MTO abilities and operator responsibilities

The MTO's primary duty is to monitor the condition of the total IMS online environment, and to maintain normal service. Any alterations in committed service or recovery decisions are really part of a wider set of business responsibilities, not necessarily those of the MTO.

When you are defining the duties of the master terminal operator, you must decide what actions are part of the normal duties, and what decisions require consultation with other groups. From the end-user viewpoint, the MTO could represent the data-processing staff, as well as the application-program contact. You need to arrange ahead of time what kind of support can be provided by the MTO, and if there is any way of shielding the MTO from unnecessary interruption.

The master terminal operator has the following abilities and responsibilities:

• Responsibility for running IMS

  The MTO starts and shuts down the IMS subsystem, starts regions, and manages the system log.

• Knowledge of the ongoing status of the IMS subsystem

  The MTO continuously monitors processing and the detects any error situations.

• Control over contents of the system and the network

  The MTO can control the network, connect other IMS systems, and perform other prearranged tasks.

• Privileged commands

  In addition to the routine work, the MTO responds to error conditions, changes the scheduling algorithm, alters passwords, and reconfigures the system as necessary.