01. Background Jobs

Background Jobs

Dialog work processes are intended for dialog processing. For this reason, the duration of a dialog step is limited. Background processing is intended for operations that require a longer time to run.

Background processing is also suitable for activities that are scheduled to run regularly, for example database backups or financial evaluations.

A SAP background job defines the program or group of programs which are going to be executed by the background work processes. In order to do this, the job must be defined. SAP includes several utilities to define, manage, monitor, and troubleshoot the background jobs. Transaction code for this is SM36 and SM37 for monitor this

A background job has the following components:

1.    Job name : Defines the name assigned to the job.

2.    Job class : Indicates the type of background processing priority assigned to the job.

3.    Target host :. It's the SAP instance where the job will be executed.

4.    Job steps : A job step defines the program (either ABAP or external) which will be executed.

5.    Start time and repeat interval : Define when the job will be started and whether it should be periodically executed.

6.    Job print lists : These lists specify the printing parameters for the job output.

7.    Job log : The logs for the jobs include log information about the job execution such as starting time or any other information coded in the programs.

8.    Job spool recipient list : A recipient list can be used for specifying one or more recipients who will receive automatically the spool list generated by the job.

A background job consists of one or more steps. A step can be:

1.    An ABAP program

2.    An external command

3.    An external program

A job can be triggered to run:

1.    At a predefined date and time

2.    At the occurrence of a predefined event

Background jobs can be prioritized as:

1.    Class A (high priority)

2.    Class B (medium priority)

3.    Class C (low priority)

Jobs allocated to target servers have higher priority than untargeted jobs.

To schedule jobs with higher priority, users must have special authorizations or request the administrator to change the priority of the job. Job classes are very useful when you need to reserve some of the background work processes for scheduling important or more critical jobs.