Date:         Wed, 27 Mar 1996 21:56:21 +0800
Reply-To:     brian watts <bwatts@SAGE.WT.COM.AU>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         brian watts <bwatts@SAGE.WT.COM.AU>
Subject:      HELP! Year 2000....MVS/IBM

We have a need for software (preferably sas code) which will tell us all
about our systems ;-) .... Not asking much is it!!?! (Joke...).
The powers that be have decided to investigate requirements for ensuring
that all systems (a measly few hundred.. ha ha) will be functional after the
gong strikes into the year 2000. Some of the old COBOL/IMS systems for
example, are known to not comply. Hence.... We are seriously considering the
process of writing something in SAS to parse all of our
source/JCL/Skeletons/Clists etc to build a knowledge base which can be
queried on a system by system basis. The idea being that these superbly
documented systems (sic), which everyone knows like the back of their beer
stained hands (not!), will then be accessable to our analysts who would like
to answer doozy questions like "What other systems use this thing!?" and
"Does anyone really use this anymore?", "Who owns it?!", "What other things
have been tacked onto this that we don't know about??!" and "Anyone know
what datasets, data dependencies and data structures are actually in there
anymore!?!". Any such "cast iron stomach" SAS "guru building" programs will
also need to digest such delicacies as ACF/2.
 
Life's fun in the information game, isn't it :-)
 
We have systems which include the following scenarios:
1) Straight, old fashioned CLISTs/PANELs/ISPF and SAS source only and SAS
datasets only
2) 1) Straight, old fashioned CLISTs/PANELs/ISPF and SAS source only and NO!
SAS datasets at all (ie a thrid party system .. COBOL/IMS/VSAM/DB2/Answer 2
or Fortran/Answer two... dumps to a flat file, which is then massaged and
reported on by SAS and possibly loaded back into the nasty brew from whence
it came!)
3) Cute but basic SAS/AF systems
4) Nice, obscure NON-SAS systems written in any of the above NON-SAS
languages/data file systems.
 
Is there anybody out there?? Hellooo! Where have you all gone?? Come back!
Yoo Hoo. Please don't run away, its not THAT nasty... really!
 
Brian.