1. Understanding COBOL and Your Role
COBOL Programming - Basics
Introduction to COBOL
1 hour
Program Structure
1 hour
PowerPoint
Our COBOL Environment
Program Control
1 hour
Instructions and Procedures
1 hour
Arithmetic
1 hour
Understanding COBOL and Your Role
Graphic
Insert your organization’s name in the slide above along with the date and time that the Webinar will begin.
Pre-Session Activity
Prior to the session, obtain some information about the attendees: who they are, where they work, what their background is (e.g. application programmer, operator, new graduate). This gives you background information on your group so you can better tailor some of the presentation specifically to their needs. At the end of the previous PowerPoint presentation, attendees were asked to forward you any questions they may have relating to the content in this pathway. This should also be included in this session.
As attendees come online, make the time to briefly chat with them and ask questions such as: how they have found the course so far, what their involvement with the system currently is, and what it may be in the future. This is information you will be able to share with the group when you are ready to start (see next slide).
Presenter/Producer: Approximately 20 minutes before the Webinar, make sure the welcome slide above is displayed so that when participants log in they know immediately they are in the right place at the right time. You may also want to have rotating slides that display general information such as how they can ask questions throughout the session, what information will be available to them afterwards (e.g. handouts, recording of the session).
Allow a maximum of 3 minutes after the scheduled start time for any late attendees. This provides a general courtesy to those that may have been detained for genuine work related reasons, while not annoying those who have joined promptly and are waiting to begin.
Presenter/Moderator: Welcomes those that have joined the Webinar and describes general information about the session such as using the Webinar features as well as session specific details identifying how long the session will be (30-40 minutes, although you may have a more accurate idea once you have given the presentation a “dry run”), pre-requisites for the session (shown on the right of the welcome slide), interaction that will occur throughout the session (several exercises to keep participants busy) and that there is a 5-10 minute Q & A session at the end.
Screen, Time and Date Input
1 hour
PowerPoint
Our COBOL Programming
Company Name
Date - Time
Webinar
Understanding COBOL and Your Role
1 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence
= Datatrain Course Modules

2. About You Background Numbers Application Programmer 4
Systems Programmer 1
Operator
Graphic
Update this screen with information for your group.
Get this information from the pre-session notes from the previous page.
Audio
This is a good opportunity to expand on the private conversations you may have had when welcoming people to the session. For example, you may mention that before the session you had an opportunity to chat with a few of you about your induction training and the work you are currently performing. Also mention that this information is important because there are several topics covered where we discuss how it is relevant to you or the area you work in.
These are good icebreaker exercises and usually relaxes the attendees knowing a bit about the other participants.
Example: This session is all about you (attendees) and obtaining the knowledge you need to perform your workplace tasks. Just so everyone knows a little about each other I have created a breakdown of the background of those attending, and the area they work in.
2 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

3. Objectives Questions from the Course So Far Who Supports COBOL?
Current and Future COBOL Priorities and Directions
Audio
Introduce students to what will be covered in this Webinar.
Example:
The Datatrain training modules and internal PowerPoint presentations you have undertaken so far have focused on introducing you to the COBOL programming language, and how it is used at our site. So far all the content has been technical.
The aim of this session is to introduce you to the teams that support COBOL, and what each does. We will also look at current and future COBOL priorities and directions.
But first, lets cover some questions and queries about the course so far.
3 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

4. Clarification of Previous Material
General comments received
Technical queries
Audio
This is where you cover any questions raised by learners during the course. You can also expand on anything that may need to be cleared up, or any other technical Applications Programming issues.
This could be a good place for learners to ask any other questions.
Example:
I’ve received two questions about the course so far. So let’s look at them:
(Question)
4 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

5. Application Development
Who Supports COBOL?
IT Infrastructure
Mainframe Support
Systems Programming
Application Development
UNIX Support
Windows Support
Security
Help Desk
(ABC)
Graphic
Update this screen with the organization chart of your Information Technology groups, and highlight those that support COBOL and COBOL applications.
Audio
This is where you introduce the different groups and teams that use and support COBOL.
Example:
COBOL applications are only written by the Application Development team. The Systems Programming team install the COBOL compiler itself, and can help with systems related issues.
5 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

6. Application Programmers
John Smith
Manager
Fred Blue
CICS/COBOL
Helen Gold
Alan Green
IMS / COBOL
David Grey
IMS COBOL
Dan Silver
Batch COBOL
Graphic
Update this screen with the organization chart of your Applications Programmers that support COBOL. Possibly add a picture of each.
Audio
This is where you can introduce the Application Programming team, and what it does. Add some information about each member. If there is a central person who can answer COBOL questions, introduced them here.
If a student works in this group, ask them to talk about their role.
Example:
The Application Programmers develop new COBOL applications and support existing ones. One of this team is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any application program problems. Dale Stevens in this course works with the Application Programmers. Tell us about your job, Dan.
Fred Blue is perhaps our best and most experienced COBOL programmer, and is an excellent person to go to for help. He is responsible for CICS applications, and has Helen Gold to help.
Alan Green and David Grey look after our IMS applications, and Dan Silver looks after Batch and TSO/ISPF COBOL applications.
6 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

7. Dan Jones Jane Sampson Paul Simson John Wu Systems Programmers Manager
z/OS
Paul Simson
CICS
John Wu
IMS
Graphic
Update this screen with the organization chart of your Systems Programmers that support COBOL and associated environments. Possibly add a picture of each.
Audio
This is where you can introduce the Systems Programming team, and what it does. Add some information about each member.
If a student works in this group, ask them to talk about their role.
Example:
The Systems Programmers support the systems where COBOL runs, as well as the COBOL compiler itself. They can’t help with COBOL syntax problems or why a program won’t compile. But they can help with z/OS, CICS and IMS problems. They also maintain SCLM where our source code is installed, and the ISPF environment where we compile our COBOL programs.
Paul Simson performs is responsible for CICS, Jane Sampson looks after z/OS, and John Wu is responsible for IMS.
7 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

8. COBOL Priority 1: Stable Code
Goal: Zero COBOL Application Abends.
Challenges: Application abends, non-standard code.
Past Projects: Elimination of application abends, coding standards.
Current Projects: Common utilities, code testing.
Future Projects: Eliminate OS/VS and COBOL II.
Graphic
Update this text with the primary priority for COBOL application groups. This graphic shows an example.
Audio
The next few screens are an opportunity to talk about what’s happening with COBOL in your organization. Students are introduced to the issues, challenges and projects with COBOL. Each slide deals with one of the COBOL priorities at your site, and current present and future projects relating to that priority. This is an excellent place to involve your students in a discussion about COBOL at your site.
Example:
The number one priority of all COBOL application groups is to have stable, reliable, supportable code. We want zero COBOL application abends.
In the past, we have had a lot of problems with our legacy COBOL applications, and application abends were too common. Over the last three years, we have had two programmers working full time on eliminating these abends, and creating a set of standards to improve our COBOL code quality. The number of abends has greatly reduced, and you’ve already looked at some of those standards in the last PowerPoint in this series.
Let’s talk about COBOL stability What areas do you think impact on the stability of a COBOL program? (Start discussion about COBOL availability and quality. Talk about change management, code reviews and standards. Perhaps talk about some of the coding problems in the past, and how they were resolved).
We are currently working to create a core set of stable, efficient COBOL utilities to use in our programs. We are also working to improve our COBOL testing requirements and environments.
In the future, we will also look at eliminating the remaining OS/VS and COBOL II code.
8 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

9. CICS Priority 2: Efficient Code
Goal: Improve performance of COBOL Code
Challenges: Compile options, inefficient code, inefficient database calls.
Past Projects: ISPF Interface for COBOL compiles.
Current Projects: Common utilities.
Future Projects: COBOL Performance Analysis
Graphic
Update this text with the secondary priority for COBOL groups. This page shows an example. Add more slides after this with more of your organization’s priorities.
Audio
Talk about your organization’s secondary COBOL priority.
This is a good place to start a group discussion about COBOL as it relates to this priority.
Example:
Our second priority is performance. Poor performing code is slower, and it consumes more CPU, making it more expensive. We have begun a long term project to improve our COBOL application performance.
Let’s talk about these COBOL application performance for a moment. What else do you think we can do to improve performance? (Start discussion about COBOL performance, and the options available in your configuration. Discuss the issues for your organization related to this).
Our standard ISPF compile panels is there to stop inappropriate or inefficient COBOL compile options that can affect COBOL performance. That is now in place, and being used by all application teams. The creation of a suite of common utilities is another project that will improve performance as applications begin to use these utilities.
In the future, we will begin a major project to look at some of the more inefficient COBOL applications, and improve them.
9 |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

10. Summary Who Supports COBOL?
The Application Programmers and Systems Programmers
COBOL Priorities and Projects
Audio
Example:
This completes the COBOL Programming - Basics course. You have covered technical theory from the Datatrain courses, related this to our systems, and looked at our priorities. |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence

11. Questions COBOL Programming - Basics
Introduction to COBOL
1 hour
Program Structure
1 hour
PowerPoint
Our COBOL Environment
Program Control
1 hour
Instructions and Procedures
1 hour
Arithmetic
1 hour
Questions
Presenter: An opportunity for you to respond to any questions that learners want to ask (5-10 minutes).
Complete the webinar by:
Thanking them for attending.
Outlining what their next step in the training process is.
Mentioning that the webinar will be made available to them for replaying if they require. An will be sent informing them of the details.
Mention that the HR team may send them a survey to complete.
Screen, Time and Date Input
1 hour
PowerPoint
Our COBOL Programming
Webinar
Understanding COBOL and Your Role |
Copyright © Interskill Learning Pty Ltd 2011 – Commercial in Confidence
= Datatrain Course Modules