Coolgen-CASE Tool

PMP Exam - Structure

2021-01-21T15:00:00.001-08:00

What is the PMP Exam Structure?

You have to understand the PMP exam structure if you are going to attempt the exam. A project has five phases: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing. The PMP exam questions are distributed throughout these phases, in addition to another domain, which is known as professional conduct and code of ethics. Initially, it was a separate domain in the exam, but now the PMI has distributed it uniformly among the other five domains.

The PMP exam is composed of 200 multiple-choice questions. Out of these 200 questions, 25 are pretest; the marks for these questions do not affect your score. These pretest questions will be placed randomly throughout the exam, and you will not be able to distinguish them from other scorable questions.

As you cannot differentiate, you should assume that all 200 questions are scorable. These pretest questions are used to test the validity of future examinations.

The duration of the exam is four hours. There is no scheduled break; however, this does not mean that you cannot take one. Keep in mind that the clock will continue to count down even if you are on a break.

Before your test begins, you will be shown an awareness session. This session will explain how to navigate the exam: how to select and answer, how to mark a question for later review, etc. This session lasts for 15 minutes.

As soon as you finish the awareness, your test will start. Please note that 15 minutes is the maximum duration for this session. You will not be allowed to make any notes.

After submitting your answers, you have to complete a survey, and then you can see your results.

The awareness session and the survey are not added to your four hours of exam time.

The table below shows how the exam questions are distributed throughout each phase:

The above table is with reference to the latest PMP exam content outline, updated in June 2015, and the PMP handbook (available here) which was updated on 1 April, 2019.

Regarding the number of questions, you can estimate that:

The initiating group will have 26 questions
The planning group will have 48 questions
The executing group will have 60 questions
The monitoring & controlling group will have 50 questions
The closing group will have 16 questions.

Keep in mind that questions based on Professional and Social Responsibility are distributed among these process groups. Moreover, the number of questions covering this topic is not publicly known (to the best of my knowledge).

Note that the initiating and closing process groups have the lowest number of questions. If you do not perform well in these two groups and you receive below target grades, another below target grade from any other group can crush your dreams of passing the exam on your first attempt.

Please do not forget to verify with PMI as information here may have changed .

Source -PMBOK, PMStudyircle PMI site

PMP Exam - Preparation

2021-01-21T03:30:00.001-08:00

How to Prepare for the Exam?

One of the best ways to prepare for the exam is to take practice tests. These give you an opportunity to see the types of questions you’ll face, and you can practice pacing yourself in the given time. Try to recreate the atmosphere of the exam as you take it, so you can build your confidence for the day you take it.

So, Register for the exam, so you have a timeline for studying. It’s helpful to give yourself at least a month to study, but you shouldn’t give yourself too much time. If you have too much time to study, you may end up putting it off until it’s too late to sufficiently prepare for the exam. Ask yourself, “what is the most effective study method for me?” It might be helpful to read a book, connect with others preparing for the exam, create flashcards, or have someone test you on questions you might see on the exam.

PMP Exam - Eligibility and Format

2021-01-20T10:30:00.001-08:00

These are the two main questions that comes to mind when thinking about pursuing for the PMP exam.

Who Is Eligible for PMP Certification?

There are two routes for eligibility to become certified:

Obtain a high school diploma, an associate’s degree, or the equivalent of these from the country in which you live. Also, have at least 5 years of experience as a project manager in a professional setting with at least 7,500 hours as the leader of project tasks.
Or, complete a bachelor’s degree and at least 3 years of experience as a project manager in a professional setting with at least 4,500 hours as the leader of project tasks.

What Is the Format of the PMP Exam?

The PMP exam consists of 200 multiple choice questions. These should be completed within 4 hours. You can’t use any reference materials on the exam, but you can use scratch paper.

The exam questions are broken down into process groups:

Initiation (13%)
Planning (24%)
Executing (30%)
Monitoring and Controlling (25%)
Closing (8%)

All of the questions about these processes come from the PMBOK guide. They ask you about how you would handle a particular situation. To know how to respond to the questions, you should study:

Best practices
The proper sequence of processes for projects
Basic formulas of project management
How to manage stake holders
EVM graphs, metrics, calculations, and completion estimates

As a professional project manager, you may have a good idea of what you would do to effectively handle the situation. However, you should refer to the PMBOK guide to answer the questions on the exam.

Make sure to answer every question on the exam. You won’t lose points for answering incorrectly. So, when in doubt, make an educated guess. Try to eliminate the weakest answers to help you narrow down the options. Just remember that the questions are meant to be challenging. They are meant to test your confidence as a project manager.

PMP Exam (Project Management Professional)

2021-01-19T10:30:00.003-08:00

You may have heard about PMP Certification, but maybe you’re not quite sure what it is or why you would pursue it.

PMP stands for project management professional. PMP certification is mainly for a who works as a project manager would want to pursue. The certification is given out by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is recognized throughout the world as a standard to measure the competency of project managers. Not only is the PMP certification great for employers, but it’s also great for the employee. For example, you’ll have a greater number of job possibilities with higher salary and greater earning potential. Ask yourself: “where do I see myself in 3 years?” If you want to progress in the project management world, you should seek PMP certification to improve your skills and show the world that you have what it takes to excel as a project manager. Project managers work in a wide range of industries and fields. Just about every industry benefits from hiring project managers. And every industry wants to hire the best of the best. When hiring new employees, companies look for someone who has the ability to lead and direct various projects and multiple members of a team. Working with project managers who are PMP certified tells companies that they have employees who have what it takes to complete projects on time and under budget.

Learn more at the PMI.org website.

41) Relational Database - Microsoft SQL SERVER

2018-04-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

One can do a logical data modelling in CA Gen or COOL GEN. Once logical design is complete with physical TD names etc, they can be implemented for Oracle , DB2 or SQL Server database system.

Database Interview Questions
Interview questions for SQL Server database administrator
Interview questions for SQL Server database architect, data modeler
MS SQL Server interview questions

This post is a set of more than a hundred Microsoft SQL Server interview questions. Some questions are open-ended, and some do not have answers.

What is normalization? - A relational database is basically composed of tables that contain related data. So the Process of organizing this data into tables is actually referred to as normalization.
What is a Stored Procedure? - Its nothing but a set of T-SQL statements combined to perform a single task of several tasks. Its basically like a Macro so when you invoke the Stored procedure, you actually run a set of statements.
Can you give an example of Stored Procedure? - sp_helpdb , sp_who2, sp_renamedb are a set of system defined stored procedures. We can also have user defined stored procedures which can be called in similar way.
What is a trigger? - Triggers are basically used to implement business rules. Triggers is also similar to stored procedures. The difference is that it can be activated when data is added or edited or deleted from a table in a database.
What is a view? - If we have several tables in a db and we want to view only specific columns from specific tables we can go for views. It would also suffice the needs of security some times allowing specfic users to see only specific columns based on the permission that we can configure on the view. Views also reduce the effort that is required for writing queries to access specific columns every time.
What is an Index? - When queries are run against a db, an index on that db basically helps in the way the data is sorted to process the query for faster and data retrievals are much faster when we have an index.
What are the types of indexes available with SQL Server? - There are basically two types of indexes that we use with the SQL Server. Clustered and the Non-Clustered.
What is the basic difference between clustered and a non-clustered index? - The difference is that, Clustered index is unique for any given table and we can have only one clustered index on a table. The leaf level of a clustered index is the actual data and the data is resorted in case of clustered index. Whereas in case of non-clustered index the leaf level is actually a pointer to the data in rows so we can have as many non-clustered indexes as we can on the db.
What are cursors? - Well cursors help us to do an operation on a set of data that we retreive by commands such as Select columns from table. For example : If we have duplicate records in a table we can remove it by declaring a cursor which would check the records during retreival one by one and remove rows which have duplicate values.
When do we use the UPDATE_STATISTICS command? - This command is basically used when we do a large processing of data. If we do a large amount of deletions any modification or Bulk Copy into the tables, we need to basically update the indexes to take these changes into account. UPDATE_STATISTICS updates the indexes on these tables accordingly.
Which TCP/IP port does SQL Server run on? - SQL Server runs on port 1433 but we can also change it for better security.
From where can you change the default port? - From the Network Utility TCP/IP properties –> Port number.both on client and the server.
Can you tell me the difference between DELETE & TRUNCATE commands? - Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that we provide with a WHERE clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows from a table and there will be no data in the table after we run the truncate command.
Can we use Truncate command on a table which is referenced by FOREIGN KEY? - No. We cannot use Truncate command on a table with Foreign Key because of referential integrity.
What is the use of DBCC commands? - DBCC stands for database consistency checker. We use these commands to check the consistency of the databases, i.e., maintenance, validation task and status checks.
Can you give me some DBCC command options?(Database consistency check) - DBCC CHECKDB - Ensures that tables in the db and the indexes are correctly linked.and DBCC CHECKALLOC - To check that all pages in a db are correctly allocated. DBCC SQLPERF - It gives report on current usage of transaction log in percentage. DBCC CHECKFILEGROUP - Checks all tables file group for any damage.
What command do we use to rename a db? - sp_renamedb ‘oldname’ , ‘newname’
Well sometimes sp_reanmedb may not work you know because if some one is using the db it will not accept this command so what do you think you can do in such cases? - In such cases we can first bring to db to single user using sp_dboptions and then we can rename that db and then we can rerun the sp_dboptions command to remove the single user mode.
What is the difference between a HAVING CLAUSE and a WHERE CLAUSE? - Having Clause is basically used only with the GROUP BY function in a query. WHERE Clause is applied to each row before they are part of the GROUP BY function in a query.
What do you mean by COLLATION? - Collation is basically the sort order. There are three types of sort order Dictionary case sensitive, Dictonary - case insensitive and Binary.
What is a Join in SQL Server? - Join actually puts data from two or more tables into a single result set.
Can you explain the types of Joins that we can have with Sql Server? - There are three types of joins: Inner Join, Outer Join, Cross Join
When do you use SQL Profiler? - SQL Profiler utility allows us to basically track connections to the
SQL Server and also determine activities such as which SQL Scripts are running, failed jobs etc..
What is a Linked Server? - Linked Servers is a concept in SQL Server by which we can add other SQL Server to a Group and query both the SQL Server dbs using T-SQL Statements.
Can you link only other SQL Servers or any database servers such as Oracle? - We can link any server provided we have the OLE-DB provider from Microsoft to allow a link. For Oracle we have a OLE-DB provider for oracle that microsoft provides to add it as a linked server to the sql server group.
Which stored procedure will you be running to add a linked server? - sp_addlinkedserver, sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
What are the OS services that the SQL Server installation adds? - MS SQL SERVER SERVICE, SQL AGENT SERVICE, DTC (Distribution transac co-ordinator)
Can you explain the role of each service? - SQL SERVER - is for running the databases SQL AGENT - is for automation such as Jobs, DB Maintanance, Backups DTC - Is for linking and connecting to other SQL Servers
How do you troubleshoot SQL Server if its running very slow? - First check the processor and memory usage to see that processor is not above 80% utilization and memory not above 40-45% utilization then check the disk utilization using Performance Monitor, Secondly, use SQL Profiler to check for the users and current SQL activities and jobs running which might be a problem. Third would be to run UPDATE_STATISTICS command to update the indexes
Lets say due to N/W or Security issues client is not able to connect to server or vice versa. How do you troubleshoot? - First I will look to ensure that port settings are proper on server and client Network utility for connections. ODBC is properly configured at client end for connection ——Makepipe & readpipe are utilities to check for connection. Makepipe is run on Server and readpipe on client to check for any connection issues.
What are the authentication modes in SQL Server? - Windows mode and mixed mode (SQL & Windows).
Where do you think the users names and passwords will be stored in sql server? - They get stored in master db in the sysxlogins table.
What is log shipping? Can we do logshipping with SQL Server 7.0 - Logshipping is a new feature of SQL Server 2000. We should have two SQL Server - Enterprise Editions. From Enterprise Manager we can configure the logshipping. In logshipping the transactional log file from one server is automatically updated into the backup database on the other server. If one server fails, the other server will have the same db and we can use this as the DR (disaster recovery) plan.
Let us say the SQL Server crashed and you are rebuilding the databases including the master database what procedure to you follow? - For restoring the master db we have to stop the SQL Server first and then from command line we can type SQLSERVER .m which will basically bring it into the maintenance mode after which we can restore the master db.
Let us say master db itself has no backup. Now you have to rebuild the db so what kind of action do you take? - (I am not sure- but I think we have a command to do it).
What is BCP? When do we use it? - BulkCopy is a tool used to copy huge amount of data from tables and views. But it won’t copy the structures of the same.
What should we do to copy the tables, schema and views from one SQL Server to another? - We have to write some DTS packages for it.
What are the different types of joins and what dies each do?
What are the four main query statements?
What is a sub-query? When would you use one?
What is a NOLOCK?
What are three SQL keywords used to change or set someone’s permissions?
What is the difference between HAVING clause and the WHERE clause?
What is referential integrity? What are the advantages of it?
What is database normalization?
Which command using Query Analyzer will give you the version of SQL server and operating system?
Using query analyzer, name 3 ways you can get an accurate count of the number of records in a table?
What is the purpose of using COLLATE in a query?
What is a trigger?
What is one of the first things you would do to increase performance of a query? For example, a boss tells you that “a query that ran yesterday took 30 seconds, but today it takes 6 minutes”
What is an execution plan? When would you use it? How would you view the execution plan?
What is the STUFF function and how does it differ from the REPLACE function?
What does it mean to have quoted_identifier on? What are the implications of having it off?
What are the different types of replication? How are they used?
What is the difference between a local and a global variable?
What is the difference between a Local temporary table and a Global temporary table? How is each one used?
What are cursors? Name four types of cursors and when each one would be applied?
What is the purpose of UPDATE STATISTICS?
How do you use DBCC statements to monitor various aspects of a SQL server installation?
How do you load large data to the SQL server database?
How do you check the performance of a query and how do you optimize it?
How do SQL server 2000 and XML linked? Can XML be used to access data?
What is SQL server agent?
What is referential integrity and how is it achieved?
What is indexing?
What is normalization and what are the different forms of normalizations?
Difference between server.transfer and server.execute method?
What id de-normalization and when do you do it?
What is better - 2nd Normal form or 3rd normal form? Why?
Can we rewrite subqueries into simple select statements or with joins? Example?
What is a function? Give some example?
What is a stored procedure?
Difference between Function and Procedure-in general?
Difference between Function and Stored Procedure?
Can a stored procedure call another stored procedure. If yes what level and can it be controlled?
Can a stored procedure call itself(recursive). If yes what level and can it be controlled.?
How do you find the number of rows in a table?
Difference between Cluster and Non-cluster index?
What is a table called, if it does not have neither Cluster nor Non-cluster Index?
Explain DBMS, RDBMS?
Explain basic SQL queries with SELECT from where Order By, Group By-Having?
Explain the basic concepts of SQL server architecture?
Explain couple pf features of SQL server Scalability, Availability, Integration with internet, etc.)?
Explain fundamentals of Data ware housing & OLAP?
Explain the new features of SQL server 2000?
How do we upgrade from SQL Server 6.5 to 7.0 and 7.0 to 2000?
How do you find the error, how can you know the number of rows effected by last SQL statement?
How can you get @@error and @@rowcount at the same time?
What are sub-queries? Give example? In which case sub-queries are not feasible?
What are the type of joins? When do we use Outer and Self joins?
Which virtual table does a trigger use?
How do you measure the performance of a stored procedure?
Questions regarding Raiseerror?
Questions on identity?
If there is failure during updation of certain rows, what will be the state?
What is data integrity? Explain constraints?
Explain some DBCC commands?
Explain sp_configure commands, set commands?
Explain what are db_options used for?
What is the basic functions for master, msdb, tempdb databases?
What is a job?
What are tasks?
What are primary keys and foreign keys?
How would you Update the rows which are divisible by 10, given a set of numbers in column?
If a stored procedure is taking a table data type, how it looks?
How m-m relationships are implemented?
How do you know which index a table is using?
How will you test the stored procedure taking two parameters namely first name and last name

40) Relational Databases - Oracle

2018-04-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

One can do a logical data modelling in CA Gen or COOL GEN. Once logical design is complete with physical TD names etc, they can be implemented for Oracl , DB2 or SQL Server database system.

Database Interview Questions
Interview questions for Oracle database administrator
Interview questions for Oracle database architect, data modeler

What is a difference between procedure and function ?
Can cursor variables be stored in PL/SQL tables.If yes how. If not why?
How do you pass cursor variables in PL/SQL?
How do you open and close a cursor variable.Why it is required?
What should be the return type for a cursor variable.Can we use a scalar data type as return type?
What is use of a cursor variable? How it is defined?
What WHERE CURRENT OF clause does in a cursor?
Difference between NO DATA FOUND and %NOTFOUND
What is a cursor for loop?
What are cursor attributes?
Difference between an implicit & an explicit cursor.
What is a cursor?
What is the purpose of a cluster?
How do you find the number of rows in a Table ?
Display the number value in Words?
Differentiate between TRUNCATE and DELETE
What is the maximum buffer size that can be specified using the DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE function?
Can you use a commit statement within a database trigger?
What is an UTL_FILE.What are different procedures and functions associated with it?
Difference between database triggers and form triggers?
What is OCI. What are its uses?
What are ORACLE PRECOMPILERS?
What is syntax for dropping a procedure and a function? Are these operations possible?
Can a function take OUT parameters. If not why?
Can the default values be assigned to actual parameters?
What is difference between a formal and an actual parameter?
What are different modes of parameters used in functions and procedures?
What is a pseudo column. Give some examples?
How you will avoid your query from using indexes?
What is a OUTER JOIN?
Which is more faster - IN or EXISTS?
When do you use WHERE clause and when do you use HAVING clause?
There is a % sign in one field of a column. What will be the query to find it?
What is difference between SUBSTR and INSTR?
Which datatype is used for storing graphics and images?
What is difference between SQL and SQL*PLUS?
What is difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints?
What is difference between Rename and Alias?
What are various joins used while writing SUBQUERIES?

39) Data Management Areas (DMBOK, PMBOK)

2018-02-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

DAMA is the Data Management Association.
Their site is - https://dama.org/
They have a published book called DMBOK.
DMBOK is Data Management Body Of Knowledge.
DAMA offers certification which is known as CDMP.(Certified Data Mgt Professional)
Primary model for DMBOK is PMBOK published by PMI.
PMI website is https://www.pmi.org/
PMBOK is Project Management Body Of Knowledge.
PMI offers certification which is PMP. ( Project Management Professional)
Per DMBOK guide the overall data management is divided into these 10 areas:

Data Governance
Data Architecture Management
Data Development
Data Operations Management
Data Security Management
Reference and Master Data Management
Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence
Document and Content Management
Metadata Management
Data Quality Management

Each of the area has set of functions to be performed.

Each activity has input and deliverable.

Each area has suppliers, consumers and participants.

Each area has tools.

Each area defines metrics to be captured.

Tool Example - Data management needs :

Data Modelling tools like ERWIN / CA-GEN;

DBMS systems like DB2, ORACLE, SQL SERVER;

BI tools like IBI, TABLEAU; Needs Data Quality tools like DATAFLUX,

Meta-data repository tools like CA Repository, SAS Business Data

Network BDN.

38) What are GEN Attributes rules, modeling considerations

2017-10-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

38) GEN Attributes rules, modeling considerations

· Although not a requirement, each entity type should have at least one attribute for view reference and Transformation.

· Each attribute is implemented as a field in a record during database Transformation. When the database is implemented as a relational database, each attribute is implemented as a column in at least one table. It can be implemented in multiple tables because of usage as a foreign key, and when denormalization occurs.

· Fixed-length text (CHAR) attributes are limited to 255 characters. The length specification excludes the decimal point, which is implied. Varying-length text (VARCHAR) attributes can be longer than 255 characters, but only 255 characters can be displayed in a single field on a screen. Up to 4096 characters can be displayed in a window, but only if they are displayed in a multi-line entry field.

· The maximum length of variable length text (VARCHAR) strings varies by DBMS and GEN, COOLGEN release. Specific DBMSs support different maximum lengths of VARCHAR (variable character string) datatypes. These string datatypes include maximum number of columns in an index, maximum length of a compound key, maximum number of columns in a table, and the maximum length of table (row length and number of bytes total).

· For numeric attributes, the actual precision of arithmetic operations and number of significant digits depends on the version of the platform, compiler, and DBMS. In general, you should get at least 15 significant digits of accuracy.

· Numeric attributes are limited to 18 digits. The number domain is transformed into a format of small, integer, or packed based on length:

37) What are some Performance Considerations while modeling in GEN, COOLGEN, CA-GEN ?

2017-09-30T03:30:00.000-07:00

37) What are some Performance Considerations while modeling in GEN, COOLGEN, CA-GEN ?

Two tips.

· Use denormalization and extended READs (READ several entity views at a time) rather than collapsing entity types together to improve retrieval performance when entity types are joined by a relationship that allows denormalization.

· Try to stabilize your Data Model as much as possible before performing action diagramming. This reduces the likelihood that an attribute has been or will need to be added which should have been a foreign key from a relationship. It also reduces the likelihood of attribute movements or identifier changes. This can cause integrity issues or require you to change your action diagrams.

36) How does GEN implements Maximum Number of Attributes

2017-09-28T01:30:00.000-07:00

36 ) How does GEN implements Maximum Number of Attributes

· Each DBMS has limits on the number of columns, identifiers, and foreign key columns. Your specific DBMS documentation lists the maximum values for numbers of columns, tables, joins of views, and other values. GEN, COOLGEN checks the number of identifiers, attributes, and so forth against DBMS limits only during generation.

35) What are properties of entity type and attribute in GEN ? CoolGen, CA GEN

2017-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

35) What are properties of entity type and attribute in GEN ? CoolGen, CA GEN

Every entity type and attribute in the Data Model has a Data Structure Definition (DSD) name, which is used for record, table, field and column names in the database structure as defined by the Data Structure List and Data Store List. If you do not specify DSD names for your entity types and attributes, the entity type and attribute names from the Data Model are used by GEN as DSD names.

· Entity type names, attribute names, and DSD names may each be up to 32 characters in length. However, table names and column names for generated DDL are limited to 18 characters.During Transformation, a table name or attribute name is derived from the DSD name and is referenced for records and fields in the Data Structure List. To create the derived name from a DSD name, GEN will:

-Truncate the DSD name, if it is too long

-Add numbers as necessary to ensure uniqueness if the truncated name is not unique

-Add numbers to the name if it is reserved wordGEN does not allow special characters in entity names. National language characters are supported in both entity names and DSD names.

· If no DSD name is specified for an entity type, the record and table are assigned the entity type's name.You can modify the record name, table name, or attribute name in the Data Structure List without affecting the DSD name in the Data Model.

· During database Transformation of an entity type, the record implementing the entity type is assigned the entity type's DSD name, if one exists, with length and reserved word checking.

· Avoid using Database Management System (DBMS) and target language reserved words for entity type or attribute names. If you use a DBMS reserved word in the Data Model, GEN changes it during Transformation. DBMS reserved words are checked again during Data Definition Language (DDL) generation and during code generation, since you may install on multiple platforms with the same database structure. If the database structure is changed after Transformation, the change(s) are not used in Retransformation unless the Data Model is also changed.

· Other entity type properties describe the estimated number of entities and the anticipated increase in that number (growth rate). GEN uses the volume and activity measurements to calculate dataset sizes during database Transformation. Use anticipated sizes for production during data analysis. Generated DDL may be adjusted to reduce space for testing.For related information, refer to the section on Transformation Calculations in the chapter Database Design.

34) What is difference between GEN conceptual and physical model

2017-09-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

34) What is difference between GEN conceptual and physical model

Conceptual Versus Physical Model

One of the initial steps in application development is to build the Data Model, a conceptual model of your business from a data perspective. When satisfied with the conceptual model, request Transformation (a selection in Design). This creates a Data Structure List and Data Store List, a physical model of a database based on the Data Model.

· The detailed logic specifications for processes and procedures built with the GEN software refer to the Data Model (conceptual) rather than the Design specifications.

· GEN allows optimizations of the database structure (denormalization and adding of indexes) that do not change the meaning of the Data Model. Use the Data Structure List to perform database optimization.

33) How to checkout a Cool Gen model, download a model

2017-09-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

33) How to checkout a Cool Gen model, download a model

I. Steps Checkout a Model.

A. Preparation of Checkout

B. File Transfer

C. GEN Model

II. Preparation of Checkout

A. Online Process: Using Host Encyclopedia

Note: Your subset definitions must be complete before continuing.

1. Sign onto the host.

2. Select "I" for GEN

3. Press "Enter" to continue

4. Select "1" for Host Encyclopedia Functions

5. Select "4" for Subset Management

6. Select "13" for Download Subset

7. Fill in the following screen (choosing the Model and Subset you want to download)

Note: Software Version is 9.0.A2

Codepage is 1252

8. Press Enter to continue (If Online is selected the download will tie up your TSO session. Select Batch to create JCL that can be submitted)

9. If done online or batch it should take about 7 minutes for a 6 megabyte subset. (Wait until complete. This process creates the ief.tran file.)

III. File Transfer

Definition of Transfer facility: TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) is a communications protocol for exchanging information between computers and processes. TCP/IP protocols are used on the Internet, Intranet, and many other private networks throughout the world.

TCP/IP is an open standard intended to be hardware independent, supporting communications between any two computers, over any type of network. For two computers to communicate they must each be running TCP/IP, each connected to a TCP/IP network (the same network, or networks that can communicate with each other), and with each computer authorized to accept communications from the other.

A. Use FTP to copy ief.tran file to PC

Online:

1. Open command prompt

2. Change directory to your subset directory. Use the MD command to create the directory if it does not exist. (i.e. MD SUBSET.IEF) [note: you can make this meaningful to what you are working on]

3. Type FTP SERVERNAME

4. Enter User ID

5. Enter Password

6. Type binary

7. Note: Important. If not binary, when you make local the model you will receive a model scheme error.

8. Type Get ief.tran checkout.trn

9. Transfer statistics will be displayed upon completion.

10. Type quit, then exit.

IV. GEN Model

1. In the GEN Toolset select "Model"

2. Select "Encyclopedia"

3. Select "Check Out a Model"

4. Fillin in the Model Name, Subset and Local file name

5. Uncheck "Perform file transfers for encyclopedia options

6. Select OK

38) Explain GEN Subtype entity ? How it works?

2017-09-24T05:31:00.002-07:00

38) Explain GEN Subtype entity ? How it works?

· When a parent entity type which includes subtypes is transformed, the parent entity type with its subtypes becomes one physical table. All attributes defined within each subtype become optional columns on the table.

· A subtype is sometimes promoted to an entity type in the Data Model for performance considerations. An analysis of the impact of the subtype versus separate entity type should be done early in Analysis to avoid rework in action diagramming, database implementation, and data mapping from other systems.

· A promoted entity has a one-to-one relationship with the original entity with the following characteristics:

-The relationship is optional on the side of the original entity.

-The relationship is mandatory on the side of the promoted entity.

-The relationship is the identifier for the promoted entity.

-The relationship is mutually exclusive with any other relationships from the main (original) entity to other promoted subtypes from the same partitioning

Promoting Subtypes

· Involve your Database Administrator (DBA) in your discussions about whether to promote subtypes. Your DBA should understand many of the factors to be considered in such a decision, which include such things as saving storage space, expending more processing time, impact on existing work, and the complexity of the proposed implementation.Use of subtypes can increase disk storage space with a consequent effect on I/O. This is particularly true if the subtype represents a small portion of the occurrences of the parent entity type, as there will be wasted DASD for the empty columns. The columns will contain either blanks or spaces. This results in fewer occurrences of a single parent entity type on a data page, which increases I/O because more pages have to be READ to retrieve the data. This effect may be minimized by the use of compression routines.

· You can use a third party vendor's compression routine (EDITPROC) to reduce the amount of disk space used. There is some processing overhead associated with this.

· Promote subtypes to high-level entity types when faced with DBMS columns-per-table limitations, or concurrency or storage problems.

· Deciding to implement entity subtypes depends on how sensitive the installation is to wasted disk space versus increased I/O, additional INSERTs and DELETEs to create both parent and subtype rows in one table, and the access patterns for use of subtype predicates with or without parent predicates. (Access patterns here means the answers to questions of access volume, required response times, and so forth.)Use of a subtype adds rows to a record. This causes additional INSERTS and DELETEs in the database. It also means additional INSERT and DELETE statements must be added to the action diagram.

· Not all subtype constraints are enforced by the code generator. Relationships defined at the subtype level are always optional at the parent entity type level, and are only mandatory if they are against an occurrence of the subtype's type.

· Consider the effects of concurrency and reorganization and recovery administrative tasks when deciding to promote subtypes.

Subtype Views

· Attributes in the subtype can be referenced in views of the entity type or view of the subtype. If you do not reference subtype attributes, you do not need a subtype view or the classifier. If you do reference subtype attributes, you should reference the classifier.

· Subtype identifiers are defined to distinguish occurrences of the subtype from one another. The indexes built for them in the Data Store List are defined as non-unique since the index will be on a table supporting all occurrences of the supertype (parent entity type). Since identifying predicates must be static and classifying attributes do not have to be, using the classifier to make the subtype identifier unique is usually a poor choice.Put one identifier on the high level entity type (parent entity type). Add indexes in the Data Store List as needed to enforce uniqueness constraints deemed important enough to warrant the additional index.

· An entity view cannot be matched to an entity subtype view. View matching, and reuse of process and common action blocks, is more difficult if the same data is sometimes in an entity view and some times in an entity subtype.

· You should not have views of subtype attributes unless you also have views of the classifying value. Test the classifier to see that the subtype attributes are valid.

· If you build a view of a subtype, the generated SQL SELECT for READs of that view automatically gets the classifying value added to the WHERE clause.

32) Gen Data Model Notation vs. UML Type Model notation

2017-09-22T08:47:00.001-07:00

32)

What is the difference between Gen Data Model Notation vs. UML Type Model notation.

See pictures. First one is GEN model notation. Second is UML model notation.

31) Explaining Action Block in CA GEN , coolgen

2016-11-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

What is an action diagram?
The Action Diagram tool lets you build the process action diagram, procedure action diagram, and the associated action blocks.
These specify the detailed logic of elementary processes, procedure steps, business algorithms, and derivation algorithms.
Parts of action diagram
The first part of an action diagram details the views that the process imports and exports. For more information on views,
The remaining pseudocode consists of action statements such as CREATE, READ, UPDATE, DELETE, and so forth, with levels of nesting enclosed in brackets.

Types of Action Blocks (AB)
Common Action Block
Foreign Action Block
External Action Block
Procedure Step Action Block
Building the Action Diagram

Building an action diagram requires three main activities:
Creating views
Defining logic for elementary processes and procedures
Defining action blocks

Creating Views
A view is a collection of associated attributes input to or output from a business activity

Types of views
Import views show information about an entity that a process receives (or imports)
Export views show information about the entity that a process produces (or exports)
Entity action views show stored information about an entity that a process manipulates during execution Local views are used for local operations

Assigning View Characteristics
Depending on the view you create, the following characteristics can be assigned: Supports entity actions
Lock required on entry
Used as both input and output
Supports Entity Actions
When an entity view is defined in the Import or Export view subset, the Supports Entity Action option specifies whether the view is transient or persistent.

Transient and Persistent
A transient entity view does not support the entity actions CREATE, READ, DELETE, or UPDATE. Transient views can be modified by MOVE and SET actions. Transient is the default for entity views in the import, export, or local view subset. A persistent entity view allows entity actions to be performed on the designated view.. Persistent views can be thought of as database buffers.

Lock Required on Entry
This Lock Required on Entry option allows locking of an occurrence in an import view at entry to the action block. Locking an occurrence prevents other transactions from changing the view

Used as Both Input and Output
The Used as Both Input and Output option allows import entity views to be exported and export entity views to be imported

Maximum Size of Views
The following restrictions apply to the maximum size of views:
For terminal-based applications, 32K for import and 32K for export.
For a single server load module, 32K for export.
For GUI applications developed under Windows NT, Win32, or UNIX, unlimited for import and export.

Group views
A group view is a collection of one or more associated entity views. Group views have cardinality, that is, each of their component views may occur more than once.

Detail Import Group Views
Detailing group views consists of the following activities: Describe group views
Specify cardinality
Specify optionality
Specify Import Group View Cardinality
Expected numbers of occurrences for the group view. You set the group view’s minimum cardinality by the value you enter for at least. You set the group view’s maximum cardinality by the value you enter for at most. Finally, you set the group view’s average cardinality by the value you enter for on average
Explicitly or implicitly indexed
Explicitly indexed repeating group views have user-accessible indexes to refer to specific entries in the repeating group
Implicitly indexed repeating group views cause the software to go to the next occurrence in a repeating group view
Specify Import Group View Optionality The optionality of an import group view refers to whether the view is mandatory (always used as input) or optional (sometimes used as input).

Building an action diagram
Add entity actions
Add relationship actions
Add assignment actions
Add conditional actions
Add repeating actions
Add control actions
Add miscellaneous actions
Conditional statements

An IF action statement for a simple condition: IF condition 1 action_statement_list_1
CASE
CASE OF (expression)
CASE value
CASE value
OTHERWISE

Loops
The FOR EACH condition is used to iterate through implicitly indexed repeating group views. Since the view is implicitly indexed, there is no need to specify subscript controls. This will automatically be generated by COOL:Gen software.

For Each
The TARGETING clause allows you to identify the repeating export or local group view to be populated. The following example shows usage of the TARGETING clause: FOR EACH product details TARGETING group export FROM THE BEGINNING UNTIL FULL ASSOCIATE processing warehouse WITH received product WHICH is_held_in IT
WHILE Condition
The WHILE repeat condition repeats the action group as long as a condition is true. When you add the WHILE condition, set up the condition and then state the action(s) to be taken. The test for the condition takes place first. If the condition is not met, there are no iterations.
REPEAT UNTIL Condition
The combination of the REPEAT and UNTIL statements repeats an action or group of actions until a specific condition is satisfied. The test for the condition takes place after the iteration. Therefore, REPEAT–UNTIL always has at least one iteration.
FOR Condition
The FOR condition is used to control iterating through an explicitly indexed repeating group view. The syntax allows you to pick a subscript or other numeric attribute, a starting index, an ending index, and increment value for each iteration.

30) Types of Action Blocks (AB) in coolgen, CA GEN

2016-11-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Common Action Block

Foreign Action Block

External Action Block

Procedure Step Action Block

29) Parts of action diagram in coolgen, ca gen

2016-11-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

The first part of an action diagram details the views that the process imports and exports. For more information on views,

The remaining pseudocode consists of action statements such as CREATE, READ, UPDATE, DELETE, and so forth, with levels of nesting enclosed in brackets.

28) What is an action diagram?

2016-11-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

28) What is an action diagram?

The Action Diagram tool lets you build the process action diagram, procedure action diagram, and the associated action blocks.

These specify the detailed logic of elementary processes, procedure steps, business algorithms, and derivation algorithms.

27) Coolgen Interview Questions - Set 07

2016-10-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

How to Generate Host Code using the Installation Tool

The expected output of performing this procedure is a set of load modules and DB2 DBRM modules.

In order to accomplish this, you must:

· Generate the trigger and load modules from the implementation model

· Generate the load modules from the model

· Ship .rmt files from step 1 and 2 to PID

· Compile, link , and bind programs

26) Coolgen Interview Questions - Set 06

2016-10-22T06:58:00.001-07:00

How to handle error in the GEN coding :

1. naming the action diagrams in a application and

2. using exit states to support error handling

When an error occurs the user and the developer should know

1. what service or action block failed

2. what attribute had a problem

3. the problem it had

25) Coolgen Interview Questions - Set 05

2016-10-22T06:48:00.003-07:00

Talk about the Batch model and packaging etc in COOLGEN, CA-GEN

· Choose model and appropriate batch business system (E.G. modelname).

· Add Procedure/Procedure step and create as a type = BATCH

· Packaging as Batch, give the job name

· Use host encyclopedia load module packaging. Give Load module name as a program that is used in a batch JCL

· Build the JCL and make sure you have allocated TIRIOVF dataset.

· Decide Check pointing logic if required

· Check pointing logic is required if the job has to be made as restart-able without any manual intervention.

· Time based check pointing or record based check pointing

· Time base check pointing means take a commit point ofter predefined interval and save the key of the record processed.

· Record based check pointing means take a commit point after certain number of records and save the key of the record processed.

24) GEN, CA GEN, CoolGen client procedure related best practice

2016-02-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

The control to the client procedure comes from the following ways:

1. From previous client

2. From the server

3. From the same client (for displaying an error)

4. From the next client (on success or failure)

To know where the control comes is quite tricky.

Best Practice:

The usual way of communicating from client to client OR client to server is through the IEF variable command. But as explained above this alone is not sufficient to signify where the control comes from. Hence the following convention is followed:

· Two variables curr_command and prev_command are maintained. curr_command is assigned to prev_command, command is assigned to curr_command in the beginning of the client procedure.

· Command is set to "return" whenever the control transfers from the server

· The convention is as follows:

Client procedure:

...

/* Execute client validations here */

CASE of Command

CASE…

…

Otherwise…

End CASE

/* Execute client code after window has been displayed */

CASE of curr_command

CASE…

…

Otherwise…

End CASE

/* Execute client code after return from server */

CASE of prev_command

CASE return

/* Code to be added return from server */

…

CASE…

…

Otherwise…

End CASE

Note: Client validations can also be executed as events.

23) GEN, CA GEN, CoolGen client procedure related best practice

2016-01-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Exit states cannot be set across server procedures. This becomes a major impediment in the following cases:

· Server wants to return an error message to client by means of an exit state

Note: COOL:Gen allows exit states to be passed across procedures. But this practice is not valid for earlier versions

Best Practice:

Every client and server procedure does the following:

· In the beginning USE an init action block

· Just before exit USE an exit action block

The client procedure looks like:

Import Views:

Export Views:

Local Views:

USE client_init_action_block ...

...

USE client_exit_action_block...

The server procedure looks like:

Import Views:

Export Views:

Local Views:

USE server_init_action_block ...

...

USE server_exit_action_block...

The client_init_action_block contains code as follows:

CASE of exit_state_code

CASE 0

Set exit_state as exit_state_a

CASE 1

Set exit_state as exit_state_b

...

END CASE

The client_exit_action_block contains code as follows:

Move all import views to export views

The server_init_action_block contains code as follows:

Move all import views to export views

The server_exit_action_block contains code as follows:

CASE of exit_state

CASE exit_state_a

Set exit_state_code to 0

CASE exit_state_b

Set exit_state_code to 1

...

END CASE

Exit state is return_to_client

Note: return_to_client is the exit state to transfer control to the client from the server. If a rollback is to be done, then exit state is set to return_to_client_rb which has the rollback attached to it.

22) GEN, CA GEN, CoolGen server procedure related best practice

2015-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

The Read action block fails to use the index even though the predicates in normal COBOL programs would have made use of the index.

Best Practice:

In spite of having separate Read action blocks for each read, the entity views in the RAB should contain the required attributes. If attributes other than those in index are to be accessed then, it is better to have separate entity views.

For eg: Assume table T1 has index I1, I2, I3 respectively and the attributes in I1, I2 and I3 are A1, A2 and A3 respectively. Then a Read of the following type will be an Index read instead of an Index Only Read.:

Entity View: Entity T1 A1,

A2,

...

Read T1 where A1 = local view lcl_a1_value

The better way of coding this:

Entity View: Entity ent1_T1 A1,

Entity ent2_T1 A2,

Entity ent3_T1 A3.

...

Read ent_T1 where A1 = local view lcl_a1_value