Effects on Monthly Schedules
After the monthly schedule is completed and
approved, there will always be times when it has to be
changed. The subsystem coordinators are responsible
for adjusting their schedule and for submitting the
schedule changes to the AIS facility. Some of the things
that will cause the schedule to be changed are as
follows:
System/program errors. Jobs may abort
because of system or program processing errors.
The operator will get an error message or an
indication on the system console. This may
require the operator to reboot the system,
recreate an input file, or rerun a job. The
operator will annotate the run sheet describing
the problem. The abort code will be the key to
determining what caused the problem.
Software testing. You will schedule an amount
of time for software testing based on your best
estimate. No matter how much time you allow
for software testing, it will never seem to be
enough. Problems seem to arise every time you
start to test a new software system. These
include the system going down, the system
hanging up, the system entering a loop, or a
syntax error occurring that the programmers
missed.
New/changed requirements. There will be
times when jobs are added to the schedule to
meet special needs. Examples are budget cuts,
extra money at the end of the month,
requisitions, tracking, and assist visit
preparation.
Job conflicts. A job with a high priority maybe
submitted late.
Input files not available. Sometimes there will
be a delay in receiving the input files for a job.
Whatever the problem, it will be the production
control coordinators job, with your approval, to adjust
the schedule to accommodate the changes required.
WORKLOAD SCHEDULE DEVELOPMENT
When we talk about workload schedules, we are
referring to how to set up the daily work schedule in an
AIS facility. These are the daily adjustments to the
monthly production schedule and how they affect
personnel requirements and staffing. This is an internal
schedule that you will prepare for the AIS facility. The
format varies among facilities; there is no wrong or right
format. Normally, we break the day into three
shiftsdays, eves, and mids. The day shift is
responsible for testing. The eve shift is responsible for
production. The mid shift is responsible for finishing
production and doing the nightly saves.
You will have to develop the workload schedule by
reviewing the monthly schedule and combining it with
any newer information. The input/output requirements
will have to be reviewed, and you will need to be ready
to make changes to the schedule based on unforeseen
events.
System Input/Output Requirements
Before a job is started, certain input and output
requirements must be met. The I/O control clerk must
review the production workload schedule to see which
job is to be run. Then the clerk must look at the job run
folder to make sure that all the input files are available
and all the necessary output media is readily available.
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Input requirements. If the job requires tapes or
disk files as input, the I/O control clerk will
check with the media librarian to see if these files
are ready and available. And, if they are not
ready, when they will be available for the job. In
some cases, it maybe necessary to reschedule a
job while waiting for the input.
Output requirements. The job may require
special forms or multipart paper to be printed.
The I/O control clerk will check the job run
folder to see if the job will require any special
forms and then check to see that they are
available. The production control coordinator
will have looked at the requirements when the
monthly schedule was developed to allow
enough time to order the forms. The job may
produce output tapes or diskettes, requiring the
I/O control clerk to check with the media
librarian to make sure enough scratch tapes and
blank diskettes are available for the job.
Effects on Workload Schedules
On any given day or shift, almost anything can go
wrong. A job may abort. A tape may not read. User
requirements may change. A high-priority job maybe
submitted. Personnel may be called off the job to do
something else. This means there will be times when
you must change the way work is to be completed
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