Workload management with CICS Explorer
You can use CICS Explorer® to manage your CICSPlex® SM workloads. How CICSPlex SM workload management operates is unchanged. However, CICS Explorer provides a simplified and consolidated view of the CICSPlex SM elements that control where, and how, the work is distributed in a workload.
- Default: For every workload, there is a single default routing rule. The default routing rule equates to the Workload Specification (WLMSPEC), and controls the routing behavior for all transactions that are not covered by specific routing rules.
- Specific: Specific routing rules are a collection of all the definitional resources, WLMDEF, TRANGRP, and DTRINGRP, that together define the criteria by which specific transactions are selected and routed, or separated in the target regions.
The rules define which transactions are selected, and under what criteria, where they can potentially be routed (targets), and the criteria for deciding on the specific target that is chosen for each individual routing decision. The Workload editor shows all aspects of a workload definition in one place, and you can use it to create and change the rules.
- The Operation views, which open from the CICS Explorer menu , show operational information for your workloads.
- The Workload Specifications view, which opens from the CICS Explorer menu , shows details of your workload specifications.
- The Workload Specification editor, which opens when you open a workload specification or an inactive workload, is used to add or change the definitional details of a workload.
- The Default routing editor, which opens when you open an active workload or a default routing resource, shows information about the default targets and transactions in the workload. The default routing criteria is part of the workload specification (WLMSPEC), and defines the behavior for every transaction that is not defined in another rule.
- The Routing rule editor, which opens when you open a routing rule resource, shows information about the targets, transactions, and affinities for the routing rule in the workload.
The CICSplex Explorer view contains a Workload Management section that shows both the active and inactive workloads, and their resources.

- Active workload
- Open Active Workload. Open the Default routing editor.
- Open Workload Specification. Open the Workload Specification editor.
- Inactive workload
- Open Workload Specification to open the Workload Specification editor.
- New from . Create a workload specification with the same default routing as the source workload.
- Delete. Delete the workload specification.
- Default routing or targets
- Open Active Workload. Open the Default routing editor.
- Routing rule or targets
- Open Routing Rule to open the Routing Rule editor.
- Discard. Delete the routing rule.
- Activate or Quiesce (only available for a target region). Change the state of a target.
For more information about workload management, see the related links.