Multiple-step job: Overview

A multiple-step job is a set of batch programs (or steps) organized under a single run request. Multiple-step jobs save you time and effort. They are especially useful for daily or weekly tasks that require you to distribute data to many users.

When you run a multiple-step job, each step in the job is submitted and run in order. If there is a problem with an early step, subsequent steps that might depend on data in the failed step are not run.

Multiple-step jobs let you group similar functions. For example, suppose you have a set of reports that are dependent on each other (that is, you don't want Report B to run unless Report A is successful). These are resource-heavy reports and, in order to make the most effective of your system, you want to run them in the evening when no users are on the system--but also when no system administrators are available to check on the job. The fact that system administrators are not on site to check the job status is not a problem in this situation. The job will not finish if a step is not successful.

You define multiple-step jobs on the Multi-Step Job Definition form in Lawson Portal. (You can use this form to define single-step jobs as well, but you can easily define and run such jobs from the appropriate batch parameter form.) Each step in a multiple-step job requires a description (the form ID is the default) and must have a specified data area. Parameters are only active for a step when you have done an inquire or add for the form and the job has been accepted.

A step can run the same program as a preceding step by using different batch parameters.

You can have up to 32,767 steps in a multiple-step job.