Introducing Application Jobs

Adam knows from his previous job that background processing is a central element for SAP systems of the SAP Business Suite, for example, SAP ECC. In his future role as a system administrator for systems in the public edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, he realizes that various tasks for background processing must also be planned here. That’s why Carl explains the importance of background processing and its capabilities in the cloud.

Application Jobs in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition allows you to schedule and monitor application-related jobs. You can automate manual activities that need to be done at a specific time, reducing your workload by running these tasks smoothly in the background. You can plan regular jobs, freeing you to concentrate on other tasks. Key features include scheduling jobs based on a job template, working with personalized job templates, scheduling jobs with a custom factory calendar, arranging job series that take different time zones into account, defining the job steps, and monitoring jobs.

Each job type serves a specific purpose and helps in automating and streamlining various business processes within the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition environment.

Adam also finds it useful to acquire knowledge about how to connect the entire company to the digital core with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition. Therefore, after completing this learning journey, he also decides to take a look at the link to the landing page that contains several learning journey offers about this next-generation cloud-based ERP system to advance his business: https://learning.sap.com/products/s4hana-cloud

Carl goes on to explain that in the context of the public edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, there are two types of jobs that play an important role in automating and optimizing various business processes.

Business Jobs

Application Jobs, also known as Business Jobs, are designed to handle routine tasks that customers need to schedule on a regular basis. These jobs are integral to various business processes and include tasks such as Billing Runs, Material Requirements Planning (MRP) Runs, and Foreign Currency Evaluations.

These jobs are particularly useful for bulk processing of steps in a business process chain. However, users must be aware that they are responsible for monitoring and controlling the execution of these jobs, which are carried out in the user’s context. It’s also important to note that technical issues arising from the system environment may occur.

Technical Jobs

On the other hand, Technical Jobs, which are not visible to customers, are set up automatically during system provisioning without requiring any manual intervention. The design of Technical Job Definitions is such that they can accommodate all existing customer scenarios without needing any interaction from the SAP’s Cloud Operations team.

Technical Jobs are the preferred method for executing recurring functions in an SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition system. This is because they offer a more streamlined and automated approach to handling routine tasks.

Adam summarizes that application jobs are tasks scheduled by the customer that automate manual activities. Technical jobs are tasks scheduled by SAP that maintain the operation of the system. The main difference is that the customer has control over the application jobs, while the technical jobs are automatically scheduled by SAP and cannot be influenced by the customer.

Carl mentions that in contrast to the SAP Business Suite, where background jobs are scheduled directly from transaction SM36 or via the Job Scheduling Wizard, the Application Jobs apps in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition provides a more streamlined and user-friendly interface for job scheduling. Apps of the Application Jobs space also offer more advanced features such as personalized job templates and custom factory calendars.

Application Jobs

This app enables you to schedule and oversee jobs related to applications. If you frequently perform manual tasks at specific times, the Application Jobs app can alleviate your workload by seamlessly executing these tasks in the background. It allows you to schedule routine jobs.

Application Job Templates

This app empowers you to construct your own application job templates. These templates are comprised of a parameter set that you can designate for the linked job catalog entry. The creation of multi-step templates, which can subsequently be launched via the Application Jobs app, is an essential function of this app.

Maintain Job Users

This app allows you to modify the owner and user associated with application jobs that have been established from a job template. This feature can be particularly useful in certain situations. For example, when an individual transitions to a different department within the organization or departs from the company, necessitating the removal of the corresponding business user.

For Carl, it is important that Adam also gains some knowledge about the different statuses of jobs and the context of their termination.

That conversation prompts Adam to write down some remarks about the various conditions a job can be in.

• The Scheduled status signifies that the job is in the pipeline and is lined up for execution. It’s not currently running, but it’s on the waiting list.
• The In Process status is assigned when the job is actively being carried out. It has kicked off and is underway.
• The Failed status is given when a job runs into a problem during its execution and is unable to finish successfully. It’s a sign that something went wrong which stopped the job from completing as planned.
• The final status of Canceled jobs can vary depending on their prior state.

Let us examine in greater detail what Carl has shared about the different final conditions of canceled jobs.

Canceling a scheduled Single Job

If a job that is currently in the Scheduled status is canceled, it will be removed from the job list. This means that the job will not be executed in the future as planned.

Canceling an In-Process Job

If a job that is In Process (currently being executed) is canceled, it will stop executing immediately. The status of this job will then be updated to "Canceled", and it will remain in the job list for review.

Canceling a Job in a Series

Jobs can be part of a series, where multiple instances of the same job are scheduled to run at different times. If a Scheduled job from a series is canceled, all instances of the job that are also in the Scheduled status will be canceled and removed from the list. However, jobs from the series that are in other statuses will not be affected.

Canceling an In-Process Job in a Series

If an In Process job from a series is canceled, that specific instance of the job will stop executing and its status will be updated to Canceled. Other jobs in the series, regardless of their status, will not be affected.

To cancel a job, you would typically select the desired job from the list and choose the Cancel button from the main toolbar of the Application Jobs app.

Note that jobs marked as Finished are unable to be canceled as they have already been executed.

Adam also wants to familiarize himself with the regular job deletion procedure and to develop a thorough understanding of the regular removal process.

Take a closer look at the Periodic Job Removal table, which represents the current auto-deletion intervals depending on the periodic granularity of the job to be deleted.