You can use the action bars to suspend an activity while you perform a new one.
For example, if you are editing a data set and want to allocate another data set, select the Data set choice from the Utilities pull-down on the Edit panel action bar. ISPF suspends your edit session and displays the Data Set Utility panel. When you have allocated the new data set and ended the function, ISPF returns you directly to your edit session.
By contrast, if you used the jump function (=3.2), ISPF would end your edit session before displaying the Data Set Utility.