UITS Operations Policy

Output Distribution Policies and Procedures

Electronic Reserves and JSTOR electronic journals may not be printed on UITS printers.

UITS Equipment Operations prints and distributes computer output for numerous departments, researchers, and students of the University. This output is generated from a variety of networked mainframe, mini and micro systems. Due to the volume of output and the variety of controlling system software, standards have been developed to ease the distribution process. These standards were established to speed the delivery of output to the end user, minimize errors in distribution, provide system support personnel the guidelines needed for system software parameter setting, and provide the end user with options and direction in how to use our printing systems.

Printing of Electronic Reserves, JSTOR documents or making copies of print files is not permitted.

Any unnecessary or wasteful printing is not allowed.

DEFINITIONS

Banner page: The first page of a printed output. On this page is information telling who printed the output, how to distribute the output, the unique ID number, and the date and time the output was printed. Color paper is used for the banner page.

DATE: : the current date of printing.

Deadfile: Output older than 24 hours that is not picked up by the User.

Device: The network name of the printer on which the printing took place.

DIST: Output distribution stations for retrieval by the User.

FILE: the file that was printed; this cannot always be extracted from the printstream.

HOST: the name of the originating system, such as u.arizona.edu.

ID: A number unique to each output at a given point in time. This is printed on the banner and trailer page and can also be called a job number.

Jobname: On MVS, this is the first field on the jobcard. This value follows the NAME: label on the banner page. The User's TSO username should always be used here.

NAME: the MVS Jobname, or the username/NETID.

Station: A group of one or more shelves denoted by a number, presently located in room 214c of the Computer Center building.

TIME:the current time of printing.

Trailer page: Last page of the output. On this page is the Username, Station, and ID number. The Trailer page isprinted on white paper and display the USER:, DIST: and ID: fields.

Turnaround: The time required for output to be networked and/or printed, and distributed. This is measured from entry of the print command, to the moment output is available for retrieval by the User.

USER: The name with which users log onto UITS's Unix/Linux computers, their NETIDs. This name will be printed after the USER: label on the banner page. On MVS, this value comes from a 20-character field on the jobcard and consiss of descriptive information the user provides. The contents of this field are used for distribution.

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Distribution Stations:

Output from any platform with no station specification, an invalid station, or ST-0 displayed will be distributed at station zero.

All MVS output normally has DIST: ST-9 on the banner page.

If output is to be distributed in the secured area, network users are responsible for insuring that a valid, non-zero station number is transmitted so that it appears on their output. For instructions on setting the Distribution Station from a Unix-type system, see this UITS Printing webpage.

E-mail output will be filed at ST-0. Users will have the ability to specify a station number after the DIST: label. For example, this can be done in your Pine print setup.

Station distribution options:

• ST-0 is the public retrieval area in Computer Center rm.214c. ST-0 is available for all users.
• ST-1 ST-2 ST-3 ST-4 ST-5 is Student Health, location is Computer Center rm.214c.
• ST-6 is Tree Ring, location is Computer Center rm.214c.
• ST-7 is Production Services, location is Computer Center rm.214c.
• ST-8
• ST-9 is filed in a secure area in Computer Center rm.214c. ST-9 is for administrative, research and departmental users.

ST-1 thru ST-8 are reserved for departmental assignment.

Deadfile Procedures

ST-0 output older than 24 hours is moved to the vertical row of shelves above station 0 and filed alphabetically. After two weeks this output is recycled. ST-1 thru ST-9 output remains at the station for two weeks. After this time it is recycled or shredded, whichever is appropriate.

Output Retrieval

ST-0 users have self-service access to output and deadfile.

ST-1 thru ST-9 users must ask for their output at the Input/Output Window.

Typical turnaround time is 15 minutes. This will vary though depending on output volume and priority.

MVS Control of Banner Page Information

MVS jobcard: //jobname job (acct,stxx),'user information'

jobname is a 7-character field on the jobcard. This field appears after NAME: on the banner page.

stxx is the second parameter within the parentheses and is a 4 character field used to specify the station number. ST-9 is the default. The user may substitute any valid station number here, such as ST-0. This field appears after DIST: on the banner page.

user information - is a 20-character field on the jobcard. This field appears after the USER: label on the banner page and consists of user-provided information.

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