Functions and features of the Web User Interface

The CICSPlex® SM Web User Interface (WUI) offers an easy-to-use interface that you can use to carry out all of the operational and administrative tasks necessary to monitor and control CICS® resources. You can link to the Web User Interface from any location that can launch a Web browser.

The WUI is supplied with a set of linked menus and views to facilitate all your system management tasks.

You can also customize the WUI to reflect your business procedures and to suit the needs of individual users.

The CICSPlex SM Web User Interface allows you to:
  • Create clear, uncluttered menus and displays (called views), that present only the information that you want the user to see.
  • Structure your data in a task-oriented way. You can:
    • Organize the user interface by resource category, by user task, or by application.
    • Define the links between views.
    • Define the buttons that will appear on a display and what they will do.
  • Customize the layout of data. You can:
    • Have as many views of the same object as you like, each one showing a different selection of data depending on the user task.
    • If you have a Java™-enabled Web browser, you can use graphical presentations of your data: you can have either a bar gauge that shows, for example, the number of tasks active in a CICS region, or a warning light that can be configured to change color or flash, depending on the threshold values you define for the field.
  • Customize the text and appearance of views to suit your business needs. You can:
    • Use terminology appropriate to your business.
    • Use your national language for annotations and customized help.
    • Limit the data that is displayed using filters, so that users see only the data relevant to their task.
    • Include information for the user's guidance, for example, contact names and telephone numbers.
    • Define text that is written on action buttons.
    • For each menu choice, add explanatory text to help the user in the task.
    • For each view, provide buttons that accomplish the task, for example, a shutdown button on a CICS regions view.
  • Assign views to a set of favorites for quick and easy access. This allows you to reach frequently used views with just one click. Administrators have the additional authority to update the favorites of other users.
  • Present the data the users want to see in order to complete a task. You can:
    • Create profiles for groups of users. These profiles contain information such as default context, scope, CMAS context, menu and result set warning count. In this way administrators can configure the WUI in different ways to suit different groups of users in order to present an interface that is more tailored to individual needs.
    • Display only the information you want the user to see.
    • Control what information can be amended, and where and how these amendments are made. For example, you can make sure that the user has to confirm that an operation is required, or that data has to be changed. You can restrict entry fields to display-only or to preset values.
    • Add safety by providing a confirmation panel asking the user to confirm that an action is to be performed.
    • Set the WUI to issue warnings before it opens a view that will generate large numbers of records. This improves performance by reducing unnecessary waits.
  • Develop menus that guide the user through a task. For each of the tasks being performed in your enterprise, you know which CICSPlex SM objects are involved in the task, and so you can create a menu for the task that contains those objects. In this way, you can create menus that reflect your business procedures.
  • Provide your own customized help information for each view and menu in your national language. For example, you could describe the task to be performed, or provide contact names and telephone numbers that are specific to your location. The help documents may be located on the CICS system that you have selected to act as your Web User Interface server, or each menu and view could be linked to an existing Web-based procedures manual on an external server.
  • Protect the view editor, user editor and specific menus, views and help panels from unauthorized access.