Creating a Sub-folder

This procedure describes how to create a sub-folder in a WorkspaceClosed A working area in the Planning domain where you define and edit new jobs and SMART folders.. Sub-folders and jobs inherit the parameters that you define at the SMART folder level. You can also create a sub-folder with the ctmdefsubfolder utility.

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

Begin

  1. From the Center Pane Toolbar, click Add Job 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 and click Create.
    A SMART folder appears in the Workspace.

  3. From the Add Job drop-down list, drag and drop another folder into the SMART folder you just created.
    A sub-folder appears inside the SMART folder you just created.

  4. From the General tab in the right pane, define one or more of the following properties:

Sub-folder General Parameters

The following table describes the sub-folder general parameters in the General tab in the right pane.

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: Blank spaces, ', $, /, *, ?, and ".

    z/OS: Non-English-language characters.

  • Job names must be unique in each sub-folder. You cannot define a job name with the name as the sub-folder.

  • To use ( or ) (parentheses), precede each parenthesis with a /, for example: /( or /).

  • To rename a sub-folder, note the following:

    • You must load all jobs in the sub-folder to the Workspace. You cannot rename a partially-loaded folder.

    • You must manually update all dependent prerequisites and actions with the new sub-folder name. For instance, the sub-folder might be run by an If-Action of another folder or by a job in a different folder. Alternatively, the sub-folder name might be part of an event name.

    • To revert to the original sub-folder name, you must unload the folder from the Workspace. Any other changes you make to the sub-folder or jobs inside the sub-folder are also reverted.

    Description

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

    Rules:

    • Characters: 1–4,000

    • Case Sensitive: Yes

    Reference

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

    You cannot reference a sub-folder that contains jobs.

    Reference Path

    Defines the full pathname for the SMART folder or job that is referenced, as follows:

    <Folder_Name>/<Job_Name>

    • If you reference SMART folder Folder_A, the full pathname is Folder_A.

    • If you reference job Job_B, which resides in Folder_A, the full pathname is Folder_A/Job_B.

    Rules:

    • Number of Nested Reference Sub-folders: 1–9

    • Characters: 1–1,024

    • The reference path cannot include wildcards.

    • If a Site Standard is applied to 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 spaces and ' (apostrophes).

    Parent Folder

    Defines the name of the folder where the sub-folder is nested.

    Application

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

    Rules:

    • Case Sensitive: Yes

    • Invalid Characters: Blank spaces and '.

    Sub-application

    Defines a logical name for the Sub-application.

    Rules:

    • Characters: 1–64

    • Case Sensitive: Yes

    • Invalid Characters: Blank spaces and '.

    • Application: Finance

    • Sub-application: Payroll

    Variables

    Determines variable types, names, and values, as described in Variables.

    Rules:

    • Characters: 1–40, z/OS: 1–66

    • Value: 1–4,000, z/OS: 1–66

    • Invalid Characters: Latin-1 special characters, uppercase and lowercase.

    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: Blank spaces and ' (apostrophes).

    Documentation

    Defines the location of the folder documentation.

    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 define in the URL field.

    • The format of the URL address must start with one of the following prefixes:
      • http://
      • https://
      • ftp://
      • file://
    • File: Saves the documentation to a file that you define 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: Blank spaces.

    Priority

    Determines the order that Control-M processes jobs. A higher priority forces Control-M to reserve resources from the Resource PoolClosed A 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

    A reference sub-folder is an empty sub-folder that points to another SMART folder or job and enables you to run one or more of these entities when you run the reference sub-folder. This eliminates the need to replicate and manage defined SMART folders and jobs.

    An organization has four departments, Accounts, Business, Catering, and Development. Each department runs their own, unique workflows. However, Accounts uses a SMART folder, called Billing, which uses a series of event-dependent jobs that the remaining departments also rely on. The Business, Catering, and Development departments create reference sub-folders in their Workspaces that run the referenced sub-folder Billing in the Accounts workflow to run the same jobs they would otherwise need to manually replicate.

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

    Entities that are defined in referenced SMART folders or jobs are added to reference sub-folders as follows:

    • Variables

      • Variables that do not exist in the reference sub-folder are added.

      • Variables in the reference sub-folder are resolved instead of identically named variables in the referenced SMART folder.

    • If-Actions

      • Referenced SMART folder If-Actions execute before reference sub-folder If-Actions.

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

    • Lock Resources

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

      • Lock Resources in the reference sub-folder are used instead of identically named Lock Resources in the referenced SMART folder.

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

    • Notifications

      • 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.

    • 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.