RE: Purpose of MSP24ET Job number field

[Chris Tringham <chris.tringham@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Style Production uses a lot of workfiles during BOM Maintenance & Works
Order Maintenance, and the Job Number (JOBNxx) is system-assigned and used
as the key during maintenance.  Basically, data is copied from (for example)
MSP24E to MSP24ET when you start BOM maintenance, all your updates are
applied to MSP24ET, and then if you confirm the update the data is copied
back from MSP24ET to MSP24E.  

To improve performance v3.5.2b moved these files from QTEMP to OSLP1F3 and
did the updating in a background job (running in the P1BACK3 subsystem).
This produced dramatic performance improvements (e.g. from 2-3 hours to 2-3
minutes).  To further improve performance you can choose to bypass the
initial copy from MSPxx to MPSxxT (because it will still have data from the
last maintenance session) but I do not know whether anyone else uses this
option - it is set using a flag in the Company Profile.

One further performance improvement can be obtained by changing all these
file to re-use deleted records.  IBM say that this is normally more
efficient, and it should be safe because the program logic does not rely on
records being in arrival sequence.

Obviously if you choose not to use the new option to re-use the workfile
records then the data in all the MSPxxT, PCPxxT & PDPxxT files could be
periodically cleared down, and if you don't change the files to re-use
deleted records then failure to clear them down will definitely impact
performance.  

More detail on the background processor can be found in Mandatory Operating
Procedure 321 which is included in the v3.5.2b Product Update (I think that
the Production Order Background Processor is in SP1).  I have included the
first page below.

Hope this helps!

Best Regards

Chris Tringham
Geac Hong Kong

6.9 MOP 321: Style Route Processor
Section Subsection
Style Style Production
Summary
Due to the large volume of data held on a style route, creating and updating
a route (F7/F8 function
keys) can have a long response time. To improve performance a background
processor is
introduced. On selecting F7/F8 to update a route, the selection panel to
enter the next route is
displayed immediately while the background processor updates the database in
parallel.
Key Points
· Routes may still be updated interactively (as now). A new parameter file
entry (type 'BKPR',
code 'RTJN) controls whether updates are processed interactively or in
background. The
Product Update installation defaults to update interactively, so the
parameter file must be
amended prior to starting the background processor.
· The background processor resides in a new subsystem P1BACK3. The
application Manager
day start/end jobs should be changed to start/end the subsystem.
· New menu options are provided to start and terminate the background
processor job
· New P1 application tasks 0042 and 0052 are provided for inclusion in the
day start and day
end jobs to start and terminate the background processor.
· Several background processors can be run concurrently, enabling several
routes to be
updated at the same time. If the throughput of route creation/maintenance is
high, having
several processors active can help to reduce any queuing for the background
job and thus
improve the elapsed time for updates to complete. However, if the AS400 is
already heavily
loaded, increasing the number of active jobs may degrade performance. If
multiple background
processors are used, the effect on performance should be carefully
monitored. The number of
concurrent jobs is controlled by parameter file type 'BKPR', code 'RT'.
Constraints
· When F7/F8 is taken to update a route via the background processor, no
further route
maintenance is allowed for the same style until the database updates for the
route are
complete.

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