Reusable software components to facilitate developing additional CMN/ZMF customizations

ChangeMan ZMF has a very open architecture, with virtually no limitations to implement all sorts of additional features and functions via ChangeMan ZMF customizations. However, such customizations tend to increase the complexity to upgrade to a new ChangeMan ZMF release.

Ideally, ChangeMan ZMF should come with a library of reusable components, that can be invoked (embedded, called, etc) in all sorts of ChangeMan ZMF customizations. A good sample of such reusable component shipped with vanilla ChangeMan ZMF is skeleton CMN$$SPR (one of the few such components shipped with ChangeMan ZMF). However, ChangeMan ZMF does not actually come (yet) with a lot of such reusable components, even though there is some progress in the ChangeMan ZMF 7.1.x releases.

This is where the SCMBeans join the game. SCMBeans are portable, reusable and site-independent software components like ISPF skeletons, ISPF panels and REXXs. They serve purposes such as:

• Isolate software components (eg: skeletons or REXX execs) into smaller parts that are easy to customize to fit a specific ChangeMan ZMF implementation. The Common skeletons, includes, EXECs, etc is a perfect example of this.
• Implement various functions via ISPF panel exits (within various ChangeMan ZMF panels), with the potential for easy transformation in equivalent HLLX exits starting from ChangeMan ZMF 7.2.x.
• By using the techniques as explained in the ChangeMan ZMF skeleton coding techniques, SCMBeans facilitate the reuse of:
  • software components to develop more complex features, such as extending selected ChangeMan ZMF lifecyle steps (checkout, stage, promote, install, backout, etc) to also support QMF components, DDL migrations, integrating some 3rd party software like a JCL validation tool, etc.
  • ChangeMan ZMF customizations, so that you reduce the effort to upgrade such customizations to new releases of ChangeMan ZMF.