NUMBER:        ACAF 7.05

SECTION:       Academic Affairs



SUBJECT:       Data Change Notification



DATE:          October 23, 1996



Policy for:    All Campuses

Procedure for: All Campuses

Authorized by: Donald J. Greiner

Issued by:     Provost's Office

_________________________________________________________________



I.   Policy



The University, through its custodians of official University

databases and through its administration of Computer Services,

shall provide advanced and adequate notification of any proposed

changes in shared user files and programs, database structure and

content, and other changes to data or data access that affect

various units of the University.



II. Procedure



Introduction



Since databases and data sets are widely shared among USC

mainframe users, it is essential that proposed changes in the

structure of data bases, the definitions and expansions of data

sets and code sets, the layout and presentation of transaction

screens, and other modifications of shared-user files and

programs be subject to (a) adequate prior examination of the

ramifications of the proposed changes, and (b) systematic

notification of affected users once the change has been approved

or instituted (as appropriate).



The following policy is to serve as guidelines for data change

proposals.



A.  Initiation of a data change



     Any proposal for data change or addenda to a previous

request must be initiated as a written work request submitted to

Computer Services (CSD) in a standard format,specifying     

     1. the change or changes proposed;

     2. the data base/data set(s)/transaction screens/etc. to be

modified;

     3. the categories and numbers of users concerned who should

be consulted in evaluating the proposal and those who would be

affected if the changes are instituted;

     4. the target date for the implementation of the proposed

modifications.



B.  Identification of affected users/programs



     The proposer of the data change and CSD staff are jointly

     responsible for identifying the users and programs that

     would be affected by the change.  The data owner in many

     cases could identify the primary users. The work request

     will be circulated among CSD supervising managers to permit

     coordination with related projects (proposed or approved),

     and feedback from both CSD staff and primary users as to the

     ramifications of the requested change should be considered

     before a final decision on the project is reached.



C.  Notification of changes



     The manner and extent of notification of data changes will

     vary with the category and the population of users affected. 

     The channels of communication chosen should be appropriate

     to the range of users and the impact of the change on users. 

     If all affected users are involved in the analysis and

     approval of the changes, no further notification may be

     needed.



     1.  System changes--routine notification of all CSD

     personnel is current practice within that division.

     2.  Transaction screens--all permitted users of the affected

     screen(s) should be notified prior to the update.

     3.  Data sets--all permitted users of the affected data

     set(s) should be notified prior to the update.

     4.  Production reports--all area contacts listed for

     distribution should be notified prior to the update. 



D.  Implementation of changes



     The project manager should notify the requestor upon

completion of the change.

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