Vol. 2
May/June, 1979
No. 3
MVS CONVERSION AT WCC
Conversion to an MVS operating system Is
being made at the Washington Computer
Center to Improve stability and perfor-
mance. The two interactive systems, TSO
and WYBUR, will replace COMNET's proprie-
tary ALPHA system and are now available
for user testing.
The User Conversion Guide has been dis-
tributed to all WCC users and a quick
reference summary is also being prepared.
A WYLBUR guide and reference card are
under development. Training on MVS,
WYLBUR, and TSO is available at EPA head-
quarters, regional offices, and labs.
The special conversion team is answering
"HOTLINE" calls, assisting in scheduling,
and monitoring test activities.
However, the Data Center Branch*s recent
review of COMNET's schedules and current
status has not resulted in an optimistic
outlook. COMNET has been requested to
re-evaluate the total effort and to pro-
pose new schedules with realistic dates
that can be met. A one or two month
slippage from the original schedule is
anticipated before a full MVS production
system is available.
NEW CONTRACT WITH AMS.INC.
Mike Garpeitier
MIDSD is pleased to announce that
American Management Systems, Inc., (AMS)
is the new contractor for general appli-
cations system feasibility studies,
evaluations, and designs.
The purpose of this task order contract
is to provide a timely means of estab-
lishing contractual relations with a
highly qualified vendor. Beginning
May 1, 1979, procurement requests should
specify contract number 68-01-5146 and
ADP TRAINING SURVEY
Vie Ciln
Someone said that the only way to measure
change is to determine those things that
remain the same. As program directions,
agency policies, and personnel abilities
change, we need to make appropriate
adjustments to our ADP training program.
We surveyed training requirements about
three years ago. Now we need to know
what of the overall ADP training
requirement has remained the same and
what has changed.
To do this, we at the National ADP Ser-
vice Center have prepared a survey which
we are asking each division to complete.
The survey lists all the courses taught
by WCC, NCC, and NADPI and those that
have been proposed for the future. Space
is also included for suggesting other
courses. In addition to asking about
what courses are needed, we are asking
how many people each division is willing
to commit to each of the courses.
Although the survey package is lengthy,
the survey itself is short. The majority
of the package contains course descrip-
tions, which can be used for present and
future information.
If all goes well, Division Directors will
receive the survey package about June 29.
We will notify ADP Coordinators at least
one week prior to mailing. We urge each
division to respond to the survey
accurately and promptly so that we can
provide adequate planning for the 1980
training year and design our training
program to meet specific organization
goals.
the proposed contractor as American
Management Systems, Inc.
Please contact Mike Carpentier, MIDSD
Project Officer (FTS 755-0811) f)or fur-
ther information about this contract.
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NETWORK UPDATE
Fred Kastner
In recent weeks, COMNET has been concen-
trating their efforts on improving tele-
communications quality and stability for
several sites. In New York City, the
local telephone company has agreed to
make numerous changes to improve the
local 300 bps rotor facility. In
Chicago, CODEX diagnostic modems were
used to identify several problems. The
major ones were subsequently resolved by
AT&T and the local telephone company.
These same diagnostic modems were moved
to Seattle and, although no major prob-
lems were found, Seattle has reported
improved stability. The CODEX modems are
presently being moved to Dallas to help
identify problems reported by the Dallas
users.
During the last few weeks, numerous NCC
users have reported loss of data output
through the WCC COMTEN. COMNET has
reported that this major problem was
solved on May 15. Any and all future
data loss problems should be reported to
COMNET immediately.
To eliminate contention for the local 300
bps Washington, D.C. rotor facility,
COMNET is expanding that rotor from 80 to
91 lines. Also, to facilitate 300 bps
and 1200 bps access, COMNET is scheduling
a reconfiguration of WATS lines and an
expansion of local Washington, D.C. 1200
bps facilities.
The BELL 212 modems in RTF (accessed via
541-2071) will soon be replaced with
VADIC 3467 modems. These new modems will
support users of VADIC modems, 1200 bps
acoustic couplers, and Bell 212 modems.
This will eliminate the need for 1200 bps
users in RTF to dial WATS lines to access
NCC or WCC.
Tne July/August deadline for EPA Data
Talk is June 29, 1979. Contributions
received after that date will be
published at the discretion of the
editor.
NOLAN PRESENTATIONS ON
ADP MANAGEMENT STUDY
Morris Yaguda
Dr. Richard Nolan presented his findings
and recommendations during two separate
briefings for Deputy Assistant Ad-
ministrators and ADP Coordinators on
May 16, 1979.
Dr. Nolan pointed out the strengths and
weaknesses of EPA's automated information
processing. He said, "EPA is a Stage II
ADP organization with increasing pres-
sures for Stage IV and V capabilities."
The areas needing significant attention
are ADP personnel management, data
resource management, and strategy formu-
lation and planning.
A four-point strategy was recommended
for EPA: (1) £Ian the use of ADP in a
way which ensures ADP support for EPA's
priority objectives and coordinates
cross-organization ADP requirements;
(2) Manage EPA's data as a resource;
(3) Build capabilities in the "enabling"
technologies needed to support data
resource management; (*») Align EPA's ADP
organization to better support the
priority needs of EPA.
The DAA-level briefing was chaired by
Paul Elston, DAA for Resource Management.
The briefing was video-taped and will be
available for agency-wide distribution in
the near future. For more information
about the Nolan Study, contact Morris
Yaguda or Ed Franklin at FTS 755-0811.
£EA Data Tallc la published bimonthly
by the National Computer Center, Man-
agement Information and Data Systems
Division, for EPA personnel and con-
tractors Interested In general ADP
topics.
Comments and suggestions are soli-
cited and should be addressed to:
Willlam G. Allen
Editor, EPA Data Talk
National Computer Center
Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina 27711
To ensure that our distribution list
is up-to-date, please Indicate any
required changes on the mailing label
attached to this issue and mall It to
the above address.
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WCC HIGHLIGHTS
Curt Lackey
\ The WCC workload is still growing.
Batch jobs increased 1UJ between the
first and second quarters of FY79. Also,
the number of ALPHA sessions increased by
9$. Anticipating continued growth, the
WCC plans to replace the IBM 370/168 with
an IBM 270/3033 around October 1979. The
increased power of the 3033 along with
the presently installed 3032 should be
sufficient to support the growing work-
load through the remainder of the current
contract with COMNET. The graph below
reflects two measures of workload growth,
EXCPS and CPU seconds.
\ The ASM2 DASD Space Management
System marketed by Cambridge Systems
Group, Inc., has been selected for imple-
mentation under MVS. ASM2 was chosen
after a rigorous study of alternatives.
It interfaces with WYLBUR and RACF and
operates efficiently with TSO. Other
features provided are archiving, com-
pression of datasets, usage reporting,
backups, and generation data group
retention control. Further, ASM2 will
interface with the WCC Tape Management
System.
\ EPA is receiving a monthly report
from the Capacity Management Program
Identifying various areas for performance
tuning. Users desiring a copy of the
latest report should call WCC User
Support .
V A Final Design Document for the WCC
MVS System is nearing completion and
should be ready by the time you read this
issue of Data TaAK- Copies of this docu-
ment will be available from WCC User
Support .
WCC users may remember the problems
of last summer which were aggravated by
the extraodinarily heavy ZBB processing
requirement. In order that history not
repeat itself, MIDSD has asked COMNET to
propose commercial processing support for
both the R&D and Agency-wide ZBB sys-
tems. The R&D proposal was accepted on
May 11, 1979. Should the proposal for
Agency-wide ZBB support be accepted, WCC
users will owe a debt of gratitude to R&D
and Planning and Management's Budget
Operations Division for their transfer to
the COMNET commercial system. Peak ZBB
processing combined with MVS testing,
would have had a detrimental effect on
throughput at the WCC.
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NCC HIGHLIGHTS
Tom Rogers
V During March and April, the NCC
stability remained at an above average
level with 39 total stops. This number
is significant considering the hardware
modifications made during this period.
Entire subsystems of mass storage have
been replaced. Historically, such
changes have caused trauma to the stabil-
ity of the SPERRY UNIVAC 1100.
\ Although March is usually a month of
high SUP consumption, last March signifi-
cantly exceeded all monthly totals to
date in terms of total work performed.
The user tillable SUP'3 for March totaled
1,463, a 23$ increase over the previous
high of 1,187 for July 1977. Also, this
increase in quantity did not affect
quality. More than 95) of all jobs met
or exceeded their turnaround goals.
V Implementation of the new 8433 disks
continues. Two subsystems of 8440 disks
have already been replaced with 8433
disks. The third subsystem of 8433 disks
is ready for implementation and will be
put in production May 21, 1979. The last
subsystem of 8440 disks will be phased
out just before the fifth subsystem of
8433 disks is installed. When the imple-
mentation of all the 8433 disks (5 sub-
systems) is complete, the user community
will have 70$ more fixed storage and 12
more removable disk drives available.
\ In its May, 1979 meeting, the Man-
agement Advisory Group (MAG) resolved to
discontinue its activities. It was con-
cluded that user participation in ADP
planning through the 1980's procurement
team and the Performance Evaluation Board
was sufficient. The MAG has asked the
RTP ADP coordinators to provide recommen-
dations and advise the NCC relative to
user concerns.
UMITf D SUVCS
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North Carolina 27711
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