SMP/E

Article summary

System Modification Program/Extended (SMP/E), the proprietary version of System Modification Program (SMP), "is a tool designed to manage the installation of software products on [a] z/OS system and to track the modifications" to those products. SMP/E manages multiple software versions, helps apply patches and updates (PTFs), facilitates orderly testing and, if necessary, reversion to a previous state, allows a "trial run" pseudo-installation to verify that actual installation will work, keeps audit and security records to assure only approved software updates occur, and otherwise provides highly evolved, centralized control over all software installation on z/OS. Although it is possible to design and ship software products that install on z/OS without SMP/E, most mainframe administrators prefer SMP/E-enabled products, at least for non-trivial packages. Using SMP/E typically requires some working knowledge of Job Control Language (JCL), although most products supply sample JCL. The rigorous software management discipline associated with SMP/E typically extends to product documentation as well, with IBM and other vendors supplying a standardized "Program Directory" manual for each software product that precisely aligns with the SMP/E work processes. The Program Directory provides detailed information on pre-requisites and co-requisites, for example.…

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