Why does a job go in and out of the critical path during a jobstream run?

Products

• Automic Automation Intelligence

Issue/Introduction

While monitoring the run of a jobstream, you may notice that some jobs may come in and out of the critical path.

Environment

Release : 5.8.6/6.0

Component : AUTOMIC AUTOMATION INTELLIGENCE ENGINE

Resolution

The critical path for a jobstream reflects the jobs that have either directly impacted or are predicted to directly impact the final completion time of the jobstream. AAI determines the critical path on the fly and it is dynamic. In a forecasted jobstream run, the critical path will be based on the predicted completion times of the jobs within it. Immediately after the jobstream starts running, most of the critical path is still being determined by these predictions. As jobs complete during the run, it is quite possible for a job to either come into or fall out of the critical path as it becomes based on actual completion times.

For example, let's say within a job stream you have JOB1, JOB2, and JOB3.  JOB1 and JOB2 run concurrently, and JOB3 depends on the success of both. The rest of the jobstream waits for JOB3 to complete. When the jobstream first starts, JOB1 is predicted to end prior to JOB2. At this point, JOB2 and JOB3 would be included in the critical path but JOB1 would not. The completion time of JOB1 is not predicted to have a direct impact on the final completion time of the jobstream since JOB3 can't run until JOB2 completes.  If JOB1 were to actually run longer than JOB2, then JOB1 would go into the critical path and JOB2 would fall out because it then had an actual direct impact on the completion time of the jobstream while JOB2 did not.