Naming Variables

Variables are automatically part of the group in which they were created. Their names should therefore reflect their function within the group. Variable names can be up to 20 characters.

Because you can potentially create a very large number of variable names, it is important that you using naming conventions that can help you readily identify a variable. The following are some general suggestions for naming variables:

• Check the standards of your organization.

  There may already be standard methods of naming items in your systems department.

• Use as descriptive a name as possible, but at the same time use the smallest number of characters.

  Defining rules can become long and tedious if you must continuously enter variable names that are 20 characters long. On the other hand, if all your variable names were only 2 characters long and had no readily apparent meaning, it would be much harder to read, understand, and modify the variable names within a rule.

• Use names that are meaningful to everyone who is using the same application within the Control-M/Analyzer environment, such as those who are defining rules, operations staff, systems staff, and management.
• Be consistent.
• Remember that the group concept provides a way of keeping related variables together. There is no need to duplicate a group name, such as division code, within a variable name.

Here are some examples:

VARIABLES, With a Prefix or Suffix of a Division or Department Code

Assume that you are defining a balancing application, and want to store data in the Control-M/Analyzer database, and segregate that data by division. You will also typically retrieve, review, and update the data by division. This is similar to how the rules in Chapter 2 are defined.

There are two possible naming conventions:

• Prefix each database variable name with the division code.
• Add the division code as a suffix to the variable name.

Some examples are:

D001_COST               COST_001

D002_COST               COST_002

D003_COST      or       COST_003

D001_SALES              SALES_001

D002_SALES              SALES_002

D003_SALES              SALES_003

The issue of which convention is better can be determined when you answer the following questions:

• How do you usually retrieve and view these data?
• Do you retrieve the data by division, or by the type of variable, such as cost, or sales?

In the first case, the division code as a prefix is better. In the latter case, the suffix approach is more helpful.

VARIABLES, Associated with an "Owner"

Many organizations attach each variable to an "owner," meaning either the department or job title responsible for maintaining the data. Some examples are:

PURCH_SUPPLIES

PURCH_CAPITAL

PERSNL_SALARIES

PERSNL_BENEFITS

In these examples, the two departments, PURCH (Purchasing) and PERSNL (Personnel), each "own" their respective variables. This naming convention may be better handled by creating separate groups for the purchasing and personnel departments, and eliminating the department prefix from the variable name.

While naming convention possibilities are extremely flexible, it is important to adopt them from the beginning. It is much easier to define variables once, and not have to redefine them later.