How do you design efficient and user-friendly CICS transactions?

1 Understand the user needs

Before you start coding, you need to understand who your users are, what they want to do, and how they expect to do it. You can use various methods, such as interviews, surveys, or prototypes, to gather user feedback and requirements. You should also consider the user context, such as the device, the network, the location, and the time of the day. Based on this information, you can define the user scenarios, the goals, and the tasks that your transactions should support.

2 Design the user interface

The user interface (UI) is the part of the transaction that the user sees and interacts with. It should be designed to be clear, consistent, and intuitive, so that users can complete tasks quickly and easily. CICS tools such as BMS (Basic Mapping Support) or DFHBMSCA (CICS Screen Definition Facility) can be used to create and manage UI screens. Additionally, several UI design principles should be followed, such as using simple language and labels, providing feedback and confirmation messages, avoiding unnecessary information, organizing and aligning elements logically and visually, using colors, fonts, and icons appropriately and sparingly, minimizing the number of screens and inputs, and providing help and error handling.

3 Optimize the performance

The performance of your transactions is determined by how well you use CICS resources, such as memory, CPU, disk, and network. You should strive to reduce resource consumption while increasing throughput and response time. CICS tools such as CEDF (Execution Diagnostic Facility) and CMF (CICS Monitoring Facility) can be used to monitor and analyze transaction performance. Additionally, there are several optimization techniques to consider, such as employing efficient coding practices and standards, avoiding complex logic and calculations, using local or shared storage instead of temporary or permanent storage, using commarea or channel/container instead of transient data or temporary storage queue, utilizing syncpoint or synclevel to regulate the frequency and scope of commit operations, using pseudo-conversational or conversational mode instead of pseudo-terminal mode, utilizing asynchronous or parallel processing instead of synchronous or sequential processing, and taking advantage of CICS web services or RESTful APIs instead of 3270 bridge or terminal emulation.

4 Test and debug the transactions

The quality of your transactions is dependent on successful testing and debugging. You should test for functionality, usability, performance, security, and compatibility, and use CICS tools such as CEDF, CEDX, or CEBR to debug your transactions. Additionally, it is important to follow testing and debugging practices like creating test cases and scenarios that cover all possible inputs, outputs, and paths; using realistic, valid, and varied test data; utilizing breakpoints, traces, dumps, and logs to identify and isolate errors; understanding abend codes, reason codes, and messages to resolve errors; and utilizing debugging aids like DFHRESP (CICS Response Code Checking), DFHVALUE (CICS Value Conversion), or DFHTRAP (CICS Abend Exit).

5 Document and maintain the transactions

Maintaining the quality of your transactions requires careful documentation and updates. Meaningful and consistent names, comments, and descriptions should be used for transactions and resources. Source code and data should be managed with version control and backup systems. Change management and approval processes should be used for modifications and deployments. Additionally, coding, testing, and documentation should adhere to standards and guidelines. Finally, users should have access to training and support materials. CICS tools such as CEDA (Define Application Resources), CEMT (Master Terminal Transactions), or CECI (Command Interpreter) can help manage transaction resources.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?