Utility's data architecture built atop a DB2 foundation: DBMS innovator - Southern California Gas's Tom Patterson seeks to implement a data-driven approach; one of five articles spotlighting software innovators

Software Magazine, March 15, 1990 by Edith Myers

UTILITY'S DATA ARCHITECTURE BUILT ATOP A DB2 FOUNDATION

Companies that recognize data as an essential asset of their business try to manipulate that data to gain a competitive edge. The success of the effort depends on the ability of managers to deliver the edge.

One manager trying to do so is Tom Patterson, database administration and security manager at Southern California Gas Co., Los Angeles. He is working with other information systems managers at the utility to implement a data-driven approach.

"Southern Cal Gas has become a data-driven shop," he said, adding, "But we're still learning how to do it."

The utility implemented IBM's DB2 in January 1988. "We already had a large database system built on [Cullinet's] IDMS," Patterson said. "We currently have no plans to replace it. It's working fine but we wanted relational and SQL for future data-driven database systems."

(Computer Associates International, Inc., Garden City, N.Y., acquired Cullinet and its technology last year.)

The reasons for choosing a particular relational database management system (RDBMS) vary.

Southern Cal Gas' reason for going with DB2 was the stability of the supplier--IBM.

"I feel confident IBM will be around for the remainder of my lifetime," Patterson said. Southern Cal Gas never believed assurances by Cullinet that IDMS would become fully relational and SQL-compatible, he said.

Part of the company's direction, Patterson said, "was to build a new methodology to support our data-driven approach. For this we used extensive consulting help."

This methodology, he said, includes building a "blueprint. We spent a year developing this blueprint for all of our company's data (both data and process). This blueprint represents the 'target' and is used by all new development projects as their starting point.

"Each project develops a conceptual data model which is restricted by the project scope and represents the 'as planned.' Then the 'as built' is represented by the state of the conceptual data models that were finally used by the project in the implementation phase," he said.

Southern Cal Gas has three DB2 systems in production, with a fourth in quality assurance testing, scheduled to go into production next month. A fifth and sixth will be up and running "within the next several months," he said.

The first two, he noted, were decision-support-type systems. "In one case, we took data from a Hewlett-Packard processor and from IBM PCs for a gas control production system. We implemented this data on the IBM mainframe using our new data-driven methodology and DB2," he said.

Objectives for the projects are:

* Implement quickly some of the mission-specific data defined in the company's newly created blueprint of all its data, which is a target for how the data-driven systems should be built;

* Utilize the utility's newly developed data-driven methodology to gain practical experience. For each planned system, the developers build a conceptual data model;

* Use DB2 to gain experience with relational technology; and

* Try to make key company data more available to end users, which would give them better decision-support capabilities.

"This gives the end user easy access to certain components of the system. Making all of our systems components equally accessible to end users is a big part of our goal and DB2 is our tool for doing it," Patterson said.

The third DB2 system in production is the supplier contracts portion of a new accounts payable package that was acquired. Number four is a major purchasing application that will go into production next month.

The company went outside for help in getting started with DB2, but it did not go to IBM. "We went to individual consultants who billed themselves as DB2 specialists," said Patterson. "They helped us, among other things, with establishing our DB2 technical environment; customizing our DB2 Guide acquired from Platinum Technology; and providing database administrator project support." In addition, the company contracted with an outside firm to provide DB2 training for over 100 developers.

"We are in the early stages of putting together our end-user support team and tools," he said. The utility plans to use Intellect from AI Corp., Waltham, Mass., and SAS/DB2 from SAS Institute, Cary, N.C., for end-user query and decision support.

So far, "Our success has been limited due mostly to our inexperience with new technology and the lack of data available for end users to access. This will improve greatly in the next 12 to 24 months," Patterson said. "We know we have the right DBMS and we will be developing all our major applications using DB2."

Other DB2 tools in use at the company include several from IBM: Query Management Facility, for end-user query and report writing; Spufi, a DB2 facility allowing ad hoc access to DB2 objects via TSO/ISPF; DB2 Performance Monitor, which shows how much of the resource DB2 is using; and several standard DB2 utilities. Non-IBM tools include Omegamon/DB2, a real-time performance monitor from Candle Corp., Los Angeles.