Establishing naming conventions

A critical part of the application specification and the control of the IMS online system design is maintaining naming conventions for your resources.

When you define a large system that has many resources, the ability to recognize the characteristics of the resource by its name has many advantages:

The system definition input is easier to check, and the identification of changes is easier.
The MTO control is more effective and efficient and less prone to error.
The modification of the application design can more easily recognize already defined resources rather than creating ambiguous or unnecessary additional resources.

You should establish naming conventions, in cooperation with database administrators, for at least the following resources:

Databases, their DD names and data set names
Image copy and change accumulation data set names
Segment and field names
PSB and program names
Transaction codes
MFS format names
LTERM and node names
ETO terminal and user names
LU 6.2 descriptor names
Online log data set names
System log data set names
IMS Monitor output data set names
Link names and IMS system IDs (for Multiple Systems Coupling)
Fast DB Recovery region names
High Availability Large Databases (HALDBs), and HALDB partitions, DD names, and data set names.

The following table shows some examples of naming conventions that can be applied to resources controlled by IMS for online applications.

Table 1. Examples of naming conventions
Resource	Naming Convention	Description
Transaction	Taaatsss	T Transaction aaa Application identifier t U for update, or R for inquiry transactions sss Transaction sequence
LTERM name	cnnxiiii	c L for local, S for switched, N for non-switched nn A 2-character code for terminal type x A 1-character attribute indicating the screen size, printer, or component iiii A 4-character identifier
MFS (MSG name) (MID and MOD)	aaaiiii	aaa Application identifier iiii A 4-character identifier
MFS (FMT name) (DIF and DOF)	aaaiii	aaa Application identifier iii A 3-character format identifier
Module name	Maaaiiii	M Module name aaa Application identifier iiii A 4-character identifier
Job name	Jaaannnn	J Job name aaa Application identifier nnnn A 4-character job identifier

For more information on naming conventions, see the:

IMS Version 15.4 Database Administration for recommendations for naming conventions for databases, PSBs, programs, and HALDBs.
IMS Version 15.4 System Definition for a list of restricted names.
IMS Version 15.4 Communications and Connections for specific naming conventions for ETO.