Creating a Sub-Folder

This procedure describes how to create a sub-folder in a WorkspaceClosedA working area in the Planning domain where you define new jobs and folders or edit existing jobs and folders. Sub-folders and jobs inherit the parameters that you define at folder level.

You can only create a sub-folder within a SMART folder.

Begin

  1. From the Center Pane Toolbar, click and from the drop-down list, drag and drop a Folder into the Workspace.

    The Create New Folder pane appears.

  2. From the Folder Type drop-down list, select SMART folder.

  3. Click Create.

  4. From the drop-down list, drag and drop a further folder into the SMART folder to create a sub-folder.

  5. From the Edit tab, define one or more of the following:

  6. Add a job to your folder, as described in Creating a Job.

Sub-folder General Parameters

The following table describes the General parameters for a sub-folder:

Parameter

Description

Folder Type

Defines the folder type as a sub-folder.

Folder Name

Defines the name of the folder.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-64 , z/OS: 1-8

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blanks, single quotation marks, $, /, *, ?, "

    z/OS: Non-English

    • The name of a job must be unique within each folder. The job cannot have the same name as the sub-folder.

      To include a parenthesis -) or (-precede it with a slash:/( or/).

    • If you rename a folder, note the following:

      • You must load all the jobs in a folder into the workspace. You cannot rename a folder that is partially loaded.

      • The change is only on the folder name. The folder might run by an If-Action of another folder or job, or the folder name might be part of an event name. You need to update these attributes manually with the new folder name.

      • If you want to revert to the original name of the folder, you must unload the folder from the workspace. Any other changes you make to the folder or jobs within the folder are also reverted.

Description

Defines a description of the sub-folder using free text.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-4000

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

Reference

Defines the sub-folder as a reference sub-folder, as described in Reference Sub-folder.

If you reference an existing sub-folder it cannot contain jobs.

Reference path

Defines the full path name for the SMART folder or job that is being referenced, such as Folder_2/job7.

If you reference SMART Folder_A, the full path name is Folder_A.

If you reference JobB that resides in SMART folder_A, the full path name is Folder_A/JobB.

Rules:

  • Number of nested reference sub-folders: Up to 9

  • Characters: Up to 1024

  • The reference path cannot include wildcards.

  • If a Site Standard is applied on a SMART folder that contains a reference sub-folder, the Site Standard is validated on the sub-folder but not on the referenced entities.

Control-M/Server

Defines the name of the Control-M/Server that processes the sub-folder.

Run as

Defines the username with the authorization to execute jobs in the sub-folder.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-30 , z/OS: 1-8

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blank, single quotation marks

Parent Folder

Defines the name of the parent folder.

Application

Defines a descriptive name for related job groups. The jobs do not have to run at the same time.

Rules:

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blanks, single quote marks

Sub Application

Defines a logical name for the Sub-application.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-64

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blanks, single quote marks

Application=Finance, and Sub-application= Payroll.

Variables

Determines the variable type, name, and value, as described in Variables.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-40, z/OS: 1-66

  • Value: 1-4000, z/OS: 1-66

  • Invalid Characters : Latin-1 special character letters (upper and lower case)

Created By

Defines the Control‑M user who created the sub-folder. Not relevant for z/OS folders.

Rules:

  • Characters: 1-64

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blanks, single quotation marks

Documentation

Defines the location of the documentation of the folder.

Type

Determines whether the documentation for the sub-folder is in a file or URL, as follows:

  • URL: Saves the documentation in the URL that you provide in the URL field.

    The format of the URL address must start with: http://, https://, ftp://, file://

  • File: Saves the documentation in a file that you specify in the Doc Path and Doc File fields.

Doc Path rules:

  • Characters: 1-255 , iSeries (AS/400): 1-21

  • Case sensitive: Yes

Doc File rules:

  • Characters: 1-64

  • Case Sensitive: Yes

  • Invalid Characters: Blanks

Priority

Determines the order that Control-M processes jobs. A higher priority forces Control-M to reserve resources from the Resource PoolClosedA type of quantifiable resource, which represents the total amount of resources from a physical or logical device that a job can access to ensure that the job is submitted as soon as possible.

Reference Sub-folder

You can create a dedicated sub-folder that references an existing SMART folder or a specific job within a SMART folder or sub-folder. This enables you to reuse existing defined folders and jobs without the need to duplicate them creating more dynamic workflows and faster deployment of new workflows.

An organization has four departments, A, B, C and D. Each department runs their own workflows. Department A has a common workflow with the other departments. Departments B, C and D can create a reference sub-folder within their workflows and reference this common workflow.

This feature is supported in Control-M/Server 9.0.21 and higher.

During the run process of the reference sub-folder, the defined entities of the referenced SMART folder or job are added to the reference sub-folder as follows:

  • Variables that are defined in a referenced SMART folder or job are merged with the variables of the reference sub-folder as follows:

    • Variables that are defined in a referenced SMART folder or job that do not exist in the reference sub-folder are added to the reference sub-folder.

    • If variables exists on both the reference sub-folder and referenced SMART folder or job, Control-M uses the value of the variables of the reference sub-folder.

    • Variables that are defined in the reference sub-folder and that do not exist in the referenced SMART folder or job are not changed.

  • If- Actions that are defined in a referenced SMART folder run before the If-Actions that are defined in the reference sub-folder. If-Actions that are defined in a referenced job are not added to the reference sub-folder, and remain in the job.

  • Lock Resources that are defined in a referenced SMART folder or job are merged with the Lock Resources of the reference sub-folder as follows:

    • Lock Resources that are defined in the referenced SMART folder that do not exist in the reference sub-folder are added to the reference sub-folder.

    • If a Lock Resource with the same name exists in both the reference sub-folder and referenced SMART folder, Control-M uses the value of the reference sub-folder.

    • Lock Resources that are defined in a referenced job are not added to the reference sub-folder and remain in the job.

  • Notifications that are defined in a referenced SMART folder are added to the reference sub-folder. Notifications that are defined in a referenced job are not added to the reference sub-folder, and remain in the job.

  • The defined values of the documentation fields (type, Doc path, Doc File), and Priority, Description, Application, and Sub-application in a referenced SMART folder or job are added into the reference sub-folder during the run process. If no values are defined in the reference sub-folder, Control-M uses the values defined in the referenced SMART folder and job.

During the run process the schedule and event definitions of the referenced SMART folder or jobs are ignored and the reference sub-folder definitions are used.

If you make changes to a referenced SMART folder or job that is being referenced by other sub-folders in other workflows and you want to view the entities that are affected by this change, you can filter the sub-folders that reference this entity in Folders and Jobs in the planning domain.