IBM’s Customer Information
Control System, CICS
Art Hendela, President
Hendela System Consultants, Inc.
Little Falls, NJ
1-973-890-0324
WWW.HENDELA.COM
art.hendela@hendela.com
Your Web Database Experts
What is a Transaction?
• A transaction has four properties: It is “Atomic,
Consistent, Isolated, & Durable”.
• Atomic - A unit of work that succeeds or fails.
• Consistent - System restored to a constant state
after completion.
• Isolated - one transaction does not impact
another, even if done at the same time.
• Durable - A committed transaction is
permanent.
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CICS History
• 1968 - Package developed by Michigan Bell and IBM
on OS/360
• 1971 - CICS available for DOS & DOSE
• 1973 - Development moved to Hursley, England
• 1987 - CICS/VM introduced
• 1992 - CICS/400 version for AS/400
• 1996 - CICS Web Interface Product
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CICS Hardware &
Operating Systems
• IBM zSeries 900 - z/OS
• IBM S/390 - OS/390, MVS, VSE
• IBM AS/400 - OS/400
• IBM RS/6000 - AIX (Unix)
• PC Server - Windows NT/2000, OS/2
• The most popular is the S/390 using OS/390 or MVS
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CICS Programming
Languages
• Assembler
• COBOL
• PL/I
• Rexx
• C/C++
• JAVA
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CICS Organization
• CICS Management Services
• Data Management Services
• Application Programming Interface
• Basic Mapping Support
• Terminal Control Services
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CICS Service Diagram
CICS OS/390
VSAM File Control
DB2 SQL Application
Programming Application
Interface Program
IMS DL/I
Terminal Basic
Control Mapping Maps
Support
(VTAM,SNA,TCP/IP)
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CICS Program Invocation
CICS finds CICS finds
User Enters
TRANS-ID in PCT program name
TRANS-ID
to get program name in PPT
CICS loads program
CICS runs program
into memory/
in address space
starts program
TRANS-ID = Transaction Identifier
PCT = Program Control Table
PPT= Processing Program Table
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CICS Example - Screen 1
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CICS Example - Screen 2
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CICS Example - Screen 3
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CICS Example - Screen 4
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Summary
• CICS grew from the need to handle interactive
transactions
• CICS operates on many different IBM compatible
hardware platforms using a variety of languages.
• CICS uses Service programs to control execution and
use of system resources.
• A CICS user sends a TRANS-ID to begin the program
execution.
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Glossary [Ankrum]
• ACID - Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, Durable: transaction properties.
• BMS - Basic Mapping Support: For definition and access to formatted screens.
• CICS - Customer Information Control System.
• CMS - Conversational Monitor System: An interactive subsystem for VM.
• DB2 - Database 2, IBM’s relational database manager.
• DL/I - Data Language / I: General purpose database control language.
• DOS - Disk Operating System: An early IBM operating system for small mainframes or the original
operating system for IBM compatible PCs.
• IMS - Information Management System: IBM Product with an OLTP and hierarchical database manager.
• MVS - Multiple Virtual Storage: Top of the line IBM operating system before OS/390.
• OLTP - On-line Transaction Processing.
• OS/390 - Open System 390: latest operating system for IBM System/390’s.
• SNA - System Network Architecture: IBM’s proprietary network protocol.
• SQL - Structured Query Language: interface to access relational databases.
• TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
• VM - Virtual Machine: IBM Mainframe operating system to allow multiple operating systems to run on one
machine simultaneously.
• VSAM - Virtual Storage Access Method.
• VTAM - Virtual Telecommunications Access Method.
• Additioanl definitions may be found at:
http://www.transarc.ibm.com/Library/documentation/websphere/WAS-
EE/en_US/html/glossary/cicsglos.htm
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References
• Antrim, T. Scott, “The Evolution of CICS 30 Years Old and Still Modern.
www.cobolreport.com/columnists/tscott/part1.html - part4.html, May, 2001.
• Comaford, Christine, “Managing Transactions is a Serious Business”. PC Week,
March 20, 1995 12(11), pg 19(1).
• Donofrio, Phyllis. “CICS-A Programmer’s Reference”, McGraw-Hill, 1991.
• Horswill, John & Hursley CICS Development Team, “Designing & Programming
CICS Applications”, O’Reilly, 2000.
• Hudders, Eugene S. “CICS-A guide to Internal Structure”, John Wiley & Sons, 1994.
• IBM, “CICS”, http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ts/cics/, 2001.
• Lowe, Doug, “The CICS Programmer’s Desk Reference”, Mike Murach &
Associates, 2nd Ed, 1992.
• Menendez, Raul & Doug Lowe. “Murach’s CICS for the COBOL Programmer”,
Mike Murach & Associates, 2001.
• Nusphere Tech Notes, “ACID Transactions”
www.nusphere.com/products/library/acid_transactions.htm,
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