Aggregating data in a resource view

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With aggregation in CICS Explorer®, you can merge resource records together to display a summarized view for one or more attributes. Aggregation helps you identify similarities and differences in a set of CICS® resources.

Table of contents
What is aggregation?
Prerequisites
Common tasks with aggregation
Reference: Applicable Aggregate functions
Reference: Comparison with WUI summarization

What is aggregation?

Aggregation provides different functions to control how data is aggregated, for example, to return the maximum, minimum, or average value. You can also group resource records by a specified set of attributes, known as grouping attributes, and aggregate the values of non-grouping attributes.

The following graphic takes some simple data as an example, to show how data is aggregated with and without grouping attributes specified.
Figure 1. Aggregation examples
Examples of aggregating simple data with and without grouping attributes specified
Aggregation can be used for:
Migrating from the WUI: Aggregation in CICS Explorer is equivalent to the summarize function in the CICSPlex® SM Web User Interface (WUI), and provides a more powerful capability. For more information, see Reference: Comparison with WUI summarization.

Prerequisites

To enable aggregation, your environment must fulfill the following prerequisites:

CICS
Your CICS must be configured with a CMCI JVM server, which provides the underlying CMCI GraphQL API that supports the aggregation function. For a CICSPlex SM environment, its WUI region must be at least CICS TS 5.5 and be configured to use the CMCI JVM server. For a single CICS region (SMSS), it must be at least CICS TS 5.6 with APAR PH35122 and be configured with the CMCI JVM server. For instructions, see Setting up CMCI in CICS TS documentation.
CICS Explorer
  • To use aggregation in CICSPlex SM environments, your CICS Explorer version must be at least IBM® CICS Explorer for Aqua 3.21 or CICS Explorer on Eclipse Marketplace. To use aggregation in single CICS regions, your CICS Explorer version must be at Fix Pack 5.5.20 or later, be it CICS Explorer for Aqua or CICS Explorer on Eclipse Marketplace.
  • Your CICS Explorer must connect to a CICS environment that is configured with the CMCI JVM server.

Common tasks with aggregation

In CICS Explorer, you can enter or exit the aggregation view through any CICS resource view by toggling on or off the Aggregate Records button (Aggregate records icon) on the view toolbar. You can aggregate data in the resource view directly or specify grouping attributes and aggregate functions in the Aggregation dialog.

Tasks you can perform with aggregation are as follows.
Tasks Short description
Group resource records by attributes

Specify grouping attributes by which the resource records are to be grouped, directly in the resource view.

Specify aggregate functions for an attribute

Aggregate functions control how aggregation summarizes values. You can choose from a list of applicable functions for each attribute depending on the attribute type.
Expand a group

Investigate records within a group in more detail in a temporary expanded view.
Filter aggregated records

As in other resource views, you can apply quick filters to aggregated records by right-clicking the column header of an attribute. For more information, see Filtering data in a resource view.
Clear grouping for all attributes

In the aggregation view, clear grouping attributes so that all attributes are aggregated.

Specify grouping attributes and aggregate functions in the Aggregation dialog

Instead of applying aggregation to the records in the view directly, you can specify grouping attributes and aggregate functions for each attribute in the Aggregation dialog.
Save the aggregation view to the view configuration

To save an aggregation view for later use, see Saving a resource view's settings to its configuration.
Exit the aggregation view

To exit the aggregation view, toggle the Aggregate Records button off. If you close the resource view or restart CICS Explorer, the grouping attributes that you last specified are saved and can be reactivated by toggling on the Aggregate Records button in that view again.

Grouping resource records by attributes

Specify grouping attributes by which the resource records are to be grouped, directly in the resource view.

  1. To group records by an attribute, right-click the column of that attribute, and select Group By.
    Figure 2. Group records by Priority
    Group local transactions by the priority attribute

    As Figure 3 shows, the aggregation field is shaded, with the grouping attribute (priority) in a darker color and moved to the left of the field. A Count column is also added to indicate the number of records in each group.

    Figure 3. Records grouped by Priority
    A Local Transactions view where resources are grouped by the priority attribute
  2. You can group records by multiple grouping attributes, by repeating the action against other attribute columns.

    Figure 4 shows records that are grouped by both the priority and the region attribute. The first row indicates that two records share a priority value of 0 and are in the IYCWEZG1 region.

    Figure 4. Records grouped by Priority and Region
    A Local Transactions view where resources are grouped by the priority and region attributes

To ungroup records that have been grouped by a grouping attribute, right-click that attribute column and click Group by to remove that grouping attribute.

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Specifying aggregate functions for an attribute

Aggregate functions control how aggregation summarizes values. You can choose from a list of applicable functions for each attribute depending on the attribute type.

To choose an aggregate function used for each attribute, right-click the attribute column and select one of the options under Aggregate Function.
Figure 5. Choosing an aggregate function
Choose an aggregate function for the priority attribute

In Figure 5, the priority attribute uses the Average aggregate function to calculate the average priority of the local transactions, and the region attribute uses the Difference aggregate function to show the common and different values in the region names.

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Expanding a group

To expand a group for further investigation, right-click the row of that group, and click Expand Group in New View. This opens all the records within that group in a temporary expanded view. You can apply quick filters in the expanded view, but the view with all its settings is removed after it is closed.
Figure 6. Expanding a group
Expand a group by right-clicking the row
Figure 7. Group expanded in a new view
Expanded view for a group

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Clearing grouping for all attributes

If no grouping attributes are specified when aggregation is applied, all attributes are aggregated.

To clear grouping attributes in the aggregation view, click the arrow to the right of the Aggregation and Grouping button (Aggregation and Grouping icon) on the toolbar, and select Clear grouping. All records are aggregated into a single row as a result.
Figure 8. Aggregation with no grouping specified
All records aggregated

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Using the Aggregation dialog

Instead of applying aggregation to the records in the view directly, you can specify grouping attributes and aggregate functions for each attribute in the Aggregation dialog.

To specify grouping attributes in the Aggregation dialog
  1. Click the arrow to the right of the Aggregation and Grouping button (Aggregation and Grouping icon) on the toolbar, and click Configure grouping. This opens the Grouping tab of the Aggregation dialog. If you are already in the Aggregation dialog, click the Grouping tab.
  2. If aggregation is not already toggled on, you need to select the Enable aggregation check box before you can specify grouping attributes.
    Figure 9. Grouping tab of Aggregation dialog
    Grouping tab of Aggregation dialog
  3. To specify grouping attributes, select the attributes from the Visible attributes column to the Grouping attributes column.
  4. You can change the order of grouping attribute columns in the resource view by clicking the Up and Down buttons beside the Grouping attributes column.
  5. Click OK to apply changes.
To specify aggregate functions in the Aggregation dialog
  1. Click the arrow to the right of the Aggregation and Grouping button (Aggregation and Grouping icon) on the toolbar, and select Configure Aggregate Functions. This opens the Aggregate Functions tab of the Aggregation dialog. If you are already in the Aggregation dialog, click the Aggregate Functions tab.
  2. If aggregation is not already toggled on, you need to select the Enable aggregation check box before you can specify aggregate functions.
    Figure 10. Aggregate Function tab of Aggregation dialog
    Aggregate Function tab of Aggregation dialog
  3. From the Aggregate Functions column, select an aggregate function for each attribute. See Reference: Applicable Aggregate functions for available aggregate functions for different attribute types.
  4. Click OK to apply changes.

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Reference: Applicable Aggregate functions

The following table shows aggregate functions that are applicable to different attribute types.
Table 1. Aggregate functions applicable to different attribute types
Aggregate functions Descriptions Examples Applicable attribute types
Like Displays the value if all records have the same value, otherwise displays asterisks (****). ENABLED and DISABLED return ****. Enumeration
Difference Displays characters that are equal across all records, and highlights differences with asterisks (*).
TICKET and BACKER return **CKE*.
10 and 1000 return ***0.
 String, number
Minimum Displays the lowest value across all records. 2, 3, 4, and 5 return 2. Date, number
Maximum Displays the highest value across all records. 2, 3, 4, and 5 return 5. Date, number
Average Displays the sum of values of all the records divided by the number of records. 2, 3, 4, and 5 return 3.5. Date, number
Sum Displays the sum of values of all the records. 2, 3, 4, and 5 return 14. Number

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Reference: Comparison with WUI summarization

This table shows difference in terms that are used in the CICSPlex SM WUI summarization and the CICS Explorer aggregation.
Table 2. Comparison with summarization in WUI
Terms in WUI Terms in CICS Explorer Descriptions
Amalgamate Aggregate Merge values in a certain way to return a single value.
Summarization/summarize Grouping/group

Categorize different records into groups by the specified attribute, and amalgamate/aggregate values of other attributes.

In WUI, you can specify only one attribute to summarize the records by at the same time.

In CICS Explorer, you can specify multiple attributes (grouping attributes) to group records by at the same time.
NA Clear grouping Aggregate records with no grouping specified, which merges all records into a single row.
Summary type Aggregate function The way in which values are amalgamated/aggregated.

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1 Aqua refers to IBM Explorer for z/OS® Aqua.