IBM Z® JCL Expert is a JCL checker tool for validating the syntax of JCL statements, procedures and jobs in the development environment already in use.
The IBM Z JCL Expert tool provides advanced JCL checking, including site standard conformance verification, by checking the JCL and utility parameter syntax online. Unlike other offerings, IBM Z JCL Expert performs JCL checking in the existing development environment.
It provides a batch interface to check multiple JCLs simultaneously without impacting service-level commitments. Unlike other offerings, IBM Z JCL Expert provides a REST interface to automate the JCL checking and integrates it into IT automated processes.
Updates and enhancement to features for IBM Z JCL Expert
Quickly validate JCL before execution and expedite testing time in the existing development environments.
Identify and correct JCL errors before being added to the scheduler for execution to help prevent execution-time failure and processing delays.
Validate site JCL coding standards to reduce errors and simplify problem diagnosis after mass updates due to workload moves or merges.
Validate the syntax of JCL and utility parameters to help ensure that application processing will have reduced interruptions and delays resulting from JCL errors.
Enhance a developer’s capabilities on existing familiar testing platforms for faster application code testing and delivery to production.
Integrate the custom program that validates the site-specific JCL standards in the automated workflow to ensure that employees apply company-required policies consistently and accurately.
Validate that the submitter of a JCL check or a different user ID has the required access to data sets defined in the JCL, and Db2, if used in the JCL, has READ access to any data sets defined in JCLLIB.
Validate the existence and availability of data set and Db2 plans used in the JCL to help ensure that application processing will have reduced interruptions and delays resulting from JCL errors.
Enhance a DevOps engineer's capabilities to integrate the JCL check step into a DevOps pipeline process through the available CLI interfaces.
IBM Z JCL Expert is designed to validate and correct JCL and parameter syntax during testing, speeding up the process for delivery of new applications and functionality.
Syntax errors, missing authorizations, nonexisting data sets or inactive Db2 plans might be a thing of the past with the ability to validate and format multiple JCL procedures across various logical partitions (LPARs).
Migration of the scheduler, movement of the workload and acquisition or merger of the company might require validation of JCL streams for mass updates, which is all possible with this tool.
Application developer or system programmer writing or amending JCL through ISPF Edit.
Production control analyst verifying JCL before or after changing it through the batch interface.
Production control analyst verifying JCL before scheduling the job to run through the batch interface.
Production control analyst trying to fix broken JCL through ISPF Edit.
Production control analyst needing to resolve IZWS variables before adding JCL to a plan in IZWS.
System programmer implementing site-specific JCL standards through the automatic execution of a site rules program.
Using automated tooling to validate JCL through the REST API.
Remote workstation JCL validation using the Eclipse plug-in.
DevOps engineer using the Zowe™ CLI plug-in from a workstation to validate JCL steps while developing a complex build pipeline that interfaces with z/OS.
JCL Expert has these system requirements:
Provides a modern toolset for developing and maintaining IBM z/OS applications through the use of DevOps practices—delivering more, faster—with higher quality.
Manages and automates data processing operations to plan and automatically schedule production workloads based on the information provided in the application descriptions.