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We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types wher

  • 1.  We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types wher

    Posted Oct 16, 2014 04:07 AM

    We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types whereas MICS supports only 20 among them and MXG provides “value added” macros and code for Performance purposes that MICS simply does not and cannot duplicate. Please let me know whether MICS can’t replace MXG for the managing the SMF information



  • 2.  Re: We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types

    Posted Oct 16, 2014 11:32 AM

    Honestly, there are too many to count - better for your site to identify the MICS licensed components (from CA) and any MICS field-developed applications (FDAs) your site may have developed to read in additional SMF/system-log data sources not supported by a CA-distributed component.  And, for any given CA-distributed MICS component, identify the MICS 'features' for that component which you are using -- consider whether or not each one would need to be replicated with an MXG-only solution.

     

    Also, consider that MICS and MXG are not truly equals, when considering the different / individual features each provides, to include MICS comprehensive documentation / database dictionary and methodology guidance content.  Also, there is at least one MICS component, Accounting / Chargeback, for which you would have to write your own SAS application code/solution to replicate it with an MXG-only solution.  And with MICS Base, you also have features (some may not be used today obviously), such as MICF (both adhoc and production reporting), MICS ZONE/HOLIDAY definitions and MICS common elements in most every MICS database file (helps address learning-curve with MICS novice users), and other features like MICS CHECKPOINT processing, and MICS incremental update facility.

     

    Suggest before making such a management change-of-direction (with an MXG only solution), consider the time/effort and administration / system-tailoring necessary to replicate those 'required MICS features' that would need to be ported to MXG.

     

    Regards,

    Scott Barry

    SBBWorks, Inc.



  • 3.  Re: We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types

    Posted Oct 16, 2014 11:41 AM

    Thanks for replying Scott, I just had a quick read and I think you got my point wrongly. We are going to retire MXG after converting MXG's processes to MICS.



  • 4.  Re: We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types
    Best Answer

    Posted Oct 16, 2014 12:00 PM

    But I do understand clearly - this is the type of consulting work we provide to MICS / MXG / other similar software clients.

     

    Once you have inventoried how you use MXG, then you will need to determine what features/function can and cannot be replicated in MICS.  For example, MICS does not provide support for SMF type 42, nor DFHSM SMF activity record type, nor does MICS have  a Tape Mount Monitor (TMNT) like MXG.

     

    From my personal experience, there are going to be specific situations where you can eliminate duplicate (MXG and MICS) processing, but that will need to be considered with any post-processing / reporting SAS routines that must be re-coded to work with the MICS environment.  And there are other similar considerations from both management and technical perspectives for such a "MICS to replace MXG" initiative.

     

    Regards,

    Scott Barry

    SBBWorks, Inc.



  • 5.  Re: We are using CA's MICS and Merrill Consultants' MXG to manage SMF data in our company. To reduce the IT cost, we thought of retiring the MXG among the two. But, folks from our Performance Management department say that MXG supports 120 SMF data types

    Posted Oct 16, 2014 12:14 PM

    Also, considering the very reasonable cost for MXG, I can see eliminating duplicate-processing for SMF/system-log data sources processed by both MICS and MXG, however there are instances where an MXG "adhoc" PDB build process (for a study maybe) is more effective than a MICS production database.

     

    Scott Barry

    SBBWorks, Inc.