Modifying package approval groups with package exits.

[Hunton Bowland]

Hello all,

Our site is currently running Endevor v19, on z/OS 2.5
We want to use c1uext07 to selectively override the approver groups at pre-cast.  
We have tried setting preq-override-appr-grp to the new approver group, but get a PKEX205E message.  The EN$TRXIT trace shows that field PREQAPGP is set to the approver group name SCMSPECIAL123456.  This approver group exists.

We need to override approver groups in some instances as part of automation.  Can anyone doing anything similar share some insights?

Thanks,
Hunton Bowland

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[Joseph Walther]

You can dynamically add one or more approver groups with an exit. Here are some pointers: 

During setup, be sure to set the mid-cast value to 'Y'.

       MOVE 'Y'   TO PECB-MID-CAST                    

Then, during Mid-Cast you can update the PECB and PAPP fields, as in this example:

              MOVE 'Y'        TO PECB-USENDING-APP-GRPS                         
              MOVE 'PROD    ' TO PAPP-ENVIRONMENT                               
              MOVE ALAGR-RS-AGRNAME                                             
                              TO PAPP-GROUP-NAME                                
              MOVE ALAGR-RS-QUORM                                               
                              TO PAPP-QUORUM-COUNT                              
              MOVE 1          TO PAPP-CURRENT-VERSION                           
              MOVE 'PAPP'     TO PAPP-BLOCK-ID                                  
              MOVE 56         TO PAPP-LENGTH                                    
              MOVE 1          TO PAPP-SEQUENCE-NUMBER                           
              MOVE SPACES     TO PAPP-APPROVAL-DATA(16)                         
              MOVE 1          TO PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER                           
              PERFORM UNTIL PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER > 16                           
                OR ALAGR-RS-AUSER(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER) = SPACES                
                MOVE SPACES                                                     
                     TO PAPP-APPROVAL-DATA(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                
                MOVE ALAGR-RS-AUSER(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                       
                     TO PAPP-APPROVAL-ID(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                  
                MOVE ALAGR-RS-AUREQ(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                       
                     TO PAPP-APPR-REQUIRED(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                
                ADD 36 TO PAPP-LENGTH                                           
                DISPLAY 'ADDING USERID '                                        
                   PAPP-APPROVAL-ID(PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER)                       
                   ' ALAGR-RS-AGRNAME=' ALAGR-RS-AGRNAME                        
                ADD 1 TO PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER                                   
              END-PERFORM                                                       
              SUBTRACT 1 FROM PAPP-APPROVER-NUMBER                             
              MOVE 1          TO PECB-NBR-APPR-GRPS-SENT                        

 

You can use your own literals, or other datanames rather than the ALAGR-RS datanames in the example.

 If you are adding an "External" group, you can leave spaces in the PAPP-APRROVAL-DATA fields.

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[Hunton Bowland]

Hi Joseph, thanks for your suggestion.

One more question: Is it possible to modify the quorum of an existing approver group, as it's attached to a package, using user exit07?

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[Joseph Walther]

You can always dynamically add that approver group, using your exit code to determine the quorum size. Whether you can update the approver group, already assigned, adjusting only the quorum size, I will have to get back to you on that.

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[Joseph Walther]

Here is a description of what you can do.  

"The before-cast exit function is unique in that the user exit may pass back an approver group record from an external source, to be used by the cast package during the gathering of approvers."

      MOVE 'Y'   TO PECB-BEFORE-CAST   

"In COBOL, the exit program initiates this task by performing the following actions:

Setting the PECB-USENDING-APP-GRPSP flag to Y.

Filling in the empty PACKAGE-EXIT-APPROVER-MAP block that was passed as part of before-cast exit processing.

When Endevor encounters the update request, it performs the following actions:

• Validates and stores the data from the request block.

• Clears the request block and flag.

• Returns to the user exit to see if there are more approver groups to be added."

You can use the code snippet above, and dynamically set a value to PAPP-QUORUM-COUNT.