Customer Information Control System - CICS Course And Certification

What is CICS - Customer Information Control System?

CICS is the acronym for the Customer Information Control System that was developed by IBM in 1968. CICS allows it's users to generate and execute an online application in an MVS environment. CICS has become one of the most commonly used servers for developing and hosting Internet applications.

CICS is a transaction processing system that is also known as an Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) Software. CICS is a data communication information system that can support a network that is made up of hundreds of terminals.

CICS is a DB/DC software system that is used in online web applications. CICS was designed and developed because a batch operating system can run only batch programs. CICS programs can be developed by using COBOL, Java, C, C++, etc. These days, users want to get information within seconds and also in real-time. To provide such quick service, we would need a system that can access and process the information online. CICS allows users to communicate directly with the back-end system to get the informations that they desire. Some examples of these online programs include a flight reservation system, an online banking system, etc.

CICS is middleware software that is designed to support for a very fast, and high-volume processing of online transactions. A CICS transaction is a single unit of processing that is initiated by a single request which may affect one or more objects. This processing is regularly interactive i.e screen-oriented, but carrying out transactions in the background is possible.

CICS offers services that either extend or replace the functions of the Operating System and are developed to be more efficient than the regular services in the operating system and are made simpler for computer programmers to use, especially with regards to communication systems that have diverse terminal devices.

Applications that are developed for CICS may be developed in a variety of computer programming languages and they make use of CICS-supplied language extensions to interact with required resources such as database, files, terminals, connections, or to call various functions such as web services. CICS handles the entire transaction such that if for any reason a piece of the transaction fails all the recoverable changes can be withdrawn out.

Features of Customer Information Control System

Some of the features of CICS are as follows:

1. CICS is an Operating System on its own, as it operates its own storage for a processor, has its own task manager which is used to handle the execution of multiple programs, and to provides its own file management functions.

2. CICS presents users with an online environment in a batch operating system. Jobs that are submitted are carried out immediately.

3. CICS is a generalized processing interface for a transaction.

4. It is feasible to have one or more CICS regions at the same time, as CICS operates as a batch job in the Operating System at the back-end systems.

Attributes of Customer Information Control System

CICS has all the attributes that a perfect transaction framework ought to have. They are called ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) properties of transactions.

1. Atomicity: CICS Properties performing the transaction completely or not. For instance, in the event that there is a bank exchange between accounts, at that point cash ought to be charged from one record and in the meantime, it ought to be attributed to another record so as to play out the transaction totally.

2. Consistency: This property of CICS ensures that the information is predictable all through the transaction. From the above precedent, the cash exchanged ought to be equivalent when the transaction.

3. Isolation: This property is identified with security. At the point when more than one transaction is occurring in the meantime, transactions ought to be undetectable or somewhat obvious to the outsider. In the previously mentioned precedent, the transaction is undetectable to other people or just the person who is associated with the transaction can see the record.

4. Durability: Once the transaction is finished, information ought not to be lost or changed. At the point when cash is exchanged, the transaction ought not to be turned around in any circumstance, notwithstanding when there is any framework disappointment.

Benefits of Customer Information Control System

1. CICS helps to manage requests from several users of an application at the same time. Although several users are working on the CICS system at the same time, it would still give them the feeling that it is a single-user application.

2. CICS manages the sharing of resources, the integrity of data and prioritization of execution, with fast response.

3. CICS gives applications access to read or update data files in an Operating System. CICS authorizes users, allocates resources (real storage and cycles), and passes on database requests by the application to the appropriate database manager.

4. CICS Transaction Server is a family of scalable general-purpose transaction processing solutions such as distributed applications. These servers support large transaction volumes with fast, consistent response times and provide high availability and scalability at a low cost per transaction.

Why Study Customer Information Control System?

1. Learn to build customer transaction enterprise applications using CICS APIs

2. Better Job Opportunities and Career Advancement

3. Become a CICS professional.

4. Increase Your Earning Potential.