ESTABLISHING JOB SCHEDULES

Numerous factors determine how jobs are accomplished, and these factors must be evaluated during the planning cycle so that operating schedules can be established. A foremost consideration is the volume of your transactions, and the resulting application requirements. If data will be exchanged with another system, then the requirements and schedules of that system will influence your job schedules. In addition, job schedules will be determined by the use of partitions and printer operations, and also by certain capabilities of DE/RPG.

Planning for Peak Periods they will least affect the interactive programs used to enter orders.

Order Sources

- - - - Telephone Orders - - Walk-in-Orders - - - Mail Orders

.•.•••• Cumulative Customer Transactions

Mail Orders

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I Customer Notification and

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Administrative Activity

I

Other general scheduling considerations you might account for in your plans include:

• Application deadlines

• Lead time for data to be transferred from source departments to the can influence job schedules. For example, some applications require extensive printing; it may be desirable (though not always necessary) to schedule printing for a time when other demands on the system are low.

The 5222, 5225 or 5256 printer can be attached to a 5280 system.

The operator guide for these printers provides detailed instructions on their use. Information on formatted and unformatted printing also appears in the DE /RPG User's Guide, the DE /RPG Reference Manual, and the Assembler Language Reference Manual.

Rated printing speed with the 5222 printer is 80 characters per second

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Production Statistics

Production statistics can be kept for all jobs, and procedures for reading or recording these statistics must be accounted for in job schedules. Statistics can be maintained for either an individual job or for work done at the station overall. Job statistics are normally maintained for only the duration of the job; when the job ends, the statistics from the job can be written to a data set. They will also be added to those for the data station as a whole.

The following counters are kept for all DE/RPG programs:

• Keystrokes

• Records

• Elapsed time in minutes (if Interval Timer is installed)

• Marked records

• Verify correction keystrokes (verify mode only)

Counters kept on a station basis provide a similar summary of system activity; the number of jobs is also recorded. Consult the DE / RPG Reference Manual for further information on production statistics.

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DE/RPG and Job Scheduling

DE/RPG makes possible several procedures which save keystrokes and quicken system work flow. The Introduction to DE /RPG, DE /RPG User's Guide, and the DE /RPG Reference Manual each address the following capabilities:

Format Chaining

A sequence of formats can be specified in DE/RPG coding, thus relieving the operator from manually selecting formats. Formats can also be data-directed; that is, they can be chained together in response to entries made in previous records. This capability also exists when the key entry utility is used.

Multiple Access to a Data Set

A data set can be shared by several operators at the same time.

DE/RPG keywords govern access to the data set and specify which operators or programs may both read and write to the data set, and which operators or programs may only read the data set. This capability is particularly valuable when master data sets are being accessed and used. This feature can be used to reduce both the time and the number of diskettes required to perform an application.

Dynamic System Design

After a program is loaded into the system, the display screen prompt requests the name of the transaction data set and the address of the diskette drive from which the program will be loaded. For

convenience, the operator can alter either of these designations from your routine design. If such changes are not desirable, a DE/RPG keyword used in the program prevents the operator from making alterations.

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Job Documentation

An essential part of planning and site preparation is the development and testing of job documentation. The documentation required for your system depends upon the programming of each application. To aid the operator, a job run sheet (or run book) with step-by-step instructions should be provided.

A job run sheet is a record of the steps that an operator must follow to perform a job. Maintaining good job documentation not only simplifies daily operations, but also reduces the time required to train new operators.

To allow operators to focus their full attention on building speed and productivity on the new units rather than on filling gaps in the documentation, run sheets should reflect 5280 terminology. For example, references to terms such as verify punches, overpunching, header cards, etc, shouid be removed from any old documentation that you modify for use with the new devices.

A job run sheet might include:

• Job name and number

• Source documents used

• Name, location, and telephone number of programmer

• Printer setup instructions

• Diskettes and diskette drives required

• Expected output

• Parameter usage

• Instructions for starting and ending the job

• Instructions for halting or continuing the job if a system error is encountered (summary of error messages)

• Instructions for backing up and/or recovering data sets

• Security prompting

• Summary of special keys and functions

• How and when to obtain job statistics

The following page contains an example of a sample run sheet.

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DATA ENTRY OR VERIFYING INSTRUCTIONS Date _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Page _ _ of _ _ _

Job No. Op. Code Frequency Due In Due Out DSN =

0

^{80 Col}

Time Day Time Day

o

^{128 Col}

Job Name Diskette Retention

Source Document Used Received From Other

Special Instructions Disposition of Output

Job No

Section -Dept Oper

Disposition of Documents

Columns

Field Description Function From Thru Total Remarks

1 2 3 4 5

6 ^{! !}

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 ^I

15 16 17 18 19 20

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Job run sheets for several jobs might be collected in one document, with an introductory section that explains common procedures and functions. Completed DE/RPG coding sheets might be used to form such a run book for your 5280 applications. Run books might also tell which procedures to execute on specific days, and briefly explain what is occurring in the application as a whole.

Documenting the Design

At this stage of your planning, you should document as many of the following items as possible.

• Important decisions made during the planning of applications, the reasons for the decisions, and the individual(s) responsible

• Specific functions and operations expected of your system

• Programs to be used

• Content of master data sets

• Plans for the security and integrity of the system

• Tentative job schedules

Im Dokument IBM 5280 (Seite 67-74)