A publication of the Northeast Ohio Database Users Group
October, 2006
www.neodbug.org
 
In this issue:
 
CHAIRMAN'S CORNER
 
    It is fall in Cleveland.  The leaves are falling (because the wind is knocking them off of the trees) and snow is here, at least on the east side.  The Tigers are well on their way to playing in the World Series and the Yankees lost again (yah!).  The Indians weren't even close this year.  Oh well, we'll have to wait for the Indians to take the Central Division next year, as planned (last year)!
 
    The Cavs have pulled off another coup: resigning LeBron and Drew Gooden.  LeBron is back with a bunch of guys that will make this year REAL interesting - Scot Pollard and David Wesley.  How about our two draft picks, Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson?  The future looks bright.  Well, the Browns are still here, and they hopefully will improve on their one-win record this year.  Where did New Orleans come from?  Maybe we can have one winning team in Cleveland - the Cavaliers!  And, NEODBUG is going to hold its November quarterly meeting on Thursday, November 16, 2006.
 
Annual Elections
 
    Along with the usual highly informative content of our meeting (and this meeting is definitely no exception), the NEODBUG business meeting and Board elections will be held at November's meeting.  This is where you decide if the coaching staff changes.  Here's how the Board elections will proceed:
 
    The current Board of Trustees will present to the membership a slate of candidates and will conduct an election for the Board of Trustees for 2007.  The Board of Trustees will elect officers at the December Board meeting. 
 
    This organization depends on the Board of Trustees to plan and manage our quarterly meetings, handle membership, oversee the finances and generate this newsletter.  Your input is necessary for NEODBUG to continue to prosper as your source for solutions to relational database technical issues.  Be sure to talk to any of the Board members about your suggestions during the meetings, write your suggestions down on the evaluation form that is distributed during the meeting, call us or email us at neodbugquestions@sps-solutions.com to share your thoughts.  We really read them! 
 
Decisions 
 
    The Board of Trustees has completed an examination into ways we can keep this organization on a sound financial footing.  We have been able to stabilize our income for the past year while our costs have continued to increase.  The Board decided our plan for 2007: 
e-NEODBUG
 
    If you have seen a speaker give a full day's training session that you believe the membership of NEODBUG would find valuable, let us know by emailing us at neodbugquestion@sps-solutions.com.
 
NEODBUG on the Web
 
    Watch the website for announcements and copies of handouts for the meetings.  You can find us at www.neodbug.org.
 
Our November Program
 
    This quarter's program is awesome!  The agenda committee has developed another incredible program for November.
 
    To start the day, we are very excited to announce that WILLIE FAVERO will be giving a couple of presentations to our user group for the first time in several years.  Willie is currently a DB2 for z/OS sales specialist for the west region in IBM's sales and distribution organization, as well as an IBM Senior Certified IT Specialist and IBM Certified Solutions Expert for DB2 for z/OS version 8, DB2 UDB and DB2 for OS/390 version 7.
 
    Between IMS/VS DB/DC, Cincom's Total and Supra, IDMS and DB2, Willie has over twenty-nine years experience working with databases.  For the last twenty-one years, he as been working primarily with the DB2 family.  His responsibilities include consulting to IBM's customers on DB2 for z/OS and OS/390, DB2 tools, and PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel and WebSphere from DB2's perspective.
 
    This is Willie's second career with IBM.  Before rejoining IBM, he was a principal consultant for BMC Software, Inc.  In his 7+ years there, he provided consultation to BMC's R&D groups and to customers on issues relating to both the IBM DB2 family and the BMC products that support it.  He spent a great deal of his time presenting at conferences (locally and internationally), user groups, seminars and taping product videos for customer distribution.
 
    Prior to his stay at BMC, Willie was a senior instructor with IBM education for eleven years. 
 
    He is recognized worldwide as a DB2 expert and is a highly sought-after speaker on a variety of DB2 for z/OS, client/server and object technology topics.  He presents at numerous conferences, including the North American, European and Asian Pacific International DB2 User Group (IDUG) conferences, the IDUG Canadian symposiums, GUIDE (an IBM representative for four years) and SHARE (currently a project leader).  In addition, Willie presents at most local DB2 and database user groups in the US and Canada, many international DB2 user groups in Europe, Asia and Australia, DB2 vendor seminars and the IBM DB2 Technical Conference (now IBM DB2 Information Management Technical Conference) in the US and Canada.
 
    Willie also participated for three years on the conference planning committee for the North American IDUG and is currently the IBM liaison to the IDUG Solutions Journal and list owner and administrator of the IDUG DB2-L listserver.  In spring of 2004, Willie was inducted into the IDUG Volunteer Hall of Fame.
 
    Willie will start the day with a presentation called "The Perfect Combination: zSeries, z/OS and DB2".  This is the same presentation that he is making at the IBM Information On Demand Conference on October 15-20.  He explains why this is the ideal combination for a safe, secure and 24/7 operation where your data must be accessible whenever it is needed.
 
    Willie's second presentation is "The Best Defense is a Good Offense: DB2 V8 Upgrade".  The best way to protect your DB2 for z/OS investment is to aggressively prepare for the next release.  Just because migrating to DB2 for z/OS version 8 may only be a dream today, that is no reason to put off the planning and preparation for your almost-guaranteed move that you will have to make to version 8 tomorrow.  There are lots of things that you can do today to get ready for that eventual migration tomorrow.  This presentation will review and discuss the tasks available while on version 7 (or earlier), so you are in the right shape to do a version 8 migration.
 
*     *     *
 
    After lunch, our speaker will be HY SOCKEL, who has a doctorate (DBA) from Cleveland State University.  For the past half-dozen years, he has been teaching MIS courses as an associate professor in the college of business at Youngstown State University.  During that time, he as published approximately two dozen articles and conference papers, with several more projects in process.  His research includes the impact of technology on the organization and its employees, electronic commerce, database technologies, quality, application systems and innovation.  Much of his work crosses academic disciplines.  Currently, he is working in the area of cyber atmospherics.
 
    Hy is unique in the academic world, having 20+ years as a practitioner as well.  He as been involved in all aspects of information systems and technology, working as a programmer, systems analyst, consultant, database administrator, manager, partner and sole proprietor.
 
    Hy will be presenting "CRM Gone Bad - My Recent Experiences".  This is a short look at what can go wrong with a CRM system and why it should be fixed.
 
*     *     *
 
    For our last presentation of the day, we are pleased to have TROY COLEMAN, sales engineer of Softbase Systems to present "z/OS Tablespace Partitioning for DB2 V8: Maintenance, Performance and More".  He has extensive experience in all facets of database development, including systems analysis and design, database and system administration, data analysis and application development.  He has experience on many leading hardware platforms, including DB2 UDB for OS/390, z/OS, NT, AIX, Solaris and LINUX.
 
    Troy was the architect and lead developer of the first wireless database management software for DB2 UDB, "PocketDBA" by Expand Beyond Corp.  He is an internationally recognized consultant and lecturer, specializing in DB2 database administration and application architecture.  He is also a former adjunct professor teaching database management systems for Concordia University-River Forest.  Currently, he is an officer and webmaster for the Midwest Database Users Group.
 
    This presentation will give you an understanding of DB2 V8 for z/OS tablespace and indexspace partitioning options.  We will take a look at an existing system designed with index partitioning to take advantage of utility maintenance, then changed to table partitioning to take advantage of both maintenance and business processing for performance.
 
Register Now!
 
    Remember, pre-registration will only be accepted through November 9, 2006, on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis.  You may pre-register by email to neodbug@sps-solutions.com.  Your registration will be confirmed with your payment.  Registration at the door will only be accepted on a space-available basis.
 
    Remember to come and vote for your Board of Trustees and receive some great information.  We'll see you there.
 
Michael James
NEODBUG Chairman
 
 
UPCOMING DATABASE EVENTS
 
Dates                     Organization                                                  City
 
10/15-20/2006       IBM DB2 Information on Demand             Anaheim, CA
                                Global Conference (DB2 Tech Conf.)
 
10/15-20/2006       IMS Technical Conference                        Anaheim, CA
 
10/16-19/2006       Information & Data Quality Conference  San Francisco, CA
 
10/25-27/2006       DB2 Symposium - 2006 Europe                Copenhagen, Denmark
 
10/30-11/02/2006  Data Management, Information Quality   London, UK
                                and Metadata Management
 
11/05-19/2006       The Data Warehouse Institute (TDWI)      Orlando, FL
                                World Conference - Fall 2006
 
11/06-09/2006       Microsoft SQL Server Database &           Las Vegas, NV
                                Developer Connections Conference
 
11/13-15/2006       DB2 Symposium                                          Chicago, IL
 
11/16/2006             NEODBUG quarterly meeting                   Independence, OH
 
01/19/2007             Northeast Ohio Oracle Users Group      Independence, OH
 
02/18-23/2007       TDWI World Conference - Winter 2007   Las Vegas, NV
 
03/29-30/2007       International DB2 Users Group (IDUG)   Melbourne, Australia
                                Australia Forum 2007
 
04/15-19/2007       Collaborate '07                                            Las Vegas, NV
                                (International Oracle Users Group)
 
05/06-10/2007       IDUG North America 2007                         San Jose, CA
 
05/12-18/2007       TDWI World Conference - Spring 2007   Boston, MA
 
08/19-24/2007       TDWI World Conference - Summer '07   San Diego, CA
 
10/14-18/2007       IBM Information On Demand Global       Las Vegas, NV
                                Conference
 
10/28-11/02/2007  TDWI World Conference - Fall 2007        Orlando, FL
 
11/05-09/2007       IDUG Europe 2007                                      Athens, Greece
 
05/18-22/2008       IDUG North America 2008                         Dallas, TX
 
 
TREASURER'S REPORT
 
The following are the current figures for NEODBUG as of October 1, 2006:
 
ASSETS
 
     Checking Account                    $ 8,970.89
     Savings Account                     $ 2,079.83
     Projector                                   $ 2,089.10
 
     TOTAL                                       $13,139.82
 
LIABILITIES
 
     Membership Prepayment        $    420.00
 
     TOTAL                                      $   420.00
 
NET WORTH                                 $12,719.82
 
We had a large walk-up turnout for our August 17, 2006 meeting, with 62 attending from 21 companies.
 
The following companies/individuals have sent in their 2006 corporate or individual memberships.  If you don't see your company name there, you will have to pay the higher, non-membership registration fees at the upcoming quarterly meeting.  Those companies that prepaid to send members to NEODBUG meetings have the number of remaining coupons next to their names.  These coupons expire 12/31/2006!
 
Companies/Individuals that have paid 2006 memberships:
 
Alltel Information Services
Antares Management Solutions     (1 coupon remaining)
Betz Consulting, LTD     (3 coupons remaining)
Susan Birgeles     (1 coupon remaining)
BMC Software, Inc.
Bridgestone/Firestone
Dominion CCS     (1 coupon remaining)
Erie Insurance
JoAnn Stores
Key Bank
Lovell Leverette
National City Bank     (2 coupons remaining)
Ohio Mutual Insurance Group
Parker Hannifin
Progressive Insurance
Phil Sherman     (1 coupon remaining)
Hy Sockel
S&P Solutions     (1 coupon remaining)
Sherwin Williams     (2 coupons remaining)
Westfield Insurance     (3 coupons remaining)
 

 

 

Searching for the perfect application software can be like wondering in a wasteland.  You keep looking around, but you can’t find anything! 

 

You may have thought S&P Solutions, Inc. (SPS) only worked with databases and data warehouses!  We actually do much more!  When you combine our development experience and our database expertise, SPS is uniquely qualified to provide your company with the highest quality applications development available in today's marketplace.

 

SPS provides custom applications development and modifications to application packages for Fortune 1000 companies using the latest technologies, such as C#, C++ and Java, as well as legacy languages including RPG, COBOL and CICS.

 

Many companies run their business using custom or home-grown software.  For others, it is more economical to use packaged software to run their businesses.  Still others purchase a package and modify it to work in their environments.  Protect the investments your company has made in technology with the best insurance policy available in today’s marketplace.  Let SPS develop your mission-critical applications or enhance the packaged applications that run your business.

 

We have several specialized development services including:

 


*    Custom Application Development            *     Outsourced Software Services
*    Systems Analysis and Design                         -     Onshore/Offshore Services
*    Client Server Development                                     <    Automated Testing & Quality
*    Project Management                                                           Assurance Services
*    Website & e-business Systems                              <    24 x 7 Application Support
*    Turn-key applications for large scale,                            Services
          midrange and networked computers        -     Applications Development

 

If you would like more information about our Applications Development Services or other specialized services from S&P Solutions, Inc., please call us at (440) 918-9111/(800) 978-9113, visit our website at  www.sps-solutions.com or email us at sales@sps-solutions.com.


 

35000 Chardon Rd., Suite 200

Cleveland, Ohio 44094

(440) 918-9111/ (800) 978-9113

Fax (440) 918-1429

Email: sales@sps-solutions.com

www.sps-solutions.com

 
 

AGENDA
November 16, 2006
 
8:30 - 9:00          Registration
 
9:00 - 9:10          Opening Remarks
                           -     Michael James, NEODBUG Chairman
 
9:10 - 10:30        "The Perfect Combination: zSeries, z/OS and DB2"
                            -    Willie Favero, IBM Corporation
 
10:30 - 10:45      Break
 
10:45 - 12:00      "The Best Defense is a Good Offense: DB2 V8 Upgrade"
                           -     Willie Favero, IBM Corporation
 
12:00 - 1:00        Lunch
 
1:00 - 1:45          "CRM Gone Bad - My Recent Experiences"
                           -     Hy Sockel, independent consultant
 
1:45 - 2:00          Break
 
2:00 - 3:30          "z/OS Tablespace Partitioning for DB2 V8:
                                Maintenance, Performance and More"
                           -     Troy Coleman, Softbase Systems
 
3:30 - 4:00          Elections/Door Prizes/Closing Remarks
                            -     Michael James, NEODBUG Chairman
 
 
Doubletree Hotel Cleveland South
(formerly the Hilton South)
6200 Quarry Lane
Independence, OH  44131
(216) 447-1300

REGISTRATION FORM

NEODBUG Quarterly Meeting

Thursday, November 16, 2006
Double Tree Hotel Cleveland South (formerly Hilton South)
6200 Quarry Lane
Independence, OH
 
R.S.V.P: Checks and registration forms are encouraged to be sent early.

Cost: If your company is a member of NEODBUG: $30.00 pre-registration or $40.00 at the door.

If your company is not a member of NEODBUG: $40.00 pre-registration or $50.00 at the door.

Yes, I will be attending the quarterly meeting; a check for $ ________ is enclosed for a total of ________ reservations.

YOUR NAME __________________________  TITLE _________________________

PHONE & EMAIL ADDRESS _____________________________________________

 

In addition to myself, the following persons will be attending:

NAME                                        TITLE                                 PHONE & EMAIL ADDRESS

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

________________             _______________               ______________________

Company Name: ___________________________

Company Address: _________________________

Email this form to neodbug@sps-solutions.com to notify us of your intent to attend, then postal mail this form and your check (payable to NEODBUG) no later than November 9, 2006, to:

NEODBUG
c/o S&P Solutions
35000 Chardon Rd. Suite 200
Cleveland, OH 44094



Letter FROM the Editor

Coupon Clipping

    I just want to remind those member companies that have pre-paid for meeting coupons that this is the last meeting NEODBUG will have in 2006.  Don't let your pre-paid registrations go to waste!  Suggestion: pass the coupons along to a colleague that may not have attended a NEODBUG meeting before.  They'll enjoy a day of thought-provoking presentations, a good lunch and networking with their peers.

Companies Talk

 

    We are pleased to have a member company talk for the second meeting in a row.  We appreciate the time and effort Bob Vargo and Mike Semega of Progressive Insurance put in to present at the August meeting, and Hy Sockel for this November meeting.  Attendees tell us they want to hear "real world" experience - the good, bad and the ugly!

 

    At the September meeting of the NEODBUG Board of Trustees, we discussed ways of encouraging more member talks.  The Board voted to extend to member company speakers two (2) complimentary meeting registrations, along with one for the speaker.  This means that any member company can save $90 off the cost of sending three attendees to a meeting, if they put together a member talk.  Maybe this incentive will convince your boss to let you put together that member talk you always wanted to do!

 

Giving Thanks

 

    The Board would like to thank you for making 2006 a very successful year: in March, Dan Luksetich of YL&A taught an educational session on "SQL and DB2 for z/OS Database Analysis and Techniques"; in May, we heard presentations on Linux running on zSeries, encryption/security, the zIIP engine and the zLandscape; the August meeting brought talks on DB2 Viper, DB2 storage administration, multiple row processing and Progressive's DB2 tools and monitoring methodology.

 

    All in all, an educational year!

 

    See you at the November meeting.

 

Jim Szabo

Newsletter Editor