Operating Instructions › Using the Suspense File Feature

Using the Suspense File Feature

It is often the case that not all the SMF records pertaining to a job or TSO session are present in an SMF file at the time it is processed. When the optional Suspense File feature is invoked, all of the SMF records for an incomplete job or session are written to a suspense file. In a subsequent execution, processing a new SMF file, the suspense file is concatenated to the SMF input and reprocessed. Records for those jobs/sessions that are still not complete are written to a new Suspense file along with records from new incomplete jobs or sessions.

At this point, there will be two suspense files, one, created in a previous execution and now used as input, and a second, created in this most recent execution. These two files may be rotated between input and output for all future executions, or more than two may be created and used in rotation. The only requirement is that the file used as input must be the file created in the most recent previous execution. It is not important when a file, once used for input, is next used for output.