Robot/SCHEDULE 10 includes a new feature called the Schedule Activity Monitor (SAM) that provides a quick view of forecasted, active, and completed jobs. If you’re responsible for making sure that the schedule runs without a hitch, SAM may become your new best friend.

Using SAM
From a single screen, you can work with jobs that are forecast to run in the next 24 hours, jobs that currently are active or in a job queue, and jobs that have completed or failed.

For example, you can right-click on a job to end it, work with its spooled files, or (if the job is currently active) work with its job log. You also can select the properties of any job and change them, or enter a Schedule Override Code, such as Do or Hold.

You don’t need jump from screen to screen to manage your Robot/SCHEDULE jobs because SAM centralizes just about any action you might need to perform on a job to one screen.

You also can configure your preferences to have SAM display when you start Robot/SCHEDULE on your PC. If you manage the batch environment, this is a nice time saver.

The list of running jobs includes a special icon that identifies jobs that are waiting because of an error message. In the past, a running job simply displayed the status ‘R’ and the operator had no way of knowing that the job had an error that needed to be resolved.

The SAM screen refreshes automatically so that it’s always up to date. You specify the refresh rate and whether you want to include jobs submitted outside of Robot/SCHEDULE in SAM. You can customize SAM for your operations area.

Robot/SCHEDULE automatically creates an internal forecast every 12 hours. If you rely on SAM, submit a forecast whenever you make changes to the schedule that you want see reflected in SAM.

The Schedule Activity Monitor (SAM) shows forecasted, running, and completed jobs at a glance.

New tools on the tool bar
The Robot/SCHEDULE Explorer includes new tools on the tool bar that you can use to troubleshoot system problems and Robot/SCHEDULE jobs.

The Spooled File Viewer displays the result of running the IBM Work with Spooled Files (WRKSPLF) command. The default displays the current user’s spooled files. You can create filters to display spooled files based on user, output queue, job information, user data, or status. You can view the spooled files online, or save them as text files and print them on your network printer. This tool provides a quick way to view spooled files created outside of a Robot/SCHEDULE job without leaving Robot/SCHEDULE.

The Work with Active Jobs button displays the active jobs on your system. You can work with a job’s attributes, hold or end jobs, and display QHST entries or job logs for active jobs. You can sort the display on any of the columns to quickly find a job. If a job is in a message-wait status that needs a reply, the display shows MSGW REPLY. This helps you differentiate between jobs issuing an error message and those in a MSGW status that are simply waiting for communication from another job or program.

You also can access these new tools by right-clicking on the system name in the Robot/SCHEDULE Explorer. Take advantage of them to make your job easier and to accomplish more with Robot/SCHEDULE.

• Use SAM to quickly review the status of your batch environment and work with scheduled jobs.
• Use the Spooled File Viewer to work with any spooled file on your system, including job logs.
• Use the Work with Active Jobs button to hold or end jobs, and work with job logs.

Contributed by Pat Cameron, Technical Training Consultant

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 10:18 am and is filed under Robot/SCHEDULE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.