Accessing the CICS Online Administrative System

The following is a general outline of how to sign on and use the CICS Online Administrative System.  To access the system, perform the following steps:

1.     If your screen is displaying a UW-O logo, you are already connected to the Administrative mainframe computer.  Type CICS in the upper left corner of the screen.  This will present the CICS-VS logo screen.  Proceed to step two.

If you have access to the campus network, proceed as follows:

a.       Sign onto the network, using your currently assigned network user name and password.  At the server prompt, request connection to the Administrative mainframe by selecting the appropriate menu entry, or keying in the word IBM.

b.     After the system response, ending with the prompting message “Enter Command or Help”, type CICS and press Enter.  You should be presented with the standard CICS-VS logo screen.  Proceed to step two.

2.     Press whatever key clears the screen on your terminal and enter CESN in the upper left corner of the screen.  You should now be presented with the CICS logon screen with the cursor positioned at the LOGONID prompt.  Enter your LOGONID and then tab to the PASSWORD prompt and enter your password.  Your LOGONID is the same character string you enter at the sign-on prompt when logging onto the VAXA for email.  To further protect your password, the password field will not display what you are typing.  Press the Enter key to complete the sign-on process.  Proceed to step three.

 NOTE: 

The NEW PASSWORD prompt and the prompt line below it are typically left empty, but may be used to change your password at any time you choose, or when the system prompts you to do so if a maximum time period has expired since your last password change.  You may change your password any time you are on the signon screen by simply entering your old password in the PASSWORD: field, your new password in the NEW PASSWORD: field, and a re-entry of the new password in the (enter twice) field, for entry verification.  Pressing the Enter key will effect the change immediately, and the new password will be used the next time you invoke the signon screen.  The only restrictions on the values for new passwords are that they should be at least four but no more than eight characters long and may only contain the following characters:  any alphabetic (upper and lower case), any numeric, any of the special characters @, $, and #.  Because all passwords are encrypted, Information Technologies has no way of telling you what your current password is, should you forget.  The most that can be done is that it can be reset to some simple value to allow you to sign on, and you may then change it again to a value of your choice while on the signon screen.

3.     Clear the screen and type the word MENU.  This will present a multiple-page listing of transaction ids on the left and a short description of what each one does on the right.  Repeatedly press Enter to step through the pages.  When you find a transaction you are interested in, move your cursor to the left of that transaction id, mark it with an X, and press Enter to begin execution.  Once you become more familiar with the system, you will probably bypass the menu and directly invoke those transactions you use most often by keying their four-character transaction code in the upper left corner of a clear screen.

4.     When you have finished using the system for the day, please sign off.  Failure to do this will leave your sign-on name associated with the terminal you were using.  Any other individual using this same terminal after you have left it will still be performing activities using your sign-on!  To properly sign off the system, clear the screen, enter CESF LOGOFF in the upper left corner, and press the Enter key.  You have now been cleared from the system, and the next person to use this terminal will have to sign on with their own sign-on codes.