Using a Dummy Job

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# Using a Dummy Job

The execution of a dummy job means that the job is running without job control and without its own action within Entire Operations. A dummy job is directly executed by the prerequisite checking routine. A dummy job always terminates with the state `o.k.`.

A dummy job is useful for several reasons:

- Testing the job flow when creating or changing a network.

- Finding erroneous jobs in a chain of concatenated jobs.

- Excluding or including a job from a chain of concatenated jobs without having to change job queues and adapting job definitions.

- Excluding jobs that execute tasks that are not frequently required to avoid overhead, balance workload and improve performance.

This document covers the following topics:

- Permanent Dummy Jobs

- Temporary Dummy Jobs

- Excluding a Job from Actual Execution

- Supervision of Running Jobs

## Permanent Dummy Jobs

Permanent dummy jobs are declared with the job type Dummy Job (`DUM`) in the job master definition.

Permanent dummy jobs execute with the estimated elapsed time, which is defined for the job. This does not block any queues within the Entire Operations Monitor.

## Temporary Dummy Jobs

In principle, you can execute any type of job as a temporary dummy job. An active job that fulfills any of the conditions described under Dummy due to Condition is always executed as a dummy for a particular run.

Temporary dummy jobs with the job type Standard Job (`JOB`) have a master JCL definition (see Defining and Managing JCL for a Job).

Temporary dummy jobs always have the execution time zero, regardless of which estimated elapsed time is defined for the job.

During its activation or during a prerequisite check, a job can be put into the state `temporary dummy job` for the following reasons:

Dummy due to Condition | Description
--- | ---
Definition | If the special type Execute as dummy (`D`) is set in the job master definition, the JCL definition can be maintained, but the execution as a dummy job can be forced.
Schedule | Depending upon the schedule of the network or upon a calendar, a job can be submitted as a temporary dummy job on particular days. For further information, see Maintaining Schedule Dependencies for a Job.
Prerequisite | It can be defined that the existence or non-existence of an active prerequisite results in execution as a temporary dummy job. For further details, see Possible References for Input Conditions.
Recovery Action | If a job is not to be submitted again in the case of a defined recovery action. For details, see Defining Recovery Actions.
JCL check | Execution of the job control in the mode JCL check. Thus, jobs (see Fields: Job Activation) or Job Networks (see Fields: Network Activation) are activated for the JCL check.
Empty JCL | If the loading process of the job control reveals that the JCL is empty, the job is submitted as a temporary dummy job. This state can result from the JCL generation by means of macro instructions, for instance.
Multiple Suffixes | If the activation is to take place by means of multiple suffixes: if the multiple-value symbol used does not contain any occurrences, then a dummy job is activated as a placeholder in the network during activation.

## Excluding a Job from Actual Execution

You can exclude a job from actual execution on certain schedule or calendar days without disturbing the job network structure. If a job is not to be activated, it can be converted into a dummy job just for this run. For example:

You can use the Schedule Dependency feature to define job activation or input condition usage to be checked only on certain days. In this case, you can execute a job as a dummy job without changing any job definitions.

For information on using the Schedule Dependency feature, see Maintaining Schedule Dependencies for a Job in the section Schedule Maintenance.

## Supervision of Running Jobs

Running jobs are checked as to whether they have exceeded their predefined deadline time.

If this is the case, a message:

- is sent to all mailboxes linked to the network;

- is written to the log;

- appears in the List Active Jobs, Active Job List or List Active Jobs Job Active window.

### On this page

- Permanent Dummy Jobs
- Temporary Dummy Jobs
- Excluding a Job from Actual Execution
- Supervision of Running Jobs