CA Earl Modernization Guide

CA Earl is a reporting language and system designed for quickly generating reports from legacy data sources, such as IMS, CA Datacom/DB, and VSAM. It provides a way to access and present information stored in these systems in a user-friendly format.

CA Earl is both a programming language and a system. It provides the language constructs to define reports and access data, and it includes the runtime environment to execute those reports.

Organizations that rely on legacy systems like IMS, CA Datacom/DB, and VSAM to store critical business data are ideal users of CA Earl. These organizations often need to generate reports from this data for various business purposes.

A company should consider using CA Earl when they need to generate reports from legacy data sources and require a tool that can directly access and manipulate that data. It is especially useful when pre-canned reports are needed for other CA products.

Alternatives to CA Earl include other reporting tools and programming languages that can access legacy data, such as Easytrieve, SAS, or custom-developed programs using languages like COBOL or Assembler.

CA Earl runs on z/OS, z/VM, and zVSE/VSEn platforms. It is designed to operate within these mainframe environments to access data stored in systems like IMS, CA Datacom/DB, and VSAM.

As a mainframe product, CA Earl typically runs in an LPAR (Logical Partition) under z/OS or other supported operating systems. It may require specific subsystems or components to be active for data access.

CA Earl includes a facility for users to create their own file-access exits. This allows users to customize how CA Earl interacts with specific data sources or file formats that are not natively supported.

Many Computer Associates (CA) products include pre-canned CA Earl reports. Examples include CA ACF2, CA Roscoe, CA TLMS, CA Jars, CA Jobtrac, and CA Scheduler. These reports provide out-of-the-box reporting capabilities for these products.

CA Earl provides a cost-effective way to generate reports from legacy data without requiring extensive programming or data migration. It allows organizations to leverage their existing data assets for business intelligence and decision-making.

By providing pre-canned reports for other CA products, CA Earl enhances the value of those products by providing readily available reporting capabilities. This can save time and effort compared to developing custom reports.

CA Earl allows organizations to quickly respond to changing business needs by providing a flexible reporting solution. Users can create and modify reports without requiring extensive technical expertise.

Security in CA Earl is typically integrated with the security mechanisms of the underlying mainframe environment, such as RACF, ACF2, or Top Secret. Access to data and reports is controlled through these security systems.

CA Earl leverages the access control mechanisms of the mainframe operating system to control access to data. This ensures that only authorized users can access sensitive information.

Auditing and logging capabilities in CA Earl are typically provided by the underlying mainframe environment. These logs can be used to track user activity and identify potential security breaches.

CA Earl is typically deployed on-premise within the mainframe environment. It requires technical expertise to install, configure, and maintain the system.

Ongoing operational requirements for CA Earl include monitoring system performance, maintaining data access definitions, and ensuring compatibility with other mainframe systems. Staffing requirements include personnel with mainframe skills and knowledge of CA Earl.

Common implementation challenges include ensuring compatibility with existing mainframe systems, configuring data access definitions, and training users on the CA Earl language and system.