Identifying the order of submission
- It constructs a list of work that is ready to be started on each computer workstation and nonreporting workstation. This list, called a ready list, shows all operations with ready status, in the order that they should be started.
- From each of the ready lists, it selects the most urgent operation for which resources are available. It then compares these operations and selects the single most urgent operation to be started.
- Operations that have the urgent flag set on.
The urgent flag is automatically turned on by HCL Workload Automation for Z when an operation has been defined with priority 9, or when an operation has missed its deadline.
- Earliest latest start time.
The latest start time is the latest time that the operation can start in order to meet the deadline. This calculation considers the operation deadline, estimated duration, resource requirements, and successor processing. When HCL Workload Automation for Z creates the current plan, it calculates the latest start time for all the operations in a chain of dependencies, starting at the last one.
- Operation priority (other than 9).
Each operation takes the priority assigned to its owning application, as defined in the AD database. When in a dependency chain an operation with priority x has predecessors with a priority y lower than x, those predecessors automatically take the priority x when they are included in the current plan. In this way, the submission of the operations defined as urgent in the dependency chain is not delayed. The priority promotion of the predecessors occurs at operation level, not at application level, because only some operations within an application might have an urgent operation as a successor.
- Shortest estimated duration.
HCL Workload Automation for Z builds these queues when there is more than one operation that is ready to be started. Operations that are time dependent, or waiting for resources to become available, are not included.
For example, if HCL Workload Automation for Z finds two operations in ready status, it checks if either operation is marked as urgent. If neither is urgent, the latest-start times are compared. In the unlikely event that the latest-start times are equal, HCL Workload Automation for Z examines the priority. If the priority is also equal, HCL Workload Automation for Z first starts the operation that has the shortest estimated duration.
The submission process can deal with many candidates for submission per second. It is unlikely you will ever see a significant backlog of operations to be started.
The ready list is the order that the operations should be started in. If a workstation is closed, the operations on that workstation's ready list are not eligible for processing. To decide which operation to start, HCL Workload Automation for Z scans the ready lists of each computer, nonreporting, and WTO workstation that is open for operations that are eligible to start. To be eligible to start, the resources that the operation requires must be available, according to the information recorded in the HCL Workload Automation for Z database.
Operations that have been placed in HOLD status by a dialog user are not eligible candidates for submission until they have been set to RELEASE. For more information on holding and releasing operations in the current plan, refer to Delaying an operation, and releasing it.
If sufficient resources are not available, or the operation is waiting for a particular time, HCL Workload Automation for Z assigns an appropriate extended status. The extended status identifies which type of resource the operation is waiting for.
Operations that have been placed in waiting for Scheduling Environment (status READY, extended status W) are not eligible candidates for submission: they become eligible again after the event stating that the Scheduling Environment is again available has been received by the controller and the extended status has been reset.
If no sufficient resources are available, or if the operation is waiting for a particular one that is unavailable at the time, HCL Workload Automation for Z assigns an appropriate extended status. The extended status identifies which type of resource the operation is waiting for.