. Therefore we are very interested to get this request implemented and I support this.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Oct 11, 2013

    I am Neil O'Connor and I am the GSD Platform Technical Architecture Committee (TAC) representative for Asia/Pacific. The GSD Platform is IBM's global framework for supporting outsourced systems. As a truly global team, I, along with my peers in the Americas and EMEA, are responsible for the installation and maintenance of software on approximately 2000 z/OS systems worldwide. This includes systems within IBM's zCloud (z/OS Cloud, IBM SmartCloud for System z) offering.
    Having a reliable and accurate software inventory is essential for ensuring systems are managed within the best practice parameters that vendors define for their software. A quality software inventory also ensures companies are correctly paying vendors (including IBM) for all of the software instances they are using.
    IBM's z/OS Management Facility Software Management enables non-SMP/E datasets to be included in software deployments, so including software identification within non-SMP/E ISV product datasets will plug that gap.
    Gavin's proposal of taging software to identify what it is, where it came from, and how it got there, will solve the long-standing identity problem of software management. I fully endorse this proposal.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jul 8, 2013

    Attachment (Use case)

    TAD4z Scenario ...
    TAD4z Scenario Output.txt
    Open full size
    TAD4z Scenario Output.txt

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