Branch job advantages

The main advantages of using the generic branch job are:

• Only one branch job is defined in the HCL Workload Automation database.

  The generic branch job is represented by one job definition that points to one shell script. The script does not take any command-line argument that points to the branch job's parent and children. Information about parent (predecessor) and children (successors) is evaluated automatically.

• You are not required to specify any input parameters if you use the most common branch job scenarios.

  You do not need to specify parameters when evaluating the parent job result state (SUCC or ABEND). You put the branch job into the job stream, link the FOLLOWS dependencies, and assign to the child jobs the specific names that identify the good child and the bad child.

• The branch job returns a structured job log that contains detailed information about the branch job's environment, input parameters, evaluated condition, performed actions. By reading the job log, you can easily check which activities the branch job performed.
• The branch job uses the representation of HCL Workload Automation objects within the Current Plan. This means that all the objects within the Plan (for example, jobs and job streams) are referenced by using the keyword schedid. You ensure that all the actions launched against the Plan objects point to the unique object.

This functionality is leveraged in all job stream occurrences in the Current Plan:

• Any occurrence of the job stream submitted without specifying the alias.
• Any occurrence of the job stream submitted by specifying the alias.
• The generic branch job runs on both UNIX and Windows master domain managers. Because the branch job is written in the shell script (therefore it runs natively on UNIX) on Windows operating systems you must use a UNIX shell interpreter.
• The generic branch job runs even if the job stream is defined on the workstation class. The branch job itself must be defined on the master domain manager.