Learn how to improve the flow of essential information around your organization, save costs, and free up your time.

Editor's note: This article introduces the white paper "6 Recommendations for Smarter Spooled File Processing on Your IBM i" free for download from the MC Press White Paper Center.

This new white paper by Ash Giddings, IBM i industry expert, discusses how not to fall into the trap of ignoring or sometimes deleting large volumes of spooled files. These unassuming files can contain important nuggets of information and data that may be critical to business operations.

Sales reports, invoices, purchase orders, manufacturing data…the list is endless. Spooled files can cause headaches for administration staff in the way they appear to multiply seemingly without any rhyme or reason. Where on earth did they all come from? What is generating them? Are they still required, or is it safe to delete them? For example, financial records in many industries have to be kept for seven years, but what constitutes a financial record?

Frequently, reports will remain on an output queue until somebody inadvertently deletes them or clears the queue when trying to free up some disk space. Unfortunately, spooled files cannot be restored, retrieved, or brought back from a handy recycle bin on the IBM i system, and there is no <CTRL+Z> "Undo" facility to rely on!

There are business benefits to be gained through reducing costs of what is traditionally a labor-intensive activity for managing, finding, re-packaging, and distributing relevant information to users within the organization to allow them to do their jobs more effectively.

This white paper discusses smarter ways to handle spooled files by considering the confines of disk space, backup and restore techniques, and more-efficient procedures for the retrieval, archiving, and distribution of files. Ash challenges whether the traditional "green-screen" view is the best way for working with spooled files and examines alternative methods to improve the flow of vital information around the business. He discusses how to improve access for users so they can get to the specific information they need without specialist skills or knowledge and therefore reduce the workload of the systems administrator.

The document lays out six recommendations for smarter ways to work with spooled files and explores other functionality that is available outside the IBM i operating system and IBM Licensed Programs. Ash advises on how spooled file management can be brought into the 21st century, with clear benefits for business and the IT department.

To find out more, download "6 Recommendations for Smarter Spooled File Processing on Your IBM i" free from the MC Press White Paper Center.

About Halcyon Software

Halcyon Software is a global leader in multi-platform systems management solutions that reduce the complexity and cost of monitoring critical business systems, core applications and processes. They help companies prevent business disruption, increase the efficiency of their IT services and save costs.  In most cases, Halcyon’s solutions increase IT efficiency by 30 – 40 percent, delivering significant savings and a rapid return on investment – often in less than six months.

Halcyon achieves this in three ways:

Monitoring: Halcyon’s monitoring software keeps a vigilant watch on the most critical IT systems and core applications on which business depends. IT administrators receive early warnings of any potential problems or ‘bottlenecks’ before they affect the organization.

Automating: Halcyon enables IT teams to set up ‘self–corrective actions’ to issues or problems to ensure that they never impact the business again.  IT teams can also automate regular tasks, checks or jobs which would normally be undertaken manually. This frees up valuable resources, saves costs and helps to eliminate human error. 

Reporting: Halcyon’s cloud-based reporting solution proves to management that the IT team is achieving the service levels demanded by the business or flags any issues so they can be quickly resolved. 

Halcyon’s products support IBM Power Systems servers running IBM i, AIX, Linux and Windows. With regional offices in the United States, Australia and UK, Halcyon also has a network of partners and distributors supporting territories world-wide. For further information, please visit www.halcyonsoftware.com