Automatic JCL Update: JCL and AutoEdit Facility

Automatic JCL Update: JCL and AutoEdit Facility

In the production environment, JCL must often be manually modified prior to
submission of a job, as in the following cases:
• changing a parameter or a date card
• supplying tape numbers in JCL procedures
• eliminating steps under different run conditions, for example, when end
of month processing differs from normal daily run

Manual modification of the JCL is inconvenient at best, and it can be
error-prone and lead to serious problems. The JCL and AutoEdit facility
offers an automated alternative to manual JCL update.

The JCL and AutoEdit facility permits AutoEdit terms, such as AutoEdit
variables, functions, and control statements, to be specified in the JCL in
place of values that change from job submission to job submission. AutoEdit
terms are prefixed by %%, which distinguishes them from non-AutoEdit
terms. For example, the term %%ODAY is recognized as an AutoEdit term.
The values of user-defined variables that have been defined as Sysplex-wide,
using the XAE facility, remain both in memory and in a Coupling facility.
These values can be used for additional triggering of the same job or other
CONTROL-M jobs, in the same computer or in different computers of the
same Sysplex.
At time of job submission, AutoEdit terms in the JCL are resolved to, that is,
replaced by, their actual values.

Certain AutoEdit terms may also be used within job scheduling definitions.
The JCL and the AutoEdit facility is described in detail in Chapter 5, “JCL
and AutoEdit Facility.”