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 shifts-days, 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.

l 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.

o 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

during the day. For example, to stay on schedule during monthly, quarterly, or yearly processing, production work will have to be run during the day shift. You may also have to have additional saves run in association with monthly, quarterly, or yearly processing. Another example is as you are preparing to load a software update, you might have special saves run during another shift. This will ensure that the data is backed up and a good copy of the software is available if the update does not work properly. You may also have to reschedule some of the production work.

Anytime the normal work schedule is changed, it may affect the online users by slowing the system response time or causing the system to be unavailable to the users. Care must be taken when the schedule is to be changed. Try to cause the minimum interruption to online users, and do keep them notified of the changes.

PRODUCTION PROCESSING

During production processing, the I/O control clerk, production control coordinator, and operators will monitor the schedule and the jobs to see that the work is being accomplished as planned. When problems arise, as they will, you may need to become involved. You may be involved in determining the

cause of the problem and in working with the user to solve the problem. The common causes of problems are application program processing errors and system downtime.

Users must be informed concerning any production

problems pertaining to their jobs. When you talk to the users, you must know which job had the problem, what the problem was, and what, if anything, AIS can door did do to correct the problem. Besides notifying the user of production problems, you will be required to notify them of system downtime or nonavailability. Setting up procedures for the operator and the production controller to follow will help in solving problems and in communications with users.

For online users, the subsystem coordinators are the most qualified and highly trained individuals on their particular subsystem and should be assisting users with processing problems. This does not eliminate the need for the operators to become knowledgeable in the workings of each subsystem, since they normally are called first when a problem occurs. You will need to examine any production problems that occur and work with the shift supervisor and/or production control coordinator to be sure proper corrective action was taken.