This step is optional and applies only to systems that have the File-to-File feature of BDT.

BDT provides ISPF panels that make it easier for users to submit file-to-file transactions. These panels provide a dialog capability between the user and ISPF. The dialog prompts the user for the information needed to build a BDT transaction. TSO HELP panels and examples guide the user through the task of providing the transaction information. After the user provides the information, ISPF builds a BDT transaction which it then routes to BDT for execution.

ISPF also saves the information that the user provided. The next time the user invokes the ISPF panel, the information that ISPF saved appears on the screen. The user may then submit another transaction using the same information, or the user may change the information before submitting the transaction.

If you want to make the BDT ISPF panels available to your installation you must allocate six data sets and concatenate them with data sets defined in the TSO logon procedure. You may have already allocated the SBDTxxxx data sets during installation of z/OS. The data sets you allocate must have the same characteristics as the data sets with which they are concatenated. See Table 1 for the names of the data sets.

You have to allocate table input and output library data sets (ddnames ISPTLIB and ISPTABL, respectively) only if you plan to allow users to save their ISPF panels. You must allocate unique data sets for each TSO user. If you do not allocate these data sets, saved transactions will be inaccessible upon reentry to the BDT panels.

ISPF tables stored by users can contain confidential data, such as passwords. To prevent unauthorized access to this data, you should RACF-protect the table output library data sets pointed to by ddname ISPTABL. Access to these data sets should be granted to the users owning them and to the user ID assigned to the BDT started procedure.

You can update the ISPF panels to add the BDT File-to-File feature as an option. The method used to do this depends on which ISPF is installed. Consider incorporating the changes you make in an SMP/E usermod, so that they will not be regressed without warning during the installation of service (PTFs) for ISPF. For more information about constructing SMP/E usermods, see SMP/E for z/OS Reference or SMP/E for z/OS User's Guide