Work Management Standards › Job Descriptions

Job Descriptions

Job descriptions provide a convenient mechanism for controlling the execution attributes of a submitted job, including the job queue to be used, and the execution priority.

Job descriptions for starting batch jobs should normally be created:

• With a logging level of LOG(4 00 *NOLIST). This is the default on IBM i. This ensures a maximum logging level if an error occurs, but suppresses the log if the job completes normally.
• To use an automatic reply list, for example, with INQMSGRPY(*YES). This ensures that if the job crashes, subsequent jobs in the queue are not held up. If subsequent jobs depend upon the successful completion of the first job, then the application design should take this into account, either by a check for successful completion of the preceding step, or by use of an exception message program to cancel the subsequent jobs.

Note: For job description names, the names QBATCH and QPGMR should be used where possible, and object identification controlled by library list.