Why do companies need to manage change on the iSeries'?
There is no question, that in an ever-changing business world, the ability to respond quickly and effectively to market opportunities and issues is the only way to stay ahead of your competitors.

As every department in every organisation becomes increasingly dependent upon information systems in order to function, the consequences of change present an increasingly larger problem. Systems need to adapt rapidly to the changing needs of the marketplace, and those changes need to be carefully synchronised, controlled and audited. This is where SEE/Change will give you the edge you need to stay ahead, in control and prepared for change at all times.

What is SEE/Change?
SEE/Change is a comprehensive, fully integrated iSeries change management system that automatically controls, tracks and audits all activities within the development and maintenance lifecycle. It has been designed to provide an easy-to-use and highly secure method of managing any software activity.

These activities include the reporting and prioritizing of problems, allocating work, accessing production objects, determining the impact of change, documentation, testing, approval signoffs, movements to production and electronic or tape distribution for network and remote installations.

What can SEE/Change manage?
SEE/Change enables mixed mode (RPG, Java, HTML etc) development projects to be brought under the control of a single Change Management system.

SEE/Change comprehensively manages all native iSeries object types . These include source based and non-source based object types such as RPG, COBOL, ILE, SQL functions and procedures, Data Queues, Menus and so on. Where an object is source based, SEE/Change seamlessly manages the safe keeping of the source as well as the object itself.

SEE/Change also manages stream files and directories . This support encompasses any stream file type such as HTML, JAVA, JPEG and other image file types, XML, style sheets, scripts and so on.

Is SEE/Change a new product?
SEE/Change was developed in the early 1990's and has been managing software development projects in hundreds of companies round the world ever since. New releases of SEE/Change are issued each year to keep pace with the new iSeries technology updates.

Does IBM recommend SEE/Change?
Yes; SEE/Change has been certified by IBM as ServerProven® for iSeries. The ServerProven® programme is intended to help IBM customers select products to run on the iSeries that have been validated by IBM.

Does SEE/Change comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
Yes; SEE/Change helps companies provide greater transparency into business process changes, as required by government mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act..

How does SEE/Change work?
SEE/Change is made up of a number of Managers. Each Manager deals with an individual aspect of the Change Management Life Cycle.

SEE/Change can be configured for all sizes of IT departments. Each SEE/Change Manager can be allocated to a department or individual to control that phase of the development life cycle. For example the Release Manager might be allocated to the Operations Department.

If an individual needs access to many SEE/Change Managers, special functional keys are available to link the Problems, Change, Development and Release Managers together.

What does each SEE/Change manager do?

• Configuration manager
  Stores details of the hardware and software configurations and existing operational procedures such as programming standards, object authorities and user sign-offs.
• Problem manager
  Registers IS related requests and problems for review, scheduling and escalation to the development team.
• Change manager
  Enables Change Requests to be allocated to programmers, promoted to testing environments and approved for implementation on production sites.
• Development manager (WebSphere plug-in available)
  Allows programmers to check out source and objects against a Change Request, determine the impact of a change using cross-referencing and compile and test in a controlled environment.
• Release manager
  Packages Change Requests into releases and manages the transfer of the software to production sites. At each production site the release is installed and an archive created.
• Audit manager
  Provides continual access to all object history, including automatic versioning, source documentation and electronic approvals.
• Process Flow manager (SEE/Job)
  Allows the user to store the route or path for each change type within SEE/Change. For example, bugs must go through all testing environments and require project leader approval.  Emergency fixes can go direct to live, but require a project manager and user approval.
• Compare and Merge manager (SEE/One)
  Allows users to plan and manage the upgrade of a packaged application. This manager will advise users of the difference between each source member in a new version. It will compare the base version with the new version from the vendor against the customer's changed version and provide a report of the impact.

What is the typical lifecycle?
SEE/Change enables companies to implement an automatic software development lifecycle for each application or project. A typical example of such a lifecycle is shown below:

Can SEE/Change work with my software?
SEE/Change has been implemented with many third party products over the last ten years. Find below a list of some of the products:

The SEE/Change User Interface
SEE/Change has a traditional 5250 interface for the Problem, Change and Release Managers. The Development Manager can be launched in either 5250 mode or from within the WebSphere Development Studio client (WDSc) for iSeries Plug-in.

Among the advantages of using the WDSc interface are:

The SEE/Change Development Manager - Library Objects
The main Development Manager panels below show an RPGLE and CLP program checked out and ready for development using both the 5250 and WDSc interfaces.

The 5250 interface has PDM style panels that enable editing, compiling and testing of library objects before they are promoted through the development life cycle.

The WDSc interface has a windows look and feel and supports the same functions as the 5250 interface. The panel below shows program CST0200R checked out to change request 7/02 and opened ready for editing using the LPEX editor.

The main advantages of the WDSc interface, is that it enables both library and stream file objects to be developed using a common development environment that has interfaces with many development tools.

The SEE/Change Development Manager - Stream Files
The WDSc stream file plug-in enables programmers to check out complete directory structures or single files to a Change Request. The checked out files can be edited directly or exported to a WDSc project environment. WDSc projects have calibrated development environments for Java, Web, Webfacing and many others.

The Development Manager screen below shows a web site path checked out with the demo.htm file opened for editing using Page Designer and the index.html file being selected for editing.

Once all development activities have been completed a list of changed objects is automatically generated for review. The Change Request can then be promoted through the development life cycle using the same user interface as for library objects.

One of the advantages of the WDSc IDE is that both library and stream file objects can be maintained using a common development environment.

What to do next
For more product information and a live demonstration via the web please contact sales@thenon.com or phone +44 (0)20 8607 9336

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