Information used by daily planning

Daily planning uses data from several IBM Z Workload Scheduler data sets:
  • The long-term plan (LTP), which contains a list of application occurrences to run each day. The long-term plan details the input arrival and deadline times as well as external dependencies for every occurrence.
  • The existing current plan. Uncompleted applications need to be included in the new plan, and completed applications are reported on.
  • The application description database, which contains the detail of applications at operation level.
  • The workstation description database, which shows the open intervals, parallel servers, and fixed resources available at each workstation.
  • The resource description database, which has details of special resources.
The data is collected and used to update the relevant data sets and produce the current plan reports. The daily planning process involves:
  • Update of the long-term plan for occurrences that are marked complete or have been deleted in the existing current plan
  • Creation of an updated current plan, called the new current plan (NCP), that contains:
    • Uncompleted operations from the existing current plan.
    • New occurrence selections from the long-term plan according to the specified end date. For details, see Producing and modifying the long-term plan.
    • Potential predecessor records for each occurrence. The records are used to establish a list of candidates for successor resolution when an occurrence is added to the current plan using the panel, the program interface, or event-triggered tracking.
  • Optional copy of the job-tracking archive log
  • Creation of daily planning reports
Figure 1 shows the required data.
Figure 1. Data required by the daily planning process

Diagram of the data required by the daily planning process

The daily planning process writes messages to the EQQMLOG and SYSPRINT data sets. Error and warning messages are indicated by a nonzero return code from the batch job. These messages should be investigated immediately; they can indicate a potential problem in the new plan.

In some cases, where the error is severe, the daily planning process does not create a new current plan. For example, if the daily planning process detects a loop in a chain of dependent operations, a new current plan is not created. For a description about how daily planning analyzes dependency loops, see Analyzing problems reported by daily planning.