Unicenter CA-Scheduler Job Management for VSE User Guide

3.9 Defining Jobs
A value of YES on the schedule base record causes Unicenter CA-Scheduler to
start that schedule no earlier than the time shown on the Simulated Execution
Schedule. If USE SIM TIME = YES on the job base record, Unicenter
CA-Scheduler submits that job at the time indicated on the Simulated
Execution Schedule. Notice the subtle difference here. The SIMTIME fields on
schedule and job records do not override one another because they deal with
separate events: when schedules start and when jobs are submitted. Sites that
want to schedule jobs using SIMTIME get best results when SIMTIME values
on both the schedule and job records are YES.
If you set USE SIMTIME=YES on the schedule base record, Unicenter
CA-Scheduler ignores any other start times you may have specified for
schedules, either on the reason code record or the schedule's base record.
If USE SIMTIME = NO, Unicenter CA-Scheduler checks to see what start times
you have specified on the schedule's records. You specify the earliest possible
time a schedule can start using a 24-hour clock. For example, an early time of
1400 allows a schedule to start no earlier than 2 p.m., but what if that schedule
should not start until some day in the future? Unicenter CA-Scheduler also
allows you to specify start times with a prefix showing how many production
days to hold those jobs. For example, a start time of 031400 holds that schedule
until 2 p.m. three production days after that schedule was originally selected.
Notice that production days usually do not start at midnight. Instead, they run
from one autoscan to the next.
The first place Unicenter CA-Scheduler looks for a start time is on the
schedule's reason code record (SRC). If you do not specify a start time there
that corresponds with the reason the schedule was selected today, Unicenter
CA-Scheduler looks to see if you defined an EARLIEST START TIME on the
schedule base record. Start times defined on job records are not even looked
at until a job's schedule starts. Then Unicenter CA-Scheduler checks to see if
you have delayed any jobs by defining start times on job records.
Since start time is an important factor in sequencing your workload, Unicenter
CA-Scheduler gives you flexibility. For example, a schedule or job may need
to start at different times on different days. Unicenter CA-Scheduler allows
you to define different reasons for selecting a schedule or job on its criteria
record (SCR or JCR). Each reason can cause work to be selected on a different
day. Once you have defined reasons on a criteria record, you can specify a
different start time for each reason. A schedule's alternate start times are stored
on its reason code record (SRC). Likewise, a job's alternate start times are
stored on its reason code record (JRC).
If a job has no criteria record or it only needs one start time, specify that value
as EARLIEST START TIME on the job base record.
When Unicenter CA-Scheduler organizes the work to be processed each day,
first it considers predecessors. Then it checks start times. If schedules or jobs
have the same predecessors and start times, Unicenter CA-Scheduler puts
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