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Welcome to
the SumTotal Family |
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Did you hear
the exciting
news? On
October 4, 2005
it was
officially
announced that
the acquisition
of Pathlore
Software by
SumTotal Systems
was complete.
Together the two
complementary
companies have
created the
industry's
preeminent
software and
services
provider.
Click here
to read a copy
of the
announcement on
the SumTotal
website.
As a PHOENIX or
PREFERENCE
customer, you
are probably
wondering how
this acquisition
may affect you.
We assure you
that our plans
to develop and
support the
PHOENIX and
PREFERENCE
products remain
unchanged.
It's 'business
as usual' for
the mainframe
support staff
here at
SumTotal, with
no foreseeable or
immediate
changes
pertaining to
product
development or
support. This
acquisition
has provided us
with the revenue
scale, and
profitability to
best support all
our users.
Access to
Mainframe
technical
support and
account
maintenance
remain the same,
so we encourage
you to proceed
through your
normal channels
-- and remember --
your
satisfaction and
long-term
success are a
priority for us
here at
SumTotal.
Questions? Don't
hesitate to
contact your
SumTotal
Mainframe
Account Manager,
Christie Davis
at
614-781-7270. As
always, we
welcome your
feedback and
appreciate your
ongoing support. |
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PHOENIX/PREFERENCE Release
7.9.1 Service Pack 1 |
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Release 7.9.1
Service Pack 1 for
PHOENIX® training
system and
PREFERENCE® online
help and reference
system is scheduled
for shipment in
January 2006.
"Service Pack 1 for
Release 7.9.1 is a
continued
demonstration of
SumTotal's
commitment to
ensuring its
mainframe customers
an ever-evolving
software product
designed to meet
their needs," said
Joe Keller, Vice
President,
Operations.
"SumTotal is excited
about this Service
Pack, as the primary
focus of the
development effort
has been to focus on
customer requested
enhancements"
continued Keller.
The Service Pack for
the SumTotal's
Mainframe product
line includes the
following:
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Added
support for
z/OS 1.8.
With
z/OS 1.8 the
1-Byte
Console ID
will be
removed. We
have
converted
our use of a
1-Byte
Console ID
to use the
4-byte
Console ID
and Console
name. |
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Protect use
of CSA and
ECSA
storage. We
have changed
our
allocation
of CSA and ECSA storage
for subpool
241 with
storage
protection
key 8 to use
key 0. This
will write
protect our
storage so
that only
authorized
programs
will be
permitted to
update it,
eliminating
potential
MVS
integrity
issues. |
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Current
updates and
maintenance.
All
current
maintenance
patches and
updates have
been
applied.
This list
includes
zaps
S791001,
Z791001,
Z791002,
Z791003,
Z791004,
Z791005,
Z791006,
Z791007, and
Z791008. |
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Important Patch
for PREFERENCE 7.9.1 |
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PREFERENCE customers
on version 7.9.1
that have not
already downloaded
and applied the
patch # z791002 are
strongly encouraged
to do so today. The
patch can be found
online from the
Mainframe Customer
Zone website at:
http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com/customer/zaps_patches.asp
This important
update corrects a
problem whereby help
requests based on an
index term are
navigated to the
incorrect help
screen.
Application is with
the GSPGZAP
utility.
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Product
Support Policy Online:
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE |
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Did you know that
product support
statements for both
PHOENIX and
PREFERENCE are
posted and available
on the mainframe
website? Read them
today at:
http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com/customer/support_policy.asp
We recommend you
take a look as they
provide you with
complete and
definitive
statements of
support. Including
such topics as:
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PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
release
support.
Currently,
versions
7.9.1, 7.9.0
and 7.8 of
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
are fully
supported.
Earlier
releases,
including
7.7 and 7.6,
are on
limited
support.
Limited
support
means that
product
questions
will be
answered.
However, if
a client
issue
requires a
new fix to
the
software,
then the
client will
have to
upgrade to a
fully
supported
release. |
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z/OS and
OS/390
environments.
Statements
of
compatibility
for
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
versions
7.9.1, 7.9.0
and 7.8 with
all known
z/OS and
OS/390
environments. |
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CICS
environments.
Statement of
compatibility
for
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
versions
7.9.1, 7.9.0
and 7.8 with
all known
CICS
environments. |
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IMS
environments.
A new
statement of
compatibility
for
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
versions
7.9.1, 7.9.0
and 7.8 with
all known
IMS
environments. |
Additional questions
concerning product
support can be
addressed to
Technical Support
via email to:
techsupport@sumtotalsystems.com. |
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Software
Compatibility with IMS |
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In response to
frequent inquiries
made to technical
support regarding
product support and
product
compatibility with
CICS, z/OS and
OS/390 environments
and
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE,
we've posted the
below memo to help
provide mainframe
users with answers
to their questions:
>>
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
SOFTWARE
COMPATIBILITY with
IMS
SumTotal currently
supports three
releases of PHOENIX
and PREFERENCE.
Those releases are
7.8.0, 7.9.0 and
7.9.1. If you are on
one of these
releases, there are
no known problems
with using any
current version of
IMS. However, when
you upgrade to a new
release of IMS, you
must re-link-edit
the following
programs to include
your new IMS release
IMS DL1 service
routine program
ASMTDLI:
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PHOENIX:
CBEIMS and
GSPIMS01
(Sample JCL
for this
link-edit is
found in the
distribution
GSP.SAMPLIB
library,
member name
IMS1) |
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PREFERENCE:
CBHIMS,
CBHIMSN,
CBRIMS and
GSPIMS01
(Sample JCL
for this
link-edit is
found in the
distribution
GSP.SAMPLIB
library,
member name
CBRIMS1) |
You can also view
this memo posted to
our Mainframe
support site at:
http://www.pathlore-mainframe.com/customer/product_memos/product_memos10.asp |
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Coming
Soon: Concurrency Trace Analysis |
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A new version of
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
is scheduled to be
released in early
2006 providing
PREFERENCE rules
writers with a new
tool to
trouble-shoot
unsuccessful help
requests.
This release of
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE
will provide a tool called the
Concurrency Trace
Analysis.
Accessed through the
PREFERENCE Rules
Trace facility, the
Concurrency Trace
Analysis will
provide warnings,
and remedies, based
on current trace
data.
The purpose of the
Trace Analysis is to
shorten the task of
interpreting the
trace information in
order to assist
supervisors and
rules writers
quickly pinpoint the
source of a rules
problem.
At this time, rules
writers using the
Rules Trace facility
are on their own in
interpreting trace
data. The complexity
of the trace
information can make
hands on analysis a
daunting task. At
times a simple
diagnosis requires
sending numerous
screen prints to
Technical Support
for examination.
Further exchange of
information based on
the initial screens
can make this a
lengthy and time
consuming process.
Stay tuned for more
details coming soon on the next
scheduled release of
PHOENIX/PREFERENCE.
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