Calendars determine on which days automated process definitions (jobs, rules and missions) are processed. Calendars can be used to simplify the definition of scheduling criteria.

IOA calendars are organized on a yearly basis. Each calendar lists all the days in a specified year with an indication that an automated definition is or is not processed that day.

Each calendar is assigned a unique name. The calendar name can be specified using Basic Scheduling parameters of an automated processing definition.

Calendars can be defined as either regular or periodic:

• Regular calendars contain schedules that can be easily defined using Basic Scheduling parameters. These calendars consist of scheduling dates or days (of the week) that can be fixed according to monthly patterns.

  Regular calendars are especially useful when a large number of jobs have the same schedule. Defining the schedule once in a calendar and specifying the calendar name in the automated processing definitions with that schedule makes it unnecessary to individually define that schedule in each definition.

• Periodic calendars are especially useful when basic scheduling criteria do not conform to fixed date or day of the week or month breakdowns. For example, you may need to schedule a particular job every ten days regardless of date.

For a description of the IOA Calendar facility for a specific INCONTROL product, see the online facilities chapter of the user guide for that product.