Identifying the data by using a collection ID
The COLLECTION_ID column in the CICS® Dependency Data tables is assigned to the data during the DB2® load utilities for Dependency data.
Why use a collection ID?
If your CICS development or test environment,
or both, are volatile, they are subject to frequent program changes,
if you use a different collection ID every time you load the data
it can help you to analyze the data in the CICS IA plug-in
and, eventually, to delete unwanted collections. If you load the data
on a weekly basis, it is beneficial to identify the DB2 load with a unique weekly identifier. If
you have a unique weekly identifier, you can:
- Reduce the amount of data that you retrieve in the CICS IA plug-in if you set the scope to be the collection ID.
- Compare data in the CICS IA plug-in by collection ID.
- Delete the data for the unwanted collection IDs.
You can also use the COLLETION_ID column when you upgrade your CICS environment, or embark on a major project where you will use CICS IA data from before and after the upgrade. You can give the data that is captured during testing before you upgrade a collection ID name such as "before image" and, similarly, after the upgrade you can use a collection ID name such as "after image". This naming convention means you can analyze the data in the CICS IA plug-in more easily, and delete the "before image" data when the upgrade is complete.