Job Control Language (JCL) & TSO/ISPF

(a 5-day course)

Course objectives
The students will first learn MVS-OS/390-z/OS JCL on a theoretical basis.
After that the students will learn how to use TSO (Time Sharing Option) and ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility) efficiently by putting their theoretical JCL knowledge into practice through the execution of a series of exercices.
By performing these exercises the students will learn to make use of program utilities, procedures, GDGs (generation data groups), "classic" and "new" conditional JCL, etc., and how to debug JCL.

Audience
- All

Prerequisites
- You need a basic knowledge of OS/390 and/or z/OS (cf our introduction course).

Class infrastructure
- The students must have access to an OS/390 or z/OS system and logon under TSO

Course contents
JCL principles: Structure; Syntax rules
Dataset organization: VSAM (Virtual Storage Access Method) and non-VSAM data sets; Catalog structure; Generation Data Group (GDG)
Program utilities: IEFBR14, IEBGENER, IEBCOPY, DFSORT, ...
JCL streams: JOB JCLs, PROCedures, and INCLUDE groups
Special features: Use of symbolic variables; Procedure modification techniques; Classic and new conditional JCL
TSO: Using the terminal; TSO commands
ISPF: Data set creation; ISPF editor; Data set utilities; SDSF (System Display and Search Facility)
Writing proper JCL
JCL problem solving: Types of JCL errors; ABENDs (abnormal ends); Interpreting JCL output and the job log; JCL debugging

MVS OS/390: ISPF Dialog Development
Datatrain Course JCL Introduction
Datatrain Course JCL Advanced
Datatrain Course Basic JCL Commands for VSE
Datatrain Course Advanced JCL and JECL for VSE
Datatrain Course ISPF/TSO Introduction
Datatrain Course ISPF Advanced