Developing search arguments

A keyword describes one aspect of a program failure. A set of keywords, called a keyword string, describes a specific problem in detail. Because you use a keyword string to search a database, a keyword string is also called a search argument.

The keywords you use to search for problems in IMS are:

  • The component identification

    This is the first keyword in the string. A search of the database with this keyword alone detects all reported problems for that version of IMS.

  • The type of failure
    The second keyword specifies the type of failure that occurred. Its values can be:
    • ABENDxxx
    • ABENDUxxxx
    • DOC
    • PERFM
    • MSGx
    • INCORROUT
    • WAIT/LOOP
  • Symptom keywords

    These can follow the keywords above and supply additional details about the failure. You select these keywords as you proceed through the type-of-failure keyword procedure that applies to your problem.

    Add symptom keywords to the search argument gradually so that you receive all data matches or hits, which are problem descriptions that might match your problem. If you receive too many problem descriptions to examine, you can add AND or OR operators to additional keywords in various combinations to the keyword string to reduce the number of hits.

  • Dependency keywords

    These are program or device dependent keywords that define the specific environment that the problem occurred in. When added to your set of keywords, they can help reduce the number of problem descriptions you need to examine. See Dependency keywords for a list.