Defining users and applications

There are three tables that are used to define users and applications to your tablesONLINE/CICS system. These tables are the Application Control table (TBOLACT), User/Application Relationship table (TBOLUSAP), and the Cross-Authorization table (TBOLXAUT). The following sections illustrate the entries which must be made to these tables based on the requirements set out above.

Application Control table

The first step is to define the applications by entering the Application IDs and related control information in the Application Control table. Table 44 is an abbreviated View of the TBOLACT. It shows the entries that must be specified in the ACT for the organization.

Table 44. Application Control table
Application ID	Start screen name	tableBASE libraries	Application’s Menu table	Update table indicator
PLTB PLTE FINA TECH	PLNTPRIM PLNTPRIM FINANCE TB ADMIN	PLANTLIB PLANTLIB FINALIB TBACTLB TBSYSLB MAINLIB PLANTLIB FINALIB	PLNTMENU PLNTMENU FINAMENU APPLMENU	N Y Y Y
APPL	APPLDEVL	TBAPPLB TBSYSLB MAINLB	APPLMENU	Y
ADMN	TB ADMN	TBACTLB TBAPPLB TBSYSLB MAINLB	APPLMENU	Y

For each application ID, we have identified:

the starting screen name or starting menu,
the tableBASE libraries to be accessed by the application, and
a custom menu table.

Note:

Although only unique Menu tables have been specified for these applications, customized versions of any of the application-driving tables, such as DESC or PFKS, may be assigned to an application. For more information on customizing these tables, see the tablesONLINE/CICS User’s Guide.

The Update Table indicator controls the type of access permitted for tables accessed under this application ID. Since only browse access is required under the PLTB application ID, the Update Table indicator is set to N for this entry. Since update access is required in all other cases, the update indicator is set to Y for all other application ID entries.

There are additional options that may be set in the Application Control table. See tablesONLINE/CICS Administration.

In this table, we have left the user ID field for all the entries in the TBOLACT blank. If there are special privileges or libraries required for a specific user of an application, the specific application entry may be duplicated, modified as required, and identified by specifying a user ID in the appropriate field.

User/Application Relationship table

For this organization, we have defined the relationships between the user IDs and application IDs in the User/Application Relationship table.

When a user signs on to tablesONLINE/CICS, the User/Application Relationship table is the first table searched. The user ID and application ID are used as the search key for this table. If a match is found, the application identified as the target application ID is started using the settings specified in the TBOLACT. If no match is found, both user and application IDs are set to spaces. If there is a default entry in the User/Application Relationship table with a target ID and both the application ID and the user ID are set to blanks, that application is started.

All users for whom there is a user ID are presented with either the particular application based on their application ID, or, in the case of a mismatch (or no application specified), the default application.

Table 45 shows the entries to be made for our hypothetical organization, based on the users and environment described earlier.

Table 45. User/Application Relationship table (TBOLUSAP) for hypothetical organizations
Signon user ID	Signon application ID	Target application ID
bbbb	bbbb	PLTB
AD01	bbbb	ADMN
AD01	APPL	APPL
AD01	FINA	FINA
AD01	PLTE	PLTE
AD02	bbbb	APPL
AD02	FINA	FINA
AD02	PLTE	PLTE
AD03	bbbb	APPL
AD03	FINA	FINA
AD03	PLTE	PLTE
AD99	bbbb	APPL
AD99	FINA	FINE
AD99	PLTE	PLTE
FI01	bbbb	FINA
FI02	bbbb	FINA
FI99	bbbb	FINA
PL01	bbbb	PLTE
PL02	bbbb	PLTE
PL99	bbbb	PLTE
TS01	bbbb	TECH
TS02	bbbb	TECH

Note:

In the table above, bbbb is used to represent blanks.

Note:

Wildcard characters cannot be used for Signon user IDs.

The first entry in the User/Application Relationship table has both the user ID and the application ID set to blanks. It allows any user who is not specifically defined to the system to sign on. Any user with no other entry in this table will default to the application PLTB, the browse version of the Plant application.

Users like AD01 who are authorized to sign on to multiple applications have multiple entries in the User/Application Relationship table. These entries include a default application (ADMN in the case of AD01), indicated in the target application field, for that user. This default application is accessed when the user signs on without specifying an application ID.

There is also an entry in the User/Application Relationship table for each additional application that the user can access. These entries contain both the user ID and the application ID defined explicitly. When a user signs on to tablesONLINE/CICS specifying both a user ID and an application ID, the target application identified by those IDs will be accessed.

Defining Cross Authorizations

The set up of the hypothetical organization requires that the Finance manager be authorized to sign on to the system using the IDs of the each of the accountants. In order for this to occur, there must be an entry in the Cross-Authorization table matching the signon user ID for the Finance manager (F199) to the target user IDs for each accountant (F101 and F102). Table 46 lists the entries in the table:

Table 46. Cross-Authorization table (TBOLXAUT) for hypothetical organizations
Signon user ID	Target user ID
F199	F101
F199	F102

When the finance manager signs on, specifying a blank application ID and a target user ID, TBOLbbbbF102, the Cross Authorization table is checked. When an entry of FI99F102 is found in the table, the sign on proceeds as if F102 were signing on. If F102 is currently signed on, his session is suspended and brought up on the finance manager’s screen. This allows the finance manager to examine the accountant’s work from another terminal. If F102 is not currently signed on to the application, a new session is initiated.