DATAGUIDE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS _______________________________ Q1: I ALREADY HAVE THE DATAGUIDE/2 ADMINISTRATOR. WHAT ELSE IS NEEDED IN ORDER TO SUPPORT WINDOWS CLIENTS? A1: There are two components needed. The DataGuide/2 Administrator product requires an enhancement in order to support Windows clients. This is available from IBM service as a Corrective Service Diskette (CSD). (Ask for CSD UG03702.) The second component is the code to be installed on the Windows client machine. This is available in a 10-pack and 50-pack configuration. Q2: WILL THE DATAGUIDE ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS RUN ON WINDOWS AND LOTUS NOTES? A2: The administration functions will continue to be supported only on the OS/2 platform. The objective of the release was to meet the key requirement of end user support on these platforms. Clients from OS/2 or Windows access the DataGuide information catalog stored on DB2/2. Lotus Notes clients access a Lotus Notes database which is created from the DataGuide information catalog stored on DB2/2. Q3: THE LOTUS NOTES ENVIRONMENT PROVIDES TOOLS WHICH ALLOW USERS TO UPDATE A LOTUS NOTES DATABASE. CAN I USE THESE TOOLS TO UPDATE THE NOTES DATABASE WHICH IS CREATED BY THE DATAGUIDE FOR LOTUS NOTES IMPORT FUNCTION? A3: The edit function in Lotus Notes does allow the authorized user to modify the database, however, the user must know that changes made to the Lotus Notes database cannot be automatically imported back to the original Information Catalog in DB2/2 (or DB2) databases. The Notes database can be distributed and user access to the database can be controlled through the normal Notes administrator functions. Q4: YOU HAVE DATAGUIDE/2 AND DATAGUIDE FOR OS/2, ARE THEY THE SAME? A4: Yes, they are the same. Use of the "for" form in product naming is for consistency with the new product naming convention within the corporation. Q5: MY COMPANY IS IN THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING AN INFORMATION WAREHOUSE. WE HAVE STARTED THE TASK OF IDENTIFYING THE DATA ELEMENTS IN THE WAREHOUSE AND DEFINING THE STANDARDIZED TERMS TO REFER TO THE ELEMENTS. WE HAVE PILOTED THE USE OF A VENDOR DICTIONARY PRODUCT TO BE THE INFORMATION CATALOG. WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO MIGRATE OUR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INFORMATION CATALOG TO DATAGUIDE? A5: A substantial part of the effort in implementing an information catalog is the analysis of the existing data, and standardization of business terms. All of the work done in this area will be directly applicable to the implementation of DataGuide. A program can be written to extract the contents from your current dictionary product and create the output in the DataGuide Tag Language to be imported into DataGuide. This program can be written by the customer, or by a services provider including IBM. Q6: WHAT SKILLS ARE NEEDED FOR A DATAGUIDE ADMINISTRATOR? A6: The administrator knows the data in data processing and business terms, and is familiar with the users' applications. The administrator is also a knowledgeable user of the operating system and database environments on which the DataGuide product(s) run: OS/2, DB2/2, and LAN Windows for DataGuide for Windows, if applicable Lotus Notes for DataGuide for Lotus Notes, if applicable Q7: IS THERE AN ESTIMATE OF SETUP TIME NEEDED FOR A FIRST DATAGUIDE APPLICATION? A7: The first customization and population will vary depending on size and complexity of the initial project. (A pilot project is recommended.) It will consist of 2 major stages: planning and implementation. Planning includes such tasks as identifying the user group and the shared data and information, while implementation is the set of administration tasks to define and populate the DataGuide database with object types, instances, business groupings and associated program objects. Q8: IF AN INSTALLATION USES INFORMATIONAL APPLICATIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN TESTED WITH DATAGUIDE, ARE THERE SOME GUIDELINES TO DETERMINE IF THEY CAN BE LAUNCHED (I.E. STARTED) FROM DATAGUIDE? A8: Any program that can be started on the underlying operating system from a command line, that supports execution parameters, should run. For example, in the OS/2 environment, OS/2, DOS or Windows applications should run. Q9: DOES DATAGUIDE SUPPORT DESCRIPTIONS OF TEXT, IMAGE, AND NON-IBM DATA BASES? A9: Yes, object descriptions in DataGuide are flexible and easy to customize. Q10: CAN I SET UP MULTIPLE DATAGUIDES FOR DIFFERENT WORKGROUPS? A10: DataGuide(s) can be set up in a number of configurations, including a single centralized DataGuide for all users, multiple independent DataGuide's for each workgroup, or multiple DataGuide's that share objects through the Import/Export function. Depending on the needs, a user can also be given access to different DataGuides. Q11: CAN THE OBJECTS AND GROUPINGS BE SHARED ACROSS DATAGUIDES? A11: Yes, objects and their business (subject) groupings can be shared across DataGuides. Through the DataGuide Export function, objects, business groupings and associated contacts can be written to a Tag Language file for distribution and Import to the target DataGuide. Q12: CAN AN INSTALLATION MODIFY OR ADD TO THE DATAGUIDE STARTER SET OF OBJECTS? A12: Yes, the starter set is intended to be modified and extended to satisfy an organization's needs. An installation can extend the DataGuide starter set by adding or deleting object properties and by adding or deleting object types. The only required property is a business name for each object. For program objects, some restrictions exist. Q13: ARE THERE GUIDELINES OR PROCEDURES FOR KEEPING THE DATAGUIDE DATABASE CURRENT WITH DATABASE CATALOGS, OR WITH INFORMATION OBJECTS SUCH AS QUERIES, SPREADSHEETS, AND DOCUMENTS? A13: DataGuide should be used primarily to describe objects that are shared among the workgroup or within an organization. As announced, a number of extractors are being provided to assist in the population of the DataGuide database. These extractors should be used periodically so that changes to sources such as relational catalogs can be reflected in DataGuide. Use of services should be considered for extracting metadata from sources not yet supported by DataGuide. There are guidelines published as part of the MANAGING DATAGUIDE manual on this topic. Q14: CAN USERS FROM DIFFERENT BUT CONNECTED LANS ACCESS THE DATAGUIDE METADATA MAINTAINED ON A PARTICULAR LAN? A14: Yes, as long as the network has been set up to allow a DB2/2 client request to flow through, and users have access to the DataGuide product files, the users on other connected LANs can access the metadata maintained on a particular LAN. Please refer to the Remote Data Services descriptions in the DB2/2 publications for more details. Q15: DOES DATAGUIDE HAVE TO BE INSTALLED ON EACH USER'S WORKSTATION? A15: Yes, either the Administrator or User portion of the product must be installed on each DataGuide workstation. The Administrator must be installed before any User can be installed. The recommended configuration places the DataGuide database on a DB2/2 database server workstation and the DataGuide code on a LAN file server. This minimizes the disk requirements on the user workstation to approximately .5 MB. Q16: OUR COMPANY WISHES TO PUT THE DATAGUIDE DATABASE ON DB2 ON MVS. HOWEVER, THE USERS WILL ALL BE ON OS/2 OR WINDOWS WORKSTATIONS. HOW DO I IMPLEMENT THIS? A16: DataGuide can be used with DDCS/2 to put the DataGuide database on DB2 on MVS.