5915 Airport Road, Suite 625,
Mississauga, Ontario. L4V 1T1
( (905) 677-6666      (905) 677-6671   8   www.datadesign.com

May 2001

WE'RE EXPANDING!

Corporate Strategy

There has been an exciting flurry of activity at Data Design Systems over the past few months. We renewed our head office lease for ten years and expanded from 5,100 to 8,000 square feet. Renovations were accomplished in three phases starting in January and ending in early March. Major disruptions were avoided with the DDS team pitching in on weekends to help movers shuffle furniture and equipment to temporary locations to make way for the contractors. A gaggle of spirited energetic youngsters, ranging from the age of three to early teens, accompanied their parents and pitched in to bring levity to the exercise. The result is a fresh and exciting new look and room to accommodate the planned growth of DDS.

Despite the confusion from the renovations, our new team members have worked diligently to become familiar with DDS' products and procedures. Their experience and input have served to improve a number of our processes and we are starting to realize some notable results.

The Client Support and Services Team have tweaked our call handling and tracking processes to include Dave McFarlin. Working from a remote support site, he helps to ensure that support issues are addressed in a timely and efficient manner.

Neil Haller has completely rewritten the PrimeCode® training material. The new student handbook and tutorial have been given high marks by students in recent training courses. We have initiated a project to update and revamp the PrimeCode® user documentation including the completion of online help. This project is scheduled for completion by the end of May 2001.

The Product Development Team has taken advantage of Alex Sobalev's extensive experience to redesign our QA process in preparing for the testing of PrimeCode® 3.3. Canyon Software Alliance (CSA) shipped PrimeCode® 3.3 to DDS for QA on March 16th. We are estimating that four to six weeks will be required to complete the full QA cycle on this release.

Most importantly, DDS has set a firm strategic plan in motion to move the company forward. We have decided to focus the company's efforts on developing a Web SCM solution to manage web development. The Board of Directors is confident that this strategy will provide Data Design with long-term growth and will help ensure that we can continue to provide the SCM solution of choice on the NSK platform.

Dan Crook, Chief Executive Officer

New Millennium...New Office!

January 2001 marked the beginning of a new era for Data Design Systems. Breaking down the walls…literally, revamping and rejuvenating, but still maintaining DDS's classic look. Our new training facility is evoking a lot of excitement among the staff, because of its versatility and fresh new look that they took part in creating. The facility will be chameleon in nature; training room for classes, boardroom for meetings, whatever is necessary. Our new PrimeCode® and RMS training courses have been posted for the 2001/2002 year. Take a look at the dates and decide which course you would like to attend. This is a great time to visit our office. We have a new training facility, a new course outline, and new staff to meet.

Christine Bonner, Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator

Spring 2001 IRUG Conference

We invite you to join the DDS team on Monday, June 11, 2001 for The International RMS/PrimeCode® User Group Conference 2001, "Primary Colours", located at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel at SkyDome. The conference will be featuring Mr. Craig Senior from CGI Group, along with fabulous user presentations, product updates and much more. The Renaissance Hotel will be holding a block of rooms for $209 CDN per night until May 1, 2001. After May 1 Data Design Systems will not be able to guarantee accommodations at the Renaissance. Please contact Christine Bonner to arrange for accommodations and IRUG registration.
(905) 677-6666 ext 0/247 or sales@datadesign.com

You and a guest are also invited to join the Data Design team Sunday, June 10, 2001 on an adventurous bus ride to Niagara Falls and tours of a Niagara Wine Region brewery, distillery and winery. Do you remember the fun that we had in Fall 2000 in San Jose?

Counter-clockwise from top centre: Rick St. Germain, George Ramas, Chris Torres, Laura Wenokur, Ron Erlich, Bruce Files, Dave Harper.

Around DDS

David McFarlin hails from Milwaukee, was formerly IRUG Chairperson, and has recently accepted the position of Senior Product Specialist. He brings a number of years of experience on the Non-Stop™ platform working with PrimeCode® on the user side.

David Yang (above) has accepted the position of Network Specialist. David's extensive Unix and NT administration experience, along with his strong knowledge in network and PC hardware, has made him a welcome addition to the DDS team.

Please join us in welcoming our new staff on board the DDS team.

After Hours Support Line

Data Design Systems after hours support line has been changed. You no longer have to dial a separate number (416-626-1912) in order to reach after hours support. Data Design Systems daily business line (905-677-6666) will automatically switch at 6:00 pm to forward you to our night service message. Listen to the message and press 7 and you will automatically be transferred to after hours technical support. The separate support line will remain active until May 31, 2001, so please begin using the new method immediately. After Hours Support Phone: (905) 677-6666

New Clients

We would like to welcome our new clients and thank them for choosing our SCM Solutions:

• Wachovia - Winston Salem, North Carolina
• New York Board of Trade - New York, New York
• Hertz Corporation - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• M & I Data - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Left to Right: Dave Harper, Christine Bonner, Mike Freedland

Hints and Tips

Moving the Catalog from one Node to Another

This procedure was updated in December 2003.  The starting of the catalog (bringing up RMS) should be the last step.

It is extremely important to understand how to move your Catalog from one system to another system:

• First of all, you should have a plan: Why and how should I move the Catalog?  For example, maybe you would like to upgrade the system from D series to G series.
• Secondly, customers must have the right steps to move the Catalog from one system to another. By not doing so, your RMS monitor will not start.
• The node to which the catalog is moving must also be a TMF audited drive.

1. Run RMSBACK which generates a list of BACKUP commands to back up an entire RMS operating environment to tape. It is also capable of generating an entire BACKUP script.

   RMSBACK /OUT $DATA.AUSER.BKLIST/ -H $RMP
   BACKUP/IN $DATA.AUSER.BKLIST, OUT $S,NOWAIT/ $TAPE
   RMSBACK [options][rms-monitor]1

2. Logon as the Catalog owner on \NEWNODE.

3. Issue this RESTORE command from TACL:

   RESTORE /OUT $S.#RMS/$TAPE *.*.*, NAMES

4. Logon to the new system as the Catalog owner and run the SETUP macro for RMS.  The catalog owner will perform the BIND and Change Library commands as necessary.

5. Logon now as Super.Super and run either FUPCMDS OR SAFECMDS to relicense the necessary RMS objects.

6. Run the MOVECAT Command (available for versions D00.06 and up). It automatically runs a script which will correct the alternate key files.
   If your new Node will be named exactly as the old Node and all Disc names also remain unchanged, this step will not be necessary.
   TMF auditing must also be re enabled for all of the database files.  This can be accomplished with the FUP ALTER command and the option AUDIT.  Only the primary database files need to have the auditing turned on.  The alternate key files will have audit turned on as a consequence.  Two primary database files are NOT to be audited.  They are ARCHENT and NEXTENT.
   
   In RMS D20.09, the MOVECAT macro also will enable TMF auditing for the database files automatically.

7. Run RMSCC. It is a program used by Catalog owners to change the configuration of an RMS Catalog. It manages files within RMS. Typical uses of RMSCC include changing disk volume names, moving Catalogs and components to other systems and moving subvolumes from one disk to another.
   
   [VOLUME rms-Catalog]
   RMSCC [/ run-options /][{;command }...]2
   
   Example:  RMSCC; ADD \ OLDNODE, \NEWNODE; MOVE
   
8. Adjust any security records as required.
   
   If RMS will remain on the same Node, just moved to a new disc, security will not be an issue.  Eliminate all references pointing to the old disc.
   If copying for test to the same  (Node) security is not an issue.
   If moving to a new node, the security records for the catalog you are moving should be corrected.  
   Adjust all security records first by altering the node name in the entries to the correct new node or by creating Node-Independent records (System = *) to allow access from any node.
   The catalog security records cannot be adjusted after the move if they reference the old node and it does not exits any more.
   A catalog owner can always create a new security record for himself/herself so there is no danger of moving a catalog and locking yourself out of it.
   
   There are four typical places in a catalog where security records are located:  ROOT, APPLICATIONS, RELEASES, LOCATIONS.
   
9. Insert at this step, the installation of any newer version of RMS if you are upgrading.  Please refer to the Installation Manual.
   
10. Bring up the RMS monitor on the new Node. You may have to make some modifications to your Startup file (e.g., System Name).

1-2 Please refer to the Revision Management System (RMS) Utilities Reference Manual and the Installation Manual for more information.

Rasha Ghandour and Farid Sidhom
SCM Product Specialist/Technical Support

Left to Right: Farid Sidhom, Rasha Ghandour, Nadine Rundell

SQL Database for Reporting

Available Now - PrimeCode CRW (Custom Report Writer)

PrimeCode® CRW has been released and is the SQL reporting system announced at the Fall 2000 IRUG. PrimeCode® CRW will enable all of you to extract the valuable information contained in your PrimeCode® and RMS Enscribe databases; providing important statistics for monitoring, trend analysis and usage pattern determination.

• Extracts hard-to-access data from an Enscribe database into an SQL database.
• Presents data in a readily available and easily accessible format.
• Provides basic reports for the SQL Reporting Module using Microsoft Access.
• Functions with the SQL reporting tool of your choice to create custom reports.

Basic Reports Provided:

• Components Accessed in the Last Week
• Components Created by Each User
• Physical Location of Components
• Components Without Descriptions by User
• Install Activity by Release/Location

If you would like further details about PrimeCode® CRW log onto our website under IRUG Presentations, "SQL Reporting - Christis Loizou", or contact your Data Design Systems Account Manager:
Dave Harper (905) 677-6666 ext 237 or harper@datadesign.com
Mike Freedland (905) 677-6666 ext 222 or freedland@datadesign.com

Left to Right: Hubert Yoshizaki, Neil Haller, Alex Sobalev, Ron Erlich, King Leung

Does OSS SCM Tweak Your Interest?

PrimeCode® currently provides the equivalent functionality and benefits for managing Guardian applications on OSS. Reiterating a few key benefits for managing both the K and S series applications, our Solution will:

• manage risks associated with planned software changes
• improve reliability of software applications
• increase productivity
• reduce potential for fraudulent use of software applications
• reduce recompile time.

RMS Course Dates for 2001/2002

• September 17-20
• November 12-15
• February 4-7 (2002)

PrimeCode® Course Dates for 2001/2002

• June 18-21
• September 24-27
• December 3-6
• March 18-21 (2002)

Current Product Versions as of May 2001

Product
Name

Release Version

PrimeCode®

3.2.3

PrimeCode® CRW

Summer 2001

RMS

D00.12

Ron Erlich
Chief Technology Officer